Gravel road riding advice needed

[Butch1979]

Life has blessed my wife and I with our first little one, so our days of single tack mtn biking are on the back burner for a while. I would like to start using our CX bikes for more offroad trips and pull our Chariot stroller. unfortunately it seems that every time I take my Surly crosscheck on gravel/dirt road I get a flat.

Do I need a different tire? Should I run lower air pressure, and if so how low?

Check out these tires...

http://brucegordoncycles.bigcartel.com/product/rock-n-road-all-terrain-700c-tire

Thoughts? Really interested in covering some back roads with the family at a faster pace than I would on our mtn bikes.

Thanks

Butch

 

[Christophe Noel]

It really depends on the composition of the gravel. I ride about 4,000 miles a year on gravel and can go years between flats. Our gravel is pretty tire friendly, though. I think the key is to just ride a tire with a durable casing and make sure you maintain enough pressure to avoid pinch flats. I have good luck withe Kenda Slant 6 cross tires. None of them last very long, but such is the way of the cross bike.

 

[Butch1979]

Pressure

What tire pressure do you run?

 

[Tennmogger]

Moderate your speed, run lower pressure than highway pressure if you will be on gravel long enough to be worth the air-up effort, and use 4wd at will. 4wd will help steering control, reduce rear spinout and oversteer, and help smooth corrugations.

But most importantly, understand CORRUGATIONS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmxMQwhcVF0

Bob

 

[Christophe Noel]

Uh...I may have to investigate how to engage the four wheel drive on my bicycle.

Back to bicycles - I probably run most of my various cyclocross tires between 55-75 pounds, but that depends entirely on the tire, size of tire, type of tire and mostly the type of terrain. Anything with lots of sharp rocks eager to cause a pinch flat will require more PSI, which unfortunately makes for some un-fun an darn bumpy riding. I also like Kenda Small Block 8 tires for gravel. Again, they wear quickly, but ride nice.

 

[RHINO]

what the heck bob?!?!?!

put down the bourbon and pick up some coffee:sombrero:

 

[Butch1979]

Moderate your speed, run lower pressure than highway pressure if you will be on gravel long enough to be worth the air-up effort, and use 4wd at will. 4wd will help steering control, reduce rear spinout and oversteer, and help smooth corrugations.

But most importantly, understand CORRUGATIONS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmxMQwhcVF0

Bob

Sounds like good advice LOL...

 

[Christophe Noel]

I'm sure Bob would also agree that it's equally important to hold the reigns propperly and make sure your landing flaps are trimmed well. :wings:

 

[p nut]

My personal preference is fat tires at lower pressures for gravel rides. Say 29x2.0 at 25psi vs 700x38's at 60psi. I usually just run mtb tires with smaller knobs. I've also pulled my Chariot (albeit only bike paths and neighborhood streets) and the fatter rear helps with the extra weight you're pulling.

Side note: Do you have bigger tires for your Chariot? I'm thinking of going bigger for some fireroad riding.

 

[rho]

What tires are you using now that you're having issues with? Are you having issues with the tires being punctured? If punctured, is it from the gravel itself or from glass or nails/metal or thorny plants? Or cuts from rocks/gravel/glass?

I have some friends up here in the bay area who have run Schwalbe Marathons as their commute tires and logged thousands of miles on them before wearing em out from commuting and our crappy *** roads here. I've always had good luck with just running 35c CX tires at about 40psi, BUT I'm not carrying load on them.

If you're using a CX tire with a thin casing or low center knobs at low (30-50ish psi) I can see there being some issues more so with a majority of your weight on the rear tires and whatever weight from the trailer tongue. I think going to a larger size tire with a stout casing would help more than anything aside from doing a tubeless conversion and running a sealant in the tire.

Your tire choice is really dependent on what kind of flats you're getting and how you're getting them. Figure those two out then you can narrow down the options.

 

[fortel]

Try these

Continental Travel Contacts - lot of guys I know that ride Dirty Kanza every year love em. If they stand up to Flint Hills gravel they should work for you

 

[Judoka]

I miss Bob

 

[rcharrette]

It could be the added weight of the Chariot on the rear end of the bike causing your flats. You may need to actually add air pressure. Are you pinch flating or just picking up debris? Life is not over with a little one, check out our site.
Randy
Www.velomom.com

 

[rcharrette]

And if your not towing and still getting flats then step one is still to find out what kind of flat it is, pinch flat(tire pressure) or something penatrating it. If flats are a very consistent problem then check the rim strip. Is it still covering the spoke nipple holes completely? As a last resort, if all that checks out ok the just throw in some tuffy liners and be done with it.
Randy
Www.velomom.com

 

[Butch1979]

Started running less pressure and have had less problems. Pulled chariot the other day and gravel road with success. Thanks guys.