rough roads

[Fv2]

Anyone remember riding a bike down the rail road tracks to the best fishing spot or swimming hole as a kid?

Well we're not quite as young as we once were. So my question to you is this.
If you were to do this today,or even ride down a pot holed road. What would you want?

A full suspension mt bike,or something with seat suspension or both. What would you build?

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I would love the say a Klunker bike to skid around the holes and tear up the tires, but I really don't have the energy for that, so maybe a Toyota?

Luke.

 

[Bicycle808]

Haha, yes....a 'Yota would probably do the trick.

I always rode next to the tracks as a kid. I'd do the same now. Riding over railroad ties sucks. To get thru the woods to a good fishing spot, I'd take a full-figid MTB or a cruiser with knobbies (klunker). To get down a road with terrible potholes, my weapon of choice would be either a full-rigid MTB or a cruiser with ANY fat tires (knobby or slick would do...)

 

[DJ Bill]

I'm building up a junker $5 Genesis V2100 to be my winter /rough service urban bomber...I dunno if the full suspension will be a good or bad thing..but it is definitely getting as cushy a tire as I can find. I did have a different cheap suspension MTB and it was great for our bomb zone streets here in Schenectady.

All I need is a good trigger shifter and some cables and it'll be ridable again. This is the Plastidip test guinea pig too.

I did recently ride right over a parking lot cement curb marker thing with a rigid bike (Schwinn Mesa) and I was shocked to see no adverse effects except to my ego. (Look where you're going, dummy!)

 

[Fv2]

I didn't think about cushy tires,I figured suspension would be the way to go.
I don't think my body is up to the shock of rail ties and pot holes,figured suspension would be the way to go.
I cross tracks in the woods on the way to work,but just carry my bike over them.

Never been a fan of shifting gears,but might put together a klunker.

 

[horsefarmer]

Def like balloon tires for ride over rough stuff. Have couple bikes wiith cheapo spring mountain bike style forks - work ok. Have a 1950s Schwinn with factory springer and middleweight tires - have not ridden it yet tho.
Got 2001 Schwinn rocket 3 with soft tail has a mooshy comfort ride - don't care for pogo effect when pedaling - but cheap-o shock don't help either.

 

[Kevin Kanouff]

Full suspension on a cheap bike is like the opposite of full suspension. Bouncy 40 lb pogo stick!

 

[G-Matt]

You need to have one of these bad boys 29" wheels , 2 gears up front & 10 in the rear with full suspension . Eats up the bumps like candy . This bike is bad to the bone ! [emoji88]


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[horsefarmer]

Think I'm gonna gut the Schwinn Rocket 3 and put the parts on a different frame to make it a hardtail.

 

[Fv2]

You need to have one of these bad boys 29" wheels , 2 gears up front & 10 in the rear with full suspension . Eats up the bumps like candy . This bike is bad to the bone ! [emoji88]


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Might be what I need,a bit out of my price range tho.

 

[Fv2]

Think I'm gonna gut the Schwinn Rocket 3 and put the parts on a different frame to make it a hardtail.

I have a rigid schwinn mt bike frame from the 90's.
Was thinking of making a river rat out of it.

I saw a while back about a group of people that build bikes that ride the rails,it's only legal on unused track but it looked like fun.

 

[G-Matt]

Might be what I need,a bit out of my price range tho.

Ya you got that right it was the most costly bike i ever bought . Saved for over a year for it .... But if you trail ride it's worth it !!!


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[user 135]

Look for some tires like Schwalbe Fat Frank's or Big Apples in a 2.35 size. They will fit in most frames and aired at 25psi is like riding on clouds. http://www.schwalbe.com/en/balloonbikes.html

 

[Fv2]

Look for some tires like Schwalbe Fat Frank's or Big Apples in a 2.35 size. They will fit in most frames and aired at 25psi is like riding on clouds. http://www.schwalbe.com/en/balloonbikes.html

That's the size tire I have on 2 wheel Artemus and my bull rat, I'll lower the air pressure and see what I think.

 

[us56456712]

The 29 full suspension would be good for RR tracks. I hate mine for very tight twisty single tracks though. I have a bad crash every time I ride it on this stuff. No problem here with my 26 inch wheeled bikes, in fact I have no problem on the machine cut or rough straight single tracks with the 29. Our club has 40 miles of hand cut single tracks and I have problems here with the 29. I clip my handle bars a few times with each 15 mile ride. In a place with a steep up hill with a 90 degree tight turn the length of the bicycle at the top with an immediate steep drop off I can't get the bike absolutely straight and lined up with the trail and end out out clipping a tree and flying into a gully. Our trail is just a little wider than my bars in at this and a lot of other places and you need to be able to get the bike straight right away, which is harder with 29 inch wheels. Happens like that in different spots with each ride. I feel like throwing it away and keep going back to my 26 inch bikes. The 29 has wide handle bars to help steer the clown wheels and they are too wide to fit between trees on several places on these trails. In a lot of places they just fit. I have to stop, stay on the bike and grab onto a tree and wiggle the bike between the trees. I am reluctant to cut the bars down as everyone tells me that it makes the big 29 inch wheels too hard to turn. Taller riders here can handle them on these trails but I am short, old and have poor balance so the 26 is better for me. I cut 3 inches off my 26 inch bars and could cut another 2 inches off them and have the perfect 26 inch setup. I think the 29 would be good in more open areas out west. I would really like to get rid of it but no one wants a year old bike, it's not new so I am stuck with it. I can even ride my rigid klunkers better on these trails. We have a 47 mile Rails to Trails bike path here and there is a section that goes down over a bridge up and down again. Running beside it is an elevated but level active RR grade. I ride on it to avoid the up and down and I don't think the RR grade is too bad on my 29.

