How 'off road' can a road bike go?

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Steve Austin

The Marmalade Kid
Location
Mlehworld
You should see the saddle now. Its a beautiful neon green Arione. looks great :blush:
 

Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
Going back to the OP. One option would be to go for an audax bike which typically take up to 28mm tyres. I find these good enough for Sustrans type off road paths (eg tow paths, old railway lines, etc). You'd also find it pretty nippy on the road.

Alternatively you could go for a full blown tourer which would allow even wider tyres, but still enable you go reasonably fast on a road, and would be really comfortable for long distances.

As a starting point you could check out a Dawes Audax and Dawes Galaxy - though there are planty of alternatives.
 

Vitesse

New Member
You can take any bike anywhere if you try hard enough! My Dawes tourer, mostly running on 700-25s, has done lots of off-road miles without too many problems. It's much worse on 23s, though, both from a riding pov and because the tyres don't have enough cushioning to stop the tubes from getting pinched on rough surfaces. I've also taken a heavy, steel framed road bike up Snowdon...
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
How far can a roadbike go off road ?...
I keep thinking did i go too far with my Via Nirone ? I was'nt averse to going down occasional tracks through woodland, and rough cinder tracks across farmland, it seemed to cope ok.
Then i found this crack when investigating a creak when pedalling hard on the road...
DSC02007.jpg


I dont believe the off road tracks were responsible...but perhaps accelerated a manufacturing defect.
On the assumed basis that it wasnt the off road riding (which is maybe 0.5% of my total riding) that caused it, i still do the same tracks. But it's only an assumption. Who can tell ?
 
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