Cattle grids.

Simon Mason said:

Rode over one last night at 20 mph - yikes! Didn't see it as I had a bee on
my upper arm stinging me and so was more concerned with getting the little
blighter off :-)

Did quite a few on the A836 on our Tour du Nord a couple of weeks back.
We actually found that the faster you're going, the nicer it is as the
wheels don't have the time to fall into the gaps so much. I [censored] you
not, btw, that's a serious point. The Very Important Bit at /any/ speed
is to hit them square on.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ce7rj2The
Very Important Bit at /any/ speed

Quoted message said:

is to hit them square on.

I had worked that bit out :-) I wouldn't like to hit them edgeways on!

--
Simon M.

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Mason said:

Rode over one last night at 20 mph - yikes! Didn't see it as I had a bee

on

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

my upper arm stinging me and so was more concerned with getting the

little

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

blighter off :-)

Did quite a few on the A836 on our Tour du Nord a couple of weeks back.
We actually found that the faster you're going, the nicer it is as the
wheels don't have the time to fall into the gaps so much. I [censored] you
not, btw, that's a serious point. The Very Important Bit at /any/ speed
is to hit them square on.

We have the occasional cattle grid round here (yorkshire dales). One day
descending from Malham to Arncliffe, we were slightly surprised to see a
rather animated body shouting something like 'caal gri'. I wasn't entirely
sure what she was trying to say, so just ignored her and got on with the
descent. Some time later I realised she was attempting to point out the
cattle grid to us. I wondered if she thought that a) we couldn't see the
warning signs, b) we couldn't see the actual grid (nice sunny day), and c)
we needed to slow down to cross it.

Most exciting one was in wales, going up a steep-ish icy road - I wasn't
convinced we were going to have enough grip to keep going, and indeed it did
slip a couple of times just after the grid. Fortunately I think the grid
bars themselves were ok.

(descending on taff trail on the other side of the valley, lightly snowed
path, and we came across a group of people mending a bike, with it upside
down and acros the trail, taking up pretty much the entire trail - I did
wonder whether pointing out that blocking a potentially slippery downhill
track was a _really_ bad idea. That was such a cold descent!)

(that said, I did stop using 1.25" panaracer pasela on the tandem recently
after pinch flatting on a grid on the twistleton scar road. Ok, the tyre
probably wasn't completely inflated, but it wasn't that flat (maybe 70 or
80psi vs 100) and the bigger ones give me a good safety margin for slack
maintenance and bumpy roads).

cheers,
clive

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote:

: We actually found that the faster you're going, the nicer it is as the
: wheels don't have the time to fall into the gaps so much.

Be very wary of the newer cattle grids though. Rather than being made from
one long bar

-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------

they are made in three sections for easy transport on a smaller lorry
and then laid side by side

---------- ------------- -----------------
---------- ------------- -----------------
---------- ------------- -----------------

The gap between the sections can easily swallow a tyre. They are about
road tyre width even when laid properly and if they've been laid in a
slapdash manner the gaps can be big enough to swallow a touring tyre.

One of our clubs memebers needed a lot of expensive dental work a couple
of years ago after doing this.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune
The opposite of homosexuality is not hetrosexuality but marriage
- Felix Guittari

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote:

: I did notice at least one of these (obviously an uphill when I had study
: time!) but on the A836 at least it seemed they're taken a bit more care,

I've never seen them like this except on minor roads. However, at least
in the Yorkshire Dales and Moors all new grids seem to be like this so
over time this may change.

--
Arthur Clune
The opposite of homosexuality is not hetrosexuality but marriage
- Felix Guittari

Arthur Clune said:

The gap between the sections can easily swallow a tyre. They are about
road tyre width even when laid properly and if they've been laid in a
slapdash manner the gaps can be big enough to swallow a touring tyre.

I did notice at least one of these (obviously an uphill when I had study
time!) but on the A836 at least it seemed they're taken a bit more care,
and there was no chance of disappearing down the crack. But it's a
handy tip that you shouldn't just /assume/ that'll be the case...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Arthur Clune said:

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote:

: We actually found that the faster you're going, the nicer it is as
the
: wheels don't have the time to fall into the gaps so much.

Be very wary of the newer cattle grids though. Rather than being made
from
one long bar

-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------

Most of the ones round our way are more like:

------------|-----------|-----------|-------------
------------|-----------|-----------|-------------
------------|-----------|-----------|-------------

With the bars in the direction of travel being flat and wide (well wider
than a touring tyre.) I always make sure to avoid riding 'along' a bar.

Colin

Arthur Clune said:

Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> wrote:

: I did notice at least one of these (obviously an uphill when I had study
: time!) but on the A836 at least it seemed they're taken a bit more care,

I've never seen them like this except on minor roads. However, at least
in the Yorkshire Dales and Moors all new grids seem to be like this so
over time this may change.

