Stix Zadinia

Hello all

As a newbie to road bikes -and coming from a MTB- I'm wondering if there is much -or any- jumping done on road bikes.. not anything extreme, of course, but do road cyclists find themselves jumping (wheel at a time, or bike in the air) over the occasional bump on the road, on -or off- a big sidewalk, a small one, some broken pavement, etc?

Going at a slow speed, or going fast.. Do you prefer to jump, or hit the brakes/try to maneuver around instead?

I'm guessing it depends also on which wheels you are using? Or if your fork is alu, or carbon?
I'm putting together a new build with a carbon frame and 25mm-ish Cosmic wheels, I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to handle the front wheel..

Just as an example, here's this video of a guy jumping over some very small sidewalk, one wheel at a time, at a slow speed.. How much farther can that be taken, in a safely manner? (for the bike's integrity, the wheels, and for you)

around 2:13:



Thanks much for your opinions

bigfred 

About like this:


Any more questions?

Stix Zadinia

Well I'm on the light side I guess (I'm around 145lb), so I guess jumping on and off sidewalks aggressively -as I'm used to do- is definitely not a problem at all, then?

zigmeister

That video is a bit extreme, but obviously guys like Sagan beat the he&& out of their bikes and they are no worse for wear?

These frames can take a beating along with the components. I'm 165lbs.

Homebrew01

Bunnyhopping is an important skill for racing or group riding so you can avoid potholes etc without changing your line. Riding solo, more likely to go around it.

clausen

With the roads around here I bunny hop at least once on most rides. If your good at it on a MTB it easy on a road bike. As for on and off sidewalks it easily done but not something I would do unless in a emergency situation. On a MTB your running lower pressure and have stronger wheels.

Bob Dopolina 

Qft.

Learn it, live it, love it.

surgeonstone

Holy crap, how many wheel sets a year does this guy go through. Best part, the babes cleaning it with WD40

rat fink

Yeah, you can do a lot of extreme stuff on a road bike, but let's be real here. Those trials guys have some of the smoothest form possible. In a lot of cases they are likely exacting forces that are less damaging than a regular 200 pound cyclist riding of a curb with dead weight. If you were to do the same stuff (or less) with bad form, you would likely be knocking your wheels out of true or bending your handlebar. That said, the parts on quality road bikes are still quite stout. There isn't a bike I own that I don't bunny hop, ride off road or on singletrack, occasionally jump, and ride/hop up and down curbs. I've never broken or significantly damaged my wheels or any part of my bikes doing these shenanigans.

bigfred 

In the out takes clip he claims the video was done with a single set of wheels and one flat. But as rat fink points out, these trials riders are probably less abusive to the components than your average overweight fred hitting an unseen pot hole.