Cycling Forums - View Single Post - Potential good news for Mt. Washington access.

01-07-2005, 03:51 PM

Matt O'Toole writes:

> Mountain bikers ride fire roads like that all the time. The
> mountains of the western US are riddled with them -- 4000' climbs at
> over 10%, sometimes over 15%. Rims get hot, but not enough to blow
> tires. So I don't see what the big deal is. There are a bunch of
> roads around here with sustained grades like that, but nothing that
> long -- 2-3 miles at most.

I'm unclear on what you are proposing. Do you mean that tires do not
blow off rims from brake heating? As a counterpoint, I have had two
of these occurrences and have witnessed many more. Beyond that, most
tandems use hub brakes because tire bow-off is such a problem for
them, having more mass and less wind drag than single bicycles and
only two rims for two people.

> However, when you have such a road that's a magnet for cyclists, you
> have a management problem. As mentioned, that particular road is
> privately owned, so there may be liability concerns too. I say
> people ought to be free to crash if they want to, but unfortunately
> US law and insurance doesn't work that way.

I think the management doesn't want the contention for road space
between bicycles and cars. I am aware of these problems locally
because there are a great many drivers who will not pass a bicyclist
climbing a grade on a curvy road even if the bicyclists rides outside
of the edge stripe on a paves highway. On an unpaved road this could
case traffic jams even with light auto traffic.

Jobst Brandt
jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org

01-07-2005, 03:51 PM	#37 (permalink)
jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Potential good news for Mt. Washington access. Matt O'Toole writes: > Mountain bikers ride fire roads like that all the time. The > mountains of the western US are riddled with them -- 4000' climbs at > over 10%, sometimes over 15%. Rims get hot, but not enough to blow > tires. So I don't see what the big deal is. There are a bunch of > roads around here with sustained grades like that, but nothing that > long -- 2-3 miles at most. I'm unclear on what you are proposing. Do you mean that tires do not blow off rims from brake heating? As a counterpoint, I have had two of these occurrences and have witnessed many more. Beyond that, most tandems use hub brakes because tire bow-off is such a problem for them, having more mass and less wind drag than single bicycles and only two rims for two people. > However, when you have such a road that's a magnet for cyclists, you > have a management problem. As mentioned, that particular road is > privately owned, so there may be liability concerns too. I say > people ought to be free to crash if they want to, but unfortunately > US law and insurance doesn't work that way. I think the management doesn't want the contention for road space between bicycles and cars. I am aware of these problems locally because there are a great many drivers who will not pass a bicyclist climbing a grade on a curvy road even if the bicyclists rides outside of the edge stripe on a paves highway. On an unpaved road this could case traffic jams even with light auto traffic. Jobst Brandt jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org