Cobbled Climbs and bike damage

[del1962]

I am considering a few cobbled climbs

What sort of damage will it do to my bike, a Giant defy?

 

[winkybiker]

I am considering a few cobbled climbs

What sort of damage will it do to my bike, a Giant defy?

None. Bikes are strong.

 

[Giuseppe Magnetico]

Instead you should be thinking;

what kind of damage am I going to do to this cobbled climb.

See how that works?

 

[froze]

You would damage yourself before the bike!

One weak spot on a bike frame is the handlebars, CF bars don't like cobbled roads which is why most pros switch to AL bars on cobbles.

You need to address the vibration going on before worrying about damaging the bike.

Wrap your handlebars with two layers of bar tape; also take note of your bar end plugs, these things can vibrate right out of the end of the bar and then your tape begins to unravel, so make sure it's extremely snug.

Make sure the bottle cage has a very tight fit on the bottle so it doesn't vibrate loose, and aluminium cage is better for cobbles than CF cage is, you can bend the AL cage just a bit for a tight fit, and you can put some sort of grippy tape on the inside of the cage to hold the bottle even better, also don't use the largest bottles because the extra weight can make a bottle fly from the vibration so use smaller bottles.

Use the fattest tires that will fit your frame, and reduce the PSI to around 75 to 80 on the rear and 65 to 70 on the front, or lower if rain is forecast; some bikes will accept a wider tire in the rear than the front, ok so do that.

Ride in the middle of the road if possible this is where cobbles are the smoothest, debris gathers like crazy on the sides of cobble roads with no real way to clean the crap out of the crevices of the cobbles so flats will increase a lot if you ride there, not to mention it's rougher riding on the side.

Resist the urge to grasp the bar tightly, be relaxed otherwise you could end up with blisters on your hand.

If you don't ride on tubeless you could look into Panaracer FlatAway tire liners, these are made of kevlar cloth and will help to cushion the ride a bit plus reduce flats.

Pace yourself but ride faster because the faster you go the smoother the bumps feel, but this is a double edge sword because you ride to fast and get tired then you'll slow down and then the going gets real rough, also maintain your momentum, you don't want to slow down on cobbles.

Your feet can come unclipped on standard pedals, but you can put a piece of bar tape on the pedal's mid section, this will help to prevent you feet from moving too much, or switch to a MTB pedal with MTB shoes which could be better anyways in case for some reason you find yourself walking.

If you have a set of high spoke count aluminum wheels use those instead of low spoke aluminum or CF wheels.

Some people use chain catchers to prevent the chain from vibrating off the front chain ring.

Ride with more weight on your feet so your back doesn't take the pounding.