Going off road on a road bike?

[CormacBaptist...]

Good day! All of you.

I have been riding Trek 4500 for about 2 months now. Riding it is a joy and I have also done a ride of about 100km (my thighs are still sore after a week though). But about 80% of my normal commute is on tarmac roads and the more I ride, the more I get inclined towards buying a road bike. But the problem is, once in a while, I have to go a little bit of serious off roading. I am concerned abouthttps://nox.tips/ https://xender.vip/


Fragility of road bikes

What happens if I ride 5km on a road like this on a road bike?

According to my knowledge, switching from mountain to road increases efficiency upto 50%. Is this true?

When talking about going off roads on a road bike, most of the people say road bike 'cant handle it'. What do they exactly mean?

[stinkwheel]

Depends on the bike.

Have you ever seen people doing cyclocross? That was originally done on totally bog standard road bikes.

"Back in the day", mountain biking was done on skinny 700C wheels and drop bars.

Have you seen Martyn Astons "Road Bike Party" video? On a carbon fibre Pinarello. Watch that, it should put your concerns to rest.
https://youtu.be/7ZmJtYaUTa0

If you are really concerned, there is a halfway house these days in the form of a "gravel bike" which is a road bike designed to be ridden on dirt tracks. Slightly heavier duty and slightly wider, flatter drop bars.

And yes, I think you must be insane to be riding 100km on tarmac on a mountain bike. Do yourself a favour and get a road bike. Or at least fit road tyres.

EDIT: I would say anything but the most delicate of road bikes would manage to do a "blue route" on an MTB centre, levels of grip notwithstanding. I've done several on a single speed 1970's racer bike.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
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[Easy-X]

There's a lot of factors but the main things would be:

Rolling resistance - knobblies are just stupid on the road. This is where you might take a leaf out of the ADV book and get a road tyre with a bit of tread that can cope with all but liquid mud, loose gravel and sand.

Frame weight - a road bike would tend towards the bare-minimum of material but an off-road frame in aluminium, magnesium or carbon fibre wouldn't be too bad.

Gearing - front with the max number of teeth on the largest cog for road work.
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[weasley]

A gravel bike is what you are describing. Mine will go pretty much anywhere other than the most technical off-road stuff and is not that much slower on the road than my road bike. The main difference is bigger tyres with a tread - a road bike on 25mm 100psi tyres can survive off-road but the comfort will be awful and the chances of a puncture high.

My gravel bike gets used more than any other, and aside from the 3-speed shopper it is the cheapest and heaviest I have, but its versatility is just so compelling, meaning I can do a full road route, full off-road or any mix in between.
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[Ste]

Stop posting pushbike questions in the bikes & accessories forum.

[RhynoCZ]

Yes, you probably want a gravel bike.

Gravel bike is pretty much endurance geometry road bike frame with wider tyres and adequate gearing, idealy with rear derailleur clutch system to limit the amout of chain slap in rough terrain.

Sure, gravel bikes (knobbly tyres) are slower on the road, but the difference isn't as huge as some would present it to be.
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[thx1138]

I have hammered lumy old carreras with knobbly tyres round a t.t course, and then gone off road

I've ridden my carbon roadie down route 51 which was a mud bath in places, albeit very carefully

mostly I just go everywhere on a Trek Trail 2


but, yeah, cyclocross set up, I was truly impressed when a couple of local cyclists came through a byway I was strugging to get my 2T dirt bike down

[Pjay]

I think the bike you are looking for is the ever popular 'Hybrid'.

Whyte do a lovely one called the Cambridge.
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[thx1138]

Today i did a 45 miler on a single speed, including a lap of a reservoir, about 10 miles track, complete bone shaker and muddy in places. Bike got round okay and back on tbe road no worse for wear, just grubby.

[Irezumi]

As mentioned a gravel bike is probably what you want, you can get them in drop ir flat bar variants now. Stick to aluminium, or even better steel, if youre concerned about bikes taking a beating. In terms of strength though have a look at something like Paris-Roubais or any of the 'classic' bike races to see how much abuse carbon can take.

Gravel bikes normally have quite big tyre clearances and bigger tyres = more comfort (and grip off road).

[stinkwheel]