 

[G-Matt]

The 29 full suspension would be good for RR tracks. I hate mine for very tight twisty single tracks though. I have a bad crash every time I ride it on this stuff. No problem here with my 26 inch wheeled bikes, in fact I have no problem on the machine cut or rough straight single tracks with the 29. Our club has 40 miles of hand cut single tracks and I have problems here with the 29. I clip my handle bars a few times with each 15 mile ride. In a place with a steep up hill with a 90 degree tight turn the length of the bicycle at the top with an immediate steep drop off I can't get the bike absolutely straight and lined up with the trail and end out out clipping a tree and flying into a gully. Our trail is just a little wider than my bars in at this and a lot of other places and you need to be able to get the bike straight right away, which is harder with 29 inch wheels. Happens like that in different spots with each ride. I feel like throwing it away and keep going back to my 26 inch bikes. The 29 has wide handle bars to help steer the clown wheels and they are too wide to fit between trees on several places on these trails. In a lot of places they just fit. I have to stop, stay on the bike and grab onto a tree and wiggle the bike between the trees. I am reluctant to cut the bars down as everyone tells me that it makes the big 29 inch wheels too hard to turn. Taller riders here can handle them on these trails but I am short, old and have poor balance so the 26 is better for me. I cut 3 inches off my 26 inch bars and could cut another 2 inches off them and have the perfect 26 inch setup. I think the 29 would be good in more open areas out west. I would really like to get rid of it but no one wants a year old bike, it's not new so I am stuck with it. I can even ride my rigid klunkers better on these trails. We have a 47 mile Rails to Trails bike path here and there is a section that goes down over a bridge up and down again. Running beside it is an elevated but level active RR grade. I ride on it to avoid the up and down and I don't think the RR grade is too bad on my 29.

It sounds like you need to cut your bars down . My home town single track trail is narrow windy & roots . My bike tracks well . I had never even ridden a 29er before & I bought my bike & took to it with no problems it just goes over stuff much easier & climes way better . I actually sold my 26" mnt bike & put the cash towards my 29er . That's Just my opinion . As long as your riding & having fun that's all that matters .... [emoji106][emoji106][emoji481]


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[Bicycle808]

I'm able ride a lot of different bikes over railroad tracks, but it sucks b/c of the frequency and regularity of the hits from the ties. This is why the rails-to-trails guys smooth'm out. 29ers are awesome, especially for singlespeed duty but i think the benefits tend(ed) to be overstated by zealots. Due to geometric factors, the physics of how the tire's arc contacts a "bump" is better on a larger-diameter wheel, but when i traded up a 26" SS for a 29" one, there weren't many sections that i could clean with my 29er that the 26" couldn't handle. The main difference was, the larger wheel acted as a bigger "flywheel", so my rolling momentum while coasting was much better.

Dual suspension is great, especially for folks who tackle some truly technical trails. Double-boingers are arguably overkill for the rest of us, but regardless of your actual needs and feelings on suspension, it does require a fair amount of extra maintenance. In my bikeshop days, many customers with suspension forks (or front/rear suspension) had some pretty funky things going on, as they'd neglected their suspension components, giving them exactly as much care as they would a full rigid frameset.

You want a good all-terrain fishin' set-up? Build yourself a "canal cruiser"...

These guys don't use any suspension....

 

[Endlesschain]

I have an old Gary fisher Joshua x1 I built for my wife,that's pretty cruisy but too springy for pot holes but on the other hand I just built up a norco launch frame with fox vanilla R rear shock and 2004 bomber junior T front forks,SRAM X9 rear derailleur/shifter, build cost $50 for frame $20 for SRAM shifter/deraileir the rest was all parts laying around or swapped,plushest smoothest ride I have ever riden you can ride off a big curb sitting down and not even feel a thing,pothole eater

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[KJV]

Ballon tires,& air them to max psi.

 

[DJ Bill]

I have an old Gary fisher Joshua x1 I built for my wife,that's pretty cruisy but too springy for pot holes but on the other hand I just built up a norco launch frame with fox vanilla R rear shock and 2004 bomber junior T front forks,SRAM X9 rear derailleur/shifter, build cost $50 for frame $20 for SRAM shifter/deraileir the rest was all parts laying around or swapped,plushest smoothest ride I have ever riden you can ride off a big curb sitting down and not even feel a thing,pothole eater

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Got a picture of those? The$70 special sounds like a great bike for urban attack mode!