Soft patch cracks in road
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Soft patch cracks in road
Watch the patched cracks in roads. As the temps climb that patch gets soft and can catch your wheel. Local rider went down recently, ended up in hospital with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Be careful out there.
#2
Life Feeds On Life
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Hondo,Texas
Posts: 2,143
Bikes: Too many Motobecanes
Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4409 Post(s)
Liked 4,521 Times
in
3,023 Posts
Yup just like our county maintenance. Just shovel some asphalt in the hole and watch the heat melt it into a pile a gue. Avoid them or just like you said or a possible wreck or getting the bike full of tar like substances.
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Middle Earth (aka IA)
Posts: 20,433
Bikes: A bunch of old bikes and a few new ones
Mentioned: 178 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5888 Post(s)
Liked 3,471 Times
in
2,079 Posts
Yep, this is one reason I like riding with 32c tires. There are some reasonably lightweight ones out there but yeah this can be dangerous.
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 5,971
Bikes: 2015 Charge Plug, 2007 Dahon Boardwalk, 1997 Nishiki Blazer, 1984 Nishiki International, 2006 Felt F65, 1989 Dahon Getaway V
Mentioned: 54 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1364 Post(s)
Liked 1,676 Times
in
827 Posts
At lunchtime Thursday I saw a nice cafe-style motorcycle on its side in a parking lot. A closer inspection showed the kickstand was down, plus a kickstand-sized hole in the soft, gooey patch of a pavement crack.
I never thought of catching a tire in one while riding, but now I will.
I never thought of catching a tire in one while riding, but now I will.
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Zang's Spur, CO
Posts: 9,080
Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3370 Post(s)
Liked 5,492 Times
in
2,845 Posts
At lunchtime Thursday I saw a nice cafe-style motorcycle on its side in a parking lot. A closer inspection showed the kickstand was down, plus a kickstand-sized hole in the soft, gooey patch of a pavement crack.
I never thought of catching a tire in one while riding, but now I will.
I never thought of catching a tire in one while riding, but now I will.
Soon after buying my current "adventure" bike, I realized it was impossible to park it on anything other than pavement, due to the tiny kickstand pad. I solved the problem with a large aftermarket pad from a Chinese seller on eBay.
#6
Non omnino gravis
#7
Old fart
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Appleton WI
Posts: 24,778
Bikes: Several, mostly not name brands.
Mentioned: 153 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3583 Post(s)
Liked 3,395 Times
in
1,929 Posts
AKA "tar snakes." They can grab your wheel and pull it around to follow the crack, if you're not paying attention. Wider tires can help, but even motorcycles have problems with them.
#8
Jazz Aficionado
Yes indeed... been riding motorcycles for 47 years and on a curvy road, you can slide in the tar snakes so quickly... and go down just as fast. Same with road bikes!
#9
☢
Photo. I have no idea what you're talking about. Never saw a "soft patch" in the road.
#10
I'm the anecdote.
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: S.E. Texas
Posts: 1,822
Bikes: '12 Schwinn, '13 Norco
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1110 Post(s)
Liked 1,176 Times
in
795 Posts
#11
Me duelen las nalgas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Texas
Posts: 13,513
Bikes: Centurion Ironman, Trek 5900, Univega Via Carisma, Globe Carmel
Mentioned: 199 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4559 Post(s)
Liked 2,802 Times
in
1,800 Posts
Yup, common problem in Texas, although less so since most road maintenance has switched to chipseal. The polymer-modified bitumen dries quicker, harder and lasts longer. The stuff stays hard even in 100+F Texas heat. The downside is rough rides with skinny tires.
I don't worry about it so much during group rides with fast experienced riders, but on casual group rides I leave plenty of room all around because inexperienced riders tend to ride along or on top of patched long cracks running parallel with the direction of travel. Usually they get away with it but occasionally someone's wheel will catch a ledge or bit of cracked pavement that hasn't been patched recently. Down they go, along with anyone nearby. One reason why I almost always prefer my fat tire hybrid on casual group rides.
Generally you can see those long cracks clearly so I don't know why so many cyclists ride on top of them. Unfortunately the success of the polymer bitumen for chipseal and patching makes people complacent and they overlook the possibility that some rural counties may still use older asphaltic treatments that take longer to dry and will soften in heat.
I don't worry about it so much during group rides with fast experienced riders, but on casual group rides I leave plenty of room all around because inexperienced riders tend to ride along or on top of patched long cracks running parallel with the direction of travel. Usually they get away with it but occasionally someone's wheel will catch a ledge or bit of cracked pavement that hasn't been patched recently. Down they go, along with anyone nearby. One reason why I almost always prefer my fat tire hybrid on casual group rides.
Generally you can see those long cracks clearly so I don't know why so many cyclists ride on top of them. Unfortunately the success of the polymer bitumen for chipseal and patching makes people complacent and they overlook the possibility that some rural counties may still use older asphaltic treatments that take longer to dry and will soften in heat.
#12
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,891
Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
Mentioned: 129 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4791 Post(s)
Liked 3,918 Times
in
2,548 Posts
I make it a practice to always cross cracks, sealed, filled or otherwise, at an angle. I will even steer away from a crack I am very close to just so I an come back and cross it aggressively. (I dropped my 2-year-old Peter Mooney's front tire into a crack in the shade of a bridge handrail and went over the bars. A rude wake-up call.)
A little secret - the best tire tread to climb out of cracks, ruts and back onto the road is the ribbed tread of sewups 40 years ago. The fine lines of tread that go lengthwise around the tire. The tread that looks the same at 40 mph as at a standstill. Sadly it disappeared for about 25 years. Vittoria has brought it back on their best tires, the G+ and G2.0. Not cheap, but that tread is as good as I remembered it to be. I hope it becomes popular, that other manufacturers start using it and Vittoria take it down to their cheaper models. 40 years ago it was commonplace.
Ben
A little secret - the best tire tread to climb out of cracks, ruts and back onto the road is the ribbed tread of sewups 40 years ago. The fine lines of tread that go lengthwise around the tire. The tread that looks the same at 40 mph as at a standstill. Sadly it disappeared for about 25 years. Vittoria has brought it back on their best tires, the G+ and G2.0. Not cheap, but that tread is as good as I remembered it to be. I hope it becomes popular, that other manufacturers start using it and Vittoria take it down to their cheaper models. 40 years ago it was commonplace.
Ben
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Southeast U.S.
Posts: 451
Bikes: 2011 Fuji Absolute 3.0 -- 1997 Trek 830 (modified to hybrid)
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 79 Post(s)
Liked 548 Times
in
170 Posts
I went down hard back in April on just such a crack - I was going in to a slow turn and wham! the tires just went out from under me. I was sore for a week or ten days but the real pain was from the $210 urgent care bill - it caused a big hematoma on my arm and the doctor order x-rays to make sure my wrist wasn't cracked. I guess I was "lucky" to get out for $210...?
I call them snake trails, they will bite you!
I call them snake trails, they will bite you!