Note that the A836 is a single track road with passing places over much
of its length, so we're in a bit of a grey spot as to whether it's
"minor" or "major".

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Simon Mason said:

Rode over one last night at 20 mph - yikes! Didn't see it as I had a bee on
my upper arm stinging me and so was more concerned with getting the little
blighter off :-)
--
Simon M.

If you think that was bad, try it on a small wheeled bike!

Tony

Colin Blackburn <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Most of the ones round our way are more like:

: ------------|-----------|-----------|-------------
: ------------|-----------|-----------|-------------
: ------------|-----------|-----------|-------------

: With the bars in the direction of travel being flat and wide (well wider
: than a touring tyre.) I always make sure to avoid riding 'along' a bar.

Imagine that, but without the bars and you've got what we have.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune
The opposite of homosexuality is not hetrosexuality but marriage
- Felix Guittari

Tony Raven said:

If you think that was bad, try it on a small wheeled bike!

I was on 20/26 and Roos was on 20/20, so Been There, Done That. We did
cheat and have suspension, mind, but basically if you hit them at 20 mph
then you don't really get much effect aside from audible, but at low
speed it takes all your momentum as well as giving you a good judder.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Tony Raven said:

If you think that was bad, try it on a small wheeled bike!

With my 2x20" wheels at lower speed they did seem to suck all speed out of
me. Which one the way up wasn't much to start with...
Most times I just let the bike roll over them without pedalling and a
number of times I only just made it across.

Roos

I know everyone always says you should ride as fast as possible over them,
but freewheeling slowly with [censored] off saddle works best for me -- at least
for the nasty ones in Woodford.

~PB

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I know everyone always says you should ride as fast as possible over them,
but freewheeling slowly with [censored] off saddle works best for me -- at least
for the nasty ones in Woodford.

As with all bumps, weight off saddle and freewheeling is most comfortable.
But I wouldn't slow down before freewheeling on any grids I've met.

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

As with all bumps, weight off saddle and freewheeling is most comfortable.
But I wouldn't slow down before freewheeling on any grids I've met.

Indeed. Why replace "brrrrr" with "kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk" with
more up and down and more energy loss over a longer time?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

in message <[email hidden]>, Roos Eisma

(') said:

Tony Raven said:

If you think that was bad, try it on a small wheeled bike!

With my 2x20" wheels at lower speed they did seem to suck all speed
out of me. Which one the way up wasn't much to start with...
Most times I just let the bike roll over them without pedalling and a
number of times I only just made it across.

Provided you cross them at right angles they should not be too bad.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

I'm fed up with Life 1.0. I never liked it much and now it's getting
me down. I think I'll upgrade to MSLife 97 -- you know, the one that
comes in a flash new box and within weeks you're crawling with bugs.

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Clive
George <[email hidden]> breathed:

Quoted message said:

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I know everyone always says you should ride as fast as possible over them,
but freewheeling slowly with [censored] off saddle works best for me -- at least
for the nasty ones in Woodford.

Quoted message said:

As with all bumps, weight off saddle and freewheeling is most comfortable.
But I wouldn't slow down before freewheeling on any grids I've met.

I tend to do this for any large bumps or areas of very rough surface,
partly for comfort but also to reduce load on the bike, I'm assuming
that bent legs on pedals and weight going through the BB is less of a
strain overall than full upper body weight on saddle and thus straight
through seat-stays.

This is just based on "common sense" though, so could well be wrong -
opinions?

--
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Peter Clinch said:

Clive George said:

As with all bumps, weight off saddle and freewheeling is most
comfortable. But I wouldn't slow down before freewheeling on any
grids I've met.

Indeed. Why replace "brrrrr" with "kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk-kjnk"
with more up and down and more energy loss over a longer time?

I wouldn't mind if it was just a "brrrrr". Maybe it's my high pressure
tyres, but going over at 20odd mph feels like being pummeled by a pnematic
drill and must be bad for the bike. I'd rather have a gentle kjnk-kjnk
any day :-) If you slow to DEAD SLOW it works a treat. Took me years
before I thought of trying it so slowly.

~PB

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >

Quoted message said:

I wouldn't mind if it was just a "brrrrr". Maybe it's my high pressure
tyres, but going over at 20odd mph feels like being pummeled by a pnematic
drill and must be bad for the bike. I'd rather have a gentle kjnk-kjnk
any day :-) If you slow to DEAD SLOW it works a treat. Took me years
before I thought of trying it so slowly.

My 23 mm tyres were pumped up rock hard and it was like being on a bucking
bronco. Next time I'll get off and wheel it over.
--
Simon M.