Commuting question, how good are road bikes

Off road?
Silly question I know, but if all goes according to the plan I should start a new work soon. No matter how I turn the route, going fixie isn’t going to be possible. Which leaves me several option. One of them (probably the fastest) involves a short cut of about 1km on a “bad” fire road.
This will shorten the time of commute considerably, and I was wondering how well a road bike will do on it. I could indeed use the MTB, or buy a cross bike, or build some 700 wheels for the MTB, but I was just wondering if I could actually just go up and down (actually just up) on the fire road on the road bike?

you’ll be fine.

don’t use race tyres or wheels.

You will die.

Sorry, but that’s a fact.

Not sure if it will be related to the brakes or not, but there you go. They’ll be good enough, though.

Ok I guess the best it to try it before I start to work 😉

Depends how “bad”…you could probably ride most fire roads on a 700×23 tire, but you might have to slow to walking pace.

700×32 would be a lot better.

Basically my concern is to ride it uphill, I could always take the “longer route” on my way back to work as it won’t get much much longer though.
Should I move to cross tyres though? Or will my slicks had enough grip on damp morning?

having done a few fire roads on a cross, a roadie and a mtb, i’d go mtb with fast 30+c tyres – you can spend a decent amount of money on sturdy roady wheels and tyres but the fork and rear triangle are just not designed to cope with the often mishap over a boulder, rock, ditch, drainage pipe etc, and more often than enough you’ll end up truing the wheels up all the time.

A stout road bike like the vaya above or cross check will be fine on and off road. Very practical bikes that sit between MTB and road. That would be my choice. A road bike for any road, because what some map making people think is a road is often dirt. Road bike no matter what your definition of road is… Is it an “any road bike”?

And in the summer I would add a rear rack and disappear for a week.

if it’s only 1 km why not put the bike on your shoulder and walk/ jog?
the biggest risk of riding a road bike offroad is a puncture, even if you’re careful – the drive to my house is like a fire road and I’ve punctured on it before so now just carry the bike.

they manage OK in e.g. paris roubaix

(don’t suppose they pay for their own kit though)

f it’s only 1 km why not put the bike on your shoulder and walk/ jog?

Will take me too long compare to ride. Plus I just hate running. I’ll see if I get the job first. Second will be to try the route one week end why the shortest way on the MTB and see how it goes. That failing I’ll use the “easiest” way and then see about getting new bike.

i would be more concerned about being covered in mud/crap from the fire road and your bike will be manky.

Touring or hybrid bike inc mudguards rack etc best for commuting and will deal with most surfaces

i do about half a mile along a bridelway on the way to/from work every day on my road bike – yeah it’s covered in crap and not the most comfortable bit of my route but it’s no worse than some of the manchester roads/cyclepaths!

Strava says i’ve managed it at 25MPH too 😀

A stout road bike like the vaya

now that is nice. 😛

You don’t say how far the total commute is? Anything under 8-10 miles and I’d probably use a mountain bike, I have an old 90s rigid kona which was my commuter at my old place of work.

If it’s long enough that you have to use the road bike, and the fire road is that bad, I’d probably ride round or use it as an excuse to buy a crosser or more sturdy road (winter) bike.

landcruiser tyres on a road bike would work

I just put some slightly fatter tyres on my Langster for a similar commute. They were some schwalbe ones with puncture protection and have been running fine for over 12 months now. The main reason I swapped was the Langster came with totally slick tyres as standard and would just spin out in the mud or grass. I guess a 29er xc or a CX bike would suit my commute better but they cost more than tyres

You don’t say how far the total commute is?

This. If it’s 1km out of a 30km commute I’d just do it on the road bike. 1km out of 10k I’d probably look at something more suitable.

Well depending on the route it’s between 20-30 kms. I need to investigate that further too.

what sort of tyre clearence has the bike got?

you’ll be surprised how capable a ‘big’ tyre is off road. I’ll happily ride a 35c michelin world tour in muddy woodland.

don’t expect it to be a mountain bike but it be perfect for a commute.

If its only 1 km then why not just walk it if it’s really bad. Defiantly try a wider tyre, as wide as you can on your bike tyre combo, most racing bike can use a 28mm tyre, than might be fine, you will hardly notice a difference on the road. Deffo get some full length mud guards too.

And how bad is this fireroad? I’ve ridden a few miles on gravelly, slightly rooty, but essentially flat trails on my Madone, several times with no ill effects. I’d want to avoid anything with lots of rocks or steep gradients though.

I’ve done Manchester – Liverpool – Manchester on the trans-pennine trail a few times, on a road bike with 23″ tyres. Very variable surface, lots of stones, gravel, small rocks, glass etc. No problems other than one puncture. Good tyres are as important as the bike though. Cross tyres tend to have very little puncture protection for things like glass etc and have a lot of drag on tarmac, best avoided. I’d go for the Continental Gatorskins which are virtually bullet-proof, but still ride very well. That said I would +1 the guy who said the Surly Cross Check. Had one of these until it got nicked and whilst it is a tad heavy it’s lovely to ride (Surly are the same company as Salsa) and just steamrollers through everything. It’s got clearance for big tyres and you can run a rack on it and mudguards no probs. If I had to have one bike for everything it would probably be that, as with fat fat tyres on it, it would be into 29er territory (sort of). If you want a great alu cross frame, look at the Kinesis range, they consistently get good reviews, but if I was you I’d check for rack and mudguard mounts.

This is the singletrack forum so the only sensible anwser is to buy 3 bikes, 2 road and 1 mtb. Leave 1 road bike chained up at the end of the fire road and the mtb chained up at the start. Set out from home on the road bike, once you get to the fire road unlock the mtb and lock up the road bike, use the mtb along the fire road, when you get to the end unlock the other road bike and lock up the mtb, then continue on your journey to work, on the way hojme just reverse.

Make sure all bikes are niche, and preferably the frames be handmade in the US by blind monks

A tourer with 700×35 Marathon Racers or similar would be OK on road and cope with fire road easily. Also good for panniers if you need to carry stuff to/from work.

Cheapest opption would be slicks on the MTB. I’ve got 26×2 Marathon Supremes on a rigid MTB – fairly fast on road, excellent on fire road, no punctures in 2 years.

Depends I suppose on how long the road commute is.

I’d happily take a road bike on 1km of fire road. If you ride in France, half the back roads have a habit of turning into farm tracks anyway. It’s fun riding them on 23c tyres. Just pick a line and ride sensible.

One of my favourite routes round my MiL’s house involves a very broken asphalt road, it’s not a problem going up (due to slow speed), but a pain going down – you spend the whole time on the brakes. (Same thing on rough concrete, too). Didn’t get the feeling the bike was going to fall apart, but I only go up there once or twice a year, I wouldn’t want to do it downhill daily.

23c tyres, BTW.

I’ve done Manchester – Liverpool – Manchester on the trans-pennine trail a few times, on a road bike with 23″ tyres.

23″? Putting the ph into phat tyres! Godzillacross?

You’ll be reet. Just keep you head up and pick a line. Would suggest looking at the tyres on your MTB though. I run Halo Twin Rails on my commuter. Good enough on a variety of surfaces and puncture resistant. And cheap.