New Road Surface

[lavoisier]

Proceed with caution I think. I'll try it a few times and just build up speed a bit at a time. Thanks for all the replies, what a fountain of knowledge and experience we have on this forum.

Paul

 

[Norm]

My understanding is that a new road surface takes a year to get fully up to friction.

Basically, the stones provide the friction, the tar is just there to hold the stones in place. When a new surface is laid, though, the stones are covered in tar. They come good when the surface tar is fully worn away by traffic which takes about a year of use, obviously dependant on the use.

When the surface gets laid, it's not dangerous, the uneven surface means that it offers more grip than over-banding, but it doesn't offer as much grip as it will give in 12 months, so I'd just take it a touch easier for a while.

 

[summerdays]

In Bristol we are lucky if they bother to fill in the potholes, so a whole road being surfaced would be worth of a picture being taken and FB’ed. I’ve never ridden a bike on fresh tarmac for more than a few seconds.

A38 at Filton, though they only resurfaced one lane back in August, now 3 months later there are signs up saying they are about to resurface more of it next week. Lovely and smooth new tarmac (especially in comparison to the bad road surface it replaced/is replacing).

 

[DaveyM]

If it has been overlaid there will be a lot of loose chippings\stones so be aware of the risk that these may cause.
New roads - ie new tarmac \ asphalt will, as some one else has already said, get better with time. It will currently be at the minimum safe standard for use. With all the extra oil in the new surface just go steady in the wet.

 

[tadpole]

A38 at Filton, though they only resurfaced one lane back in August, now 3 months later there are signs up saying they are about to resurface more of it next week. Lovely and smooth new tarmac (especially in comparison to the bad road surface it replaced/is replacing).

Last time I cycled through Filton, (Filton roundabout) I was run over by a woman in a car and broke most of the bones down my right hand side, I've avoided it since

 

[summerdays]

Last time I cycled through Filton, (Filton roundabout) I was run over by a woman in a car and broke most of the bones down my right hand side, I've avoided it since

Eek - it's on my route - I'll be there in half an hour or so!

 

[Pedal pusher]

Now try getting the tar off your bike.

Whilst cycling through Northern Finland - the land of follow that (only) road for 2 days and at the end turn left, now follow it for 4 days, we came across sections of road missing althogether, it had been stripped away to the very last foundation layer; further on, sections had had a new foundation put down which was seriously hard work to cycle on and finally after 20km we came to what was clearly the final foundation before the tarmac. We knew what was coming; we could smell it. We had to cycle through and over the freshly laid tarmac, and passed the stuff that was just being laid. It was like treacle and thick mud combined. Stick as anything and you knew you were sinking into it. (there were no other roads, and no 'pavement's with no options except carry on.) 12 months on and the tar is still over the water bottles, the panniers, mudguards and the bike (it came off the tyres quite quickly). So far nothing has shifted it.

Could this be a job for WD 40.............................I think so

 

[derrick]

They were resurfacing a road on one of my routes, the guys were just cleaning up, but they let me through no cars for about mile and a half slightly downhill with a tailwind, brilliant,