Curb-hopping and truing wheels

I ride in the city, and I do a bit of curb hopping. Just don't see how to
avoid it, not all the time. Also I ride with weight over my back wheel
(panniers/milk crate). I weigh 140lbs.

The result is that my rear wheel is frequently out of true. I do what I can
to maintain it, but the bike was bought used and the rim was already a
little damaged - it's hard to get it perfect and the spoke tensions are not
totally even.

My question is: next spring I am going to sink some money into a
long-awaited 'decent bike'. If I get one with good strong wheels, will they
be able to manage the occasional curb with no hard feelings, or is this a
riding habit that I must change? I will be looking at hybrid and road bikes,
so will probably be running 700x25-35's

Thanks,

Adam

so will probably be running 700x25-35's

I think you should be looking at using a mountain bike with slicks for road use. You'll
be able to hop curbs and not worry about your wheels becoming untrue.

Dave

"Jacobe Hazzard" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
I ride in the city, and I do a bit of curb hopping. Just don't see how to
avoid it, not all the time.

I've been riding in cities for more than 40 years. I don't think I've ever
hopped a curb in my life.

RichC

"onefred" wrote in message ...

I think you should be looking at using a mountain bike with slicks for road use. You'll
be able to hop curbs and not worry about your wheels becoming untrue.

I tried that myself, but I still warped wheels. Now I'm back to road
bikes exclusively for utility cycling, and I stay off of sidewalks
entirely. Much better, and safer.

-Steve Goodridge

http://humantransport.org/bicycledriving/

I can see the necesesity for hopping curbs for SOME people, even if you
haven't done it in 40 years.

Some cities are just a lot less bike friendly, and some parts (construction,
road block, traffic jam) require you to hop up onto a curb. A lot of people
would rather hop on and keep momentum than slow down to a crawl to go up
it... Some people I see in the city FLY on their bikes, while some take
their time and wouldn't mind slowing down or stopping for any small curb or
bump.

As for the rims, I'm 150LBS on a mountain bike with 32 hole rims with 1.2"
slicks with about 55LBS in them. I hop a curb or two at least once a day and
my wheels are still basically true (meaning, I could probably get them
straighter.. but they are still within +/- 1mm). I guess it helps when
hopping curbs to know how to do it smoothly..

dropping down from a curb is easy.. just make sure that both wheels land at
the same time and you cushion the landing with your body.. very smooth and
I'd imagine minimal impact to rims and such.

getting up a curb is hard.. If you are going at all fast, I wouldnt' suggest
the typical lift the front wheel and pray that the back wheel makes it.
Learn to do a nice bunny hop and land on both wheels again at the same time
at the top.

Something like that, I'd imagine would be a nice skill to have even if you
don't use it. If a car/bus decides to suddenly turn right and you are all
out of room, a quick hop like that onto a curb could really save some skin.

Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com


Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com

"Rich Clark" wrote in message
...

"Jacobe Hazzard" wrote in
message
e.rogers.com...
I ride in the city, and I do a bit of curb hopping. Just don't see how
to
avoid it, not all the time.

I've been riding in cities for more than 40 years. I don't think I've ever
hopped a curb in my life.

RichC

Mike Beauchamp wrote:
I can see the necesesity for hopping curbs for SOME people, even if
you haven't done it in 40 years.

Thanks for the recognition. I know a lot of people belong to the
stay-on-the-road/stop-and-carry school of thought, but sometimes I just
don't wanna.

I'm gonna work on my bunny hops on level ground for a while. Hopefully I can
become a master and hop tall buildings without my bike ever knowing. It's
just so hard to lift the rear wheel with stuff on the rack, but I WILL
SUCCEED.

Adam

I often ride with a huge amount of extra weight on my rear wheel
when I carry groceries in my cargo box and in a backpack. My spokes
hardly need any adjustment at all, even though I go through the routine
every few weeks. I have never broken a spoke in 4 years on this bike.
But, I never hop curbs and avoid potholes. This is a mtn. bike with
alloy rims (Sun Rims Z16) and 26 X 1.95 high-pressure smooth treads.
I'd say that if you are going to continue jumping curbs, that wide rims
and tires would be the best to use. Narrow road wheels would suffer
much more from this kind of rough use.

I previously have regularly towed a trailer loaded to about 125
lbs. with a road bike that had narrow wheels (1 1/8-inch tires). I had
constant trouble with spokes breaking, rims going out of true and tire
breakdowns. I finally wised-up and got a 2nd mtn. bike with the same
wheels described above, to use as a trailer hauler. It rarely needs
wheel truing and has had no broken spokes so far.

Steve McDonald

Get a bike with touring rims and mountain bike hubs, 32 or 36 spokes, 14 ga,
preferably hand built that has been stress relieved. Usually hybrids have
low end wheeels because the customer base for hybrids are mostly beginner
riders.

"Jacobe Hazzard" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
I ride in the city, and I do a bit of curb hopping. Just don't see how to
avoid it, not all the time. Also I ride with weight over my back wheel
(panniers/milk crate). I weigh 140lbs.

The result is that my rear wheel is frequently out of true. I do what I
can
to maintain it, but the bike was bought used and the rim was already a
little damaged - it's hard to get it perfect and the spoke tensions are
not
totally even.

My question is: next spring I am going to sink some money into a
long-awaited 'decent bike'. If I get one with good strong wheels, will
they
be able to manage the occasional curb with no hard feelings, or is this a
riding habit that I must change? I will be looking at hybrid and road
bikes,
so will probably be running 700x25-35's

Thanks,

Adam

"Jacobe Hazzard" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
Mike Beauchamp wrote:
I can see the necesesity for hopping curbs for SOME people, even if
you haven't done it in 40 years.

It's no more "necessary" for a bike than for a car.

I'm not assigning any value to the practice, saying it's evil or obnoxious
or anything like that. I'm just saying that in all these years I've never
run across a situation where it's necessary. On those rare occasions where
the road is blocked and I choose to go onto the sidewalk, I don't mind
losing a few seconds out of my life in order to lift my bike.

RichC

Rich Clark wrote:
It's no more "necessary" for a bike than for a car.

I'm not assigning any value to the practice, saying it's evil or
obnoxious or anything like that. I'm just saying that in all these
years I've never run across a situation where it's necessary. On
those rare occasions where the road is blocked and I choose to go
onto the sidewalk, I don't mind losing a few seconds out of my life
in order to lift my bike.


OK we agree. I should have phrased my query, I *choose* to hop curbs, what's
the best way?

Adam