The county put in some nasty speed bumps on a road I regularly ride. You have to slow down to below 3mph if you want to ride over them. I have been bunny hopping them, but I am wondering if I am going to kill my wheels eventually. There is no way to go around them and I am told they put them there to keep cyclists from using this road since there is an MUT nearby, but the MUT is pretty dangerous with all of the weaving kids and rollerbladers.

I ride Ksyrium ES's and I weigh around 210LB.

I think realistically, it isn't any worse on the wheels than hitting a pothole--- but I tend to reseve the hop for emergencies... just to be on the safe side.

How nasty are these speed bumps? 3mph is barely fast enough to keep a bike upright. How do motorized vehicles manage?



The county put in some nasty speed bumps on a road I regularly ride. You have to slow down to below 3mph if you want to ride over them. I have been bunny hopping them, but I am wondering if I am going to kill my wheels eventually. There is no way to go around them and I am told they put them there to keep cyclists from using this road since there is an MUT nearby, but the MUT is pretty dangerous with all of the weaving kids and rollerbladers.

I ride Ksyrium ES's and I weigh around 210LB.

See This thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=286268&highlight=speed+bump) I posted on Bikeforums. Some discussion about them and someone got some photos:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/236/455464553_6580c1468e.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/220/455464595_c34a0b7a0f.jpg

bunny hop them. life's too short to slow down for those things.

that is insane to do that to a SERVICE ROAD... that's all I gotta say.

The county put in some nasty speed bumps on a road I regularly ride. You have to slow down to below 3mph if you want to ride over them. I have been bunny hopping them, but I am wondering if I am going to kill my wheels eventually.

As long as you land the wheels straight and vertical, bunny hopping is actually easier on the wheels than hitting bumps and holes at speed. What kills wheels is when the load is concentrated by a sharp edge (like the edge of a pothole). Landing on a flat road distributes the load across a larger area. Plus, when you bunny hop, the landing load is usually distributed across both wheels, and you are usually already in the best position to absorb shocks (off the saddle, cranks horizontal, legs and arms bent and ready to flex to absorb the shock).

I say hop 'em.
How many are there?? How far apart??

What is an MUT?

Multi Use Trail

Just make sure you clear it all and you are good to go as you should land pretty softly. If you land short then all bets are off as you nail your rear wheel.

Just make sure you clear it all and you are good to go as you should land pretty softly. If you land short then all bets are off as you nail your rear wheel.

I've come really close to that happening. I finally determined today that I have to be going at least 19MPH to clear it properly and no faster than 22-23. Any faster and my front wheel will graze the bump a bit since there is less reaction time to stop pedaling, get my butt off of the saddle and do the hop. You should have seen the look on some of the pedestrians when I started to sprint towards one of the speed bumps today. I think they were expecting a gnarly wipeout or something.