What tyre pressure for pave/cobble stones?

So tomorrow I have enetered a road race called ‘Hölle des Ostens’ (Hell of the East). It’s a race of 195km with over 50km of the best/worst pave this part of Germany can muster. I am going to be running carbon clincher rims with 25mm Conti tyres and latex tubes. What pressure should I go for? Pump up rock hard to avoid pinch flats (120psi) or softer to stop my teeth falling out(80-100psi or lower)?

If you’re racing – high speeds and less opportunity to chose a line- then higher pressures surely (though not sure I’d run 120, at 65kg they would be solid).

Nicely bent elbows, relaxed upper body and loose grip on bars will sort the comfort.

Personally about 80psi (I’m a few kg lighter than you) and an extra layer of bar tape.
Have you ridden cobbles before?
There’s probably other techniques for the cobble sections such as cadence and gear changes and riding at a certain speed?

Good luck and hope it doesn’t rain..

Have you ridden cobbles before?

Oh yes but only on training rides and a few kilometres at a time. There are some truly horrendous cobbled roads round these parts. 😮

Seek year the wisdom of Kenny van Vlaminck. He knows all there is about the making of the cobbles ridings at the good levels.

Go as low as you dare. 80psi or so would be my starting point (I’m 65kg). Depends a bit on the cobbles too, nice smooth-ish ones like Flanders and you can go a bit higher, dreadful ones like Arenberg and I’d be looking for lower still.

Start at 80psi and maybe lower – you want to avoid rebound – at higher pressures you’ll have less grip and more likely to rip a sidewall. Get your ar$e over the back of the saddle and use your quads to drive the biggest gear you can mash over the stones.

How heavy are you?

For me (76 kg including bike) I’d say 100 rear and 95 front is typical. Pros will be riding slightly lower 95/85, but their tyres are a little wider and rounder profile (tubs).

Boy was that a steep learning curve! Even though it was ‘only’ 50km of pavé out of 190km it felt like a short bit of road linking the next pavé sector. Words cannot describe the battering your arms and hands get but the absolute worst were the two descents. The last one was in the last 30km which was a steep descent after a 4km pavé section. At one point I thought my hands weren’t going grip anymore as I hit about 50kmh. I have never experienced arm pump like it. Still finished in the top ten and the bike stayed in one piece (decided on 100 psi). Massive respect to the pros who have to do all that with a screaming mob at the side of the sectors!

Good work. Sounds horrendous but fun!

I’m 71kg’s and rode 80F 85R after being advised as such for the Tour of Flanders on 25mm Vittoria Pave’s – no issues.

100 psi?
LOL
Must have been like trying to hold onto the working end of a jack hammer. I ran about 70 on 25mm tubs last time i rode a cobbled event. Weighed about 65 odd kilos then.
Would have preferred bigger tyres at lower pressure. But was paying for them myself. 😐

Current crop of pros will be running anything from 60-80 ish depending on the rider and size of tyre, 24/25 will be pretty much the smallest anyone is riding, most will be on nearer 30, depending on what their tyre sponsors make. And what they’ll let them get away with 😉 I know when i last raced it was mostly FMBs or Dugast with tyre sponsor logos glued onto the side. Might have used vittoria Paves as well. Never lucky (or good!) enough to have a sponsor with dedicated cobble bikes so just got the biggest size that would fit and hope it either utterly chucked it down, or stayed dry……. current road bikes are so much better for clearance is not even funny!

100 psi?
LOL

kind of a shame you weren’t able to share that wisdom and experience with the OP BEFORE the event, when he was asking for advice!

Didn’t see the thread until this morning. Or i would.

Thanks for the advice ghostlymachine, better late than never! 😉

Yes it was brutal but at least I didn’t have any punctures. Loads of poeople did. I think next time I’ll take the mny cross bike. I was told a cross bike would be frowned upon but over half of the riders were on them. Problem being at the moment I have only got a tubs set of wheels for it and if I had a puncture that would have been my day over. Still wonderfully organized event even though it is actually unofficial (they had a three MX riders acting as a moving road block and a great team of ladies supplying homemade cake at the feeding stations).

Does that take place near Leipzig? Looks like a great event and I’ve always wanted to go over that side of Germany. Might check it out for next year.
I had 74.5psi for Roubaix last year and my finger joints and jaw ached for a fortnight afterwards.

@corroded
The start and finnish is in Halle which is about 50 mins from Leipzig with the car. The route took us around the countryside of Saxonny-Anhalt to the foothills of the Harz mountains. The area is one of the poorest in Germany which is why there are so many cobbled roads still, mostly built at the end of the 19th century which gives you an idea of their condition.

No idea why a proper cross bike would be frowned upon. Thats what most of the cobble bikes of the 80s and 90s were. Only major difference would be flattening the stays to clear man size chain rings without needing an axle 130mm long!

Probably more worried (if that’s the word) about the current crop of touring/drop bar hybrids with hugely flared bars and somewhat “stable” handling.

And FWIW I’d probably dress my cx race bike up with a compact and 30mm tubs to ride cobbles these days.

Have to find somewhere to put bottles too. 😕

Well done on finishing anyway. Took me 3 or 4 attempts to finish my first proper cobbled race.

Flanders sportive on 25mm 80 psi I am 78kg full 150 miles no punctures and yes I attacked the pave though I know the cobbles are tougher out on the Roubaix cource.