Surface Dressing :-(

[mjr]

T'is true. Doubting it doesn't change it.

Asserting it doesn't prove it, either.

 

[humboldt]

Excuse to buy a gravel bike?

 

[Shortandcrisp]

Inadvertently turned into a recently top surfaced road last summer. Riding a Caad10 with 25mm tyres. Very little clearance at the best of times. Both wheels stopped turning within a few metres and I came to a complete stop. Stones chips between the tyres and wheel arches had ground the paint back to the alu.
Aaaagh!

 

[Globalti]

Presumably results in more fuel being used by cars. Not great in the greater scheme of things.

That's exactly what shouldn't happen. Top dressing is popular with highways engineers who are obsessed by skid-resistance. It's not easy to do because they have to apply a tar emulsion then a layer of granite chips and leave it to dry and then remove excess chips. Done badly or in the wrong weather it can fail, which means the contractor has to do it again. As it wears out top-dressing is horrible for cyclists. It's quite an exact science.

 

[WelshJon]

They done the same last year, most notably for myself in Morriston. Takes a while for cars to blow the loose stuff away, especially down the relatively quiet Gower

 

[Slick]

That's exactly what shouldn't happen. Top dressing is popular with highways engineers who are obsessed by skid-resistance. It's not easy to do because they have to apply a tar emulsion then a layer of granite chips and leave it to dry and then remove excess chips. Done badly or in the wrong weather it can fail, which means the contractor has to do it again. As it wears out top-dressing is horrible for cyclists. It's quite an exact science.

This was a few years ago now but one contractor got it horribly wrong when I think the bitumen was faulty and every car that drove through it sunk in lime mud. Not sure what the final repair bill was but it must have been huge.

 

[bpsmith]

I think I got away with it, but wasn’t impressed trying to avoid thicker loose sections, whilst also dodging cars travelling well in excess of the 10mph on the signs. I get that 10mph is very slow indeed, but they could have slowed when we passed each other.

Was second ride for me on my Helium SL and my my Brother on his Emonda RSL, so we we’re far from pleased.

Ridley put a decal on the seat tube stating “Tested on Pavé”, which was certainly what I did yesterday. Close enough anyway.

Rang the Highways Dept to query if that was the final surface, or whether there was tarmac to follow. They said it’s not the final surface as they will sweep it next week to remove the excess. I just said thank you, thinking to myself that it wasn’t quite my idea of final surface.

 

[Globalti]

There's a stretch of road in Lancashire between Haslingden and the so-called Grane Road where the job was done badly and all the chippings broke free and the emulsion went all over people's cars even though the weather was cold. I was in the habit of driving that way but had to spend a couple of hours removing all the dried tar from my car with paraffin so stopped using that road.

The same crew probably laid this surface a few miles away: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.u...angry_residents__cars_damaged_by_bits_of_tar/

 

[Milzy]

You know that you don't have to read every thread if it's not relevant to you, right?

I’m going to start a new “Too pro to wave thread”.

 

[bpsmith]

I’m going to start a new “Too pro to wave thread”.

Why don’t you start a thread about pointless threads?

 

[simon.r]

 

[Milzy]

Why don’t you start a thread about pointless threads?

Good idea. Your post helps more than this one.