What can a road bike cope with then?

[wafflycat]

Thanks, sounds like it is not as fragile as I thought and I've got a track pump and am used to keeping my tyres at max pressure anyway. So, apart from gravel and wet/ice, anything else I should watch out for to avoid flattening myself?

Nah.. a bike is a bike is a bike.. just enjoy!

 

[bonj2]

big potholes (> 1 inch deep?) - no
small potholes and minor imperfections in road - ok
dropped kerbs ~ 1" - ok down them slowly, i personally dont' go up them, just go up a flat one nearby.
full kerbs - definite no-no

 

[Christopher]

Nice bike, punky!

Anyway I wil just add: careful about over-running corners, I have had several incidents where I've ended up in the opposite lane, nearly in the hedge/off the edge... there is a really sharp blind bend just coming into Chipping for example from the Longridge direction.

oh and watch front wheel lift on steep stuff, you might get a bit of that with a bottom gear of 30-27, just sit a little further forward than you normally would and ease off the power a bit...

 

[Sittingduck]

So, apart from gravel and wet/ice, anything else I should watch out for to avoid flattening myself?

Beware banana skins on corners (I seen Mario Kart!)

 

[elvisparsley]

As Lee said, wet drains and stuff can be tricky if they're on a bend, but as long as you keep your weight over the wheels and don't lean too much then you'll be ok. On my first road bike I wan't accustomed to the narrower tyres and managed to ride it into one of the slots in a storm drain. The bike stopped dead, I went RIGHT over and then got stuck under the damned bike. I'm sure you're not as stupid as this.

 

[ASC1951]

On my first road bike I wan't accustomed to the narrower tyres and managed to ride it into one of the slots in a storm drain. ....... I'm sure you're not as stupid as this.

Phew, it's not just me then!

I nearly wrote off a bike and holiday, doing this on Day 1 last year in Spain. There was a storm channel across the whole road on a corner and some idiot had laid one of the grates the wrong way round; and I have been cycling a lot longer than Punky, so I had no-one to blame but myself.