Bicycle Austin forum

btrettel

Member

Registered: 2013-10-01

Posts: 60

Road quality in Austin

Is it just me or are the roads in Austin too often in terrible shape?

I moved to Austin from the DC metro area a few months ago. One of the first differences I noticed was how rough many of the roads are. There are tons of potholes, uneven surfaces, huge cracks, and debris, not to mention the chipseal (which unfortunately seems to be a feature, not a bug). I've had more flats in the past three months than the year preceding those months.

Today I wiped out on a road, seemingly because it was so uneven. I sprained my wrist in the process. (I should be okay.)

Would reporting these issues to the city via 311 actually help?

Otherwise, what else can I do? Switch to wider tires and under-inflate them? Ride a recumbent so that I'm not so high up? Ride a tricycle?

AusTexMurf

Member

From: South Austin

Registered: 2008-11-21

Posts: 439

Re: Road quality in Austin

Would reporting these issues to the city via 311 actually help?

Otherwise, what else can I do? Switch to wider tires and under-inflate them? Ride a recumbent so that I'm not so high up? Ride a tricycle?

Glad to hear you are more or less ok and that well-meaning folks came out to check on you.
Similar incident happened to me on Pedernales. Bike tire caught in a crack along a section of the defunct rail line there. I hope that I don't make the same mistake twice, however, I never even saw it coming. I was flying in the dark and couldn't differentiate between road surface, old rail, and black crack of open space.

tire thread here
I run 26X2.15 Schwalbe Big Apples on my main commuter and urban assault rig.
700X37 Conti Travel Contacts on my steel cyclocross commuter.
700X32 Panaracer TServs on my vintage roadie commuter.
Wider tires do help. Run nice, supple, wide, flat resistant tires, for daily use around town. My $0.02.

Try the 311 online system, here:
Online 311 Request

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-11-24 12:47:41)

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: Road quality in Austin

Would reporting these issues to the city via 311 actually help?

I believe so, yes.  I reported a crack that caught somebody's tire and caused a crash over near the old airport, and they fixed it in a few days.

Otherwise, what else can I do? Switch to wider tires and under-inflate them? Ride a recumbent so that I'm not so high up? Ride a tricycle?

Fatter tires are a good idea.  Under inflating them won't help much with this, and will make you slower.  Inflate them to the recommended pressure for pavement riding, even bad pavement. 

As for a recumbent bike, it would probably make it worse, not better.  Sure, you may not have as far to fall, but that also means less time to react once a fall starts.  They also tend to have smaller tires, which make it worse.  And with your feet not below you, it's harder to use them to stop an unexpected fall than with an upright bike.

A recumbent trike would help, but really ... I'd say the type of fall you experienced is quite rare, even on bad pavement.  (Probably happens more when MTBing, however.)  I wouldn't switch bike types just because of that.

btrettel

Member

Registered: 2013-10-01

Posts: 60

Re: Road quality in Austin

Glad to hear you are more or less ok and that well-meaning folks came out to check on you.
Similar incident happened to me on Pedernales. Bike tire caught in a crack along a section of the defunct rail line there. I hope that I don't make the same mistake twice, however, I never even saw it coming. I was flying in the dark and couldn't differentiate between road surface, old rail, and black crack of open space.

tire thread here
I run 26X2.15 Schwalbe Big Apples on my main commuter and urban assault rig.
700X37 Conti Travel Contacts on my steel cyclocross commuter.
700X32 Panaracer TServs on my vintage roadie commuter.
Wider tires do help. Run nice, supple, wide, flat resistant tires, for daily use around town. My $0.02.

Ouch, sounds pretty similar.

Schwalbe Big Apples look amazing. I'll have to get a bike that they'll fit on.

I just recently switched from some very worn 700x32 tires to 700x28 ones on my main bike. I think my rims are wide enough to take 700x37s, so I'll look into that.

I believe so, yes.  I reported a crack that caught somebody's tire and caused a crash over near the old airport, and they fixed it in a few days.

Good to hear. I'll report a few cracks and potholes to the city today, then.

Fatter tires are a good idea.  Under inflating them won't help much with this, and will make you slower.  Inflate them to the recommended pressure for pavement riding, even bad pavement. 

As for a recumbent bike, it would probably make it worse, not better.  Sure, you may not have as far to fall, but that also means less time to react once a fall starts.  They also tend to have smaller tires, which make it worse.  And with your feet not below you, it's harder to use them to stop an unexpected fall than with an upright bike.

A recumbent trike would help, but really ... I'd say the type of fall you experienced is quite rare, even on bad pavement.  (Probably happens more when MTBing, however.)  I wouldn't switch bike types just because of that.

Thanks for explaining all of this. I do not ride a recumbent and am not sure precisely when they'll be more safe than an upright bike.

AusTexMurf

Member

From: South Austin

Registered: 2008-11-21

Posts: 439

Re: Road quality in Austin

28's aren't THAT narrow….Many folks tour on them.
32's or wider are my preference around austin and it's surfaces.
But those 4mm might or might not have made a difference.
Sometimes the road just throws you.
32's are a good compromise on a road bike, and oftentimes (even 28's) are as wide as you can fit on many frames.
My conti's labeled 700X37 actually measure around 34mm, and roll faster than you'd think...

Maybe wear your 28's out and then see what you can fit on your frame, if you choose ?
Seems like your case is a specific road condition issue which might be best resolved via our 311 system.
Best.

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-11-26 04:02:26)

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: Road quality in Austin

Thanks for explaining all of this. I do not ride a recumbent and am not sure precisely when they'll be more safe than an upright bike.

I wouldn't say a recumbent is safer ... it's just ... different.

That said, a recumbent has two main safety advantages over an upright bike :

1) if you run into something, you tend to arrive feet first rather than head first.  So you break ankles rather than heads (and ankles are probably harder to break), and
2) they're more visible.  Even if they're shorter, they're unusual, so people pay more attention to them.

But as for bad roads, they probably handle them less well in general than an upright bike.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: Road quality in Austin

There's one more:  If you fall, you're a lot closer to the ground.  That means less pain/injury.  I think I've fallen only twice in the last 15 years, but both times, being closer to the ground was definitely helpful.

rich00

Member

Registered: 2010-01-18

Posts: 166

Re: Road quality in Austin

North campus has some of the worst roads in Austin. You are correct in that Austin, in general has a lot of poor quality roads. Their preferred chip seal maintenance doesn't even really fill in the bumps.

One of the major reason I rarely ride my road bike is that it's too bumpy to be enjoyable. I went to 25s at 80psi and it's still beating me up. I am considering 28s or 32s as well. My commuter ebike uses 1.75 -2" wide tires, and has full suspension which I think is a necessity (for a heavier ebike). If I ride my standard rigid mtn bike with 1.5" tires, the bumps get to me sometimes.

I swear I thought I damaged a wheel on Speedway just north of 45th, some real pot holes there, for years and it's never addressed.

FWIW, I hear about car drivers complaining it's bumpy here.