Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

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robL1969
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Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by robL1969 »

Hey guys. I have a Cannondale hybrid with 700x30c road tyres and i find the roads atrocious for cycling on. I stay in Govan and the state of the roads are putting me off. Im up against many pot holes and roads in disrepair and lumps and bumps all over the place. You have to get out into the country to get better roads but living in Govan means im surrounded by roads in a bad state. Can anyone suggest routes that are decent enough for a 10 to 12 mile cycle.
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VinceLedge
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by VinceLedge »

I think you will find .many Scottish roads in poor condition wherever you go, it is occasionally a nice surprise to get some smooth tarmac!
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TrevA
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by TrevA »

When we did our John O Groats to Lands End ride, we crossed Glasgow almost entirely on off-road paths. We started from Dumbarton and there’s an old railway line that’s been turned into a cyclepath, which then joins onto a canal that takes you into the centre of Glasgow. Going east there’s a path that follows the river that takes you all the way out to Strathclyde Country Park.

If you go onto Google Maps, you can enable cycle routes in “Map details”. Roadside and off-road cycle routes will then be shown in bright green on the map. Most of the better cycle routes seem to be on the north side of the river Clyde, but there seem to be a few bridges that you may be able to cross.

These routes should be fine on your hybrid. We did the rail, canal and riverside paths on our touring bikes with 32mm tyres on.

You could also use the website “cycle.travel”, which shows on and off road routes and will suggest a ride you can do.
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Navrig
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Navrig »

robL1969 wrote: 17 May 2021, 12:37pm Hey guys. I have a Cannondale hybrid with 700x30c road tyres and i find the roads atrocious for cycling on. I stay in Govan and the state of the roads are putting me off. Im up against many pot holes and roads in disrepair and lumps and bumps all over the place. You have to get out into the country to get better roads but living in Govan means im surrounded by roads in a bad state. Can anyone suggest routes that are decent enough for a 10 to 12 mile cycle.
Just treat every ride as an off-road ride.

You are specifically looking for a relatively short ride (10-12 miles) which means roads in the immediate vicinity of your house. Surely you will know them much better than a random bunch of strangers on an internet forum?
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Mick F
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Mick F »

VinceLedge wrote: 17 May 2021, 1:50pm I think you will find .many Scottish roads in poor condition wherever you go, it is occasionally a nice surprise to get some smooth tarmac!
Just a quickie regarding this.
Out of date info I'm sure, but interesting nonetheless.

We were living in Helensburgh, then Balloch in the mid 1980s, and then I was living in Ibrox when I had a job in Yarrows Shipbuilders in 1991.

Driving or cycling from Dunbartonshire over into Argyll at Arrochar, the road surface changed from rubbish to ultra smooth. I was told that Argyll and Bute had a bigger budget for roads than Dunbartonshire and Glasgow.

When I was in Ibrox, I cycled to Scotstoun to the ship yard, and went through Govan and then through the Clyde Tunnel. The roads were awful even then.
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VinceLedge
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by VinceLedge »

Certainly used to often be differences in roads between councils, Scottish Borders roads were significantly better than Lanarkshire, can't see much difference now!
Norman H
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Norman H »

What pressures are you running in your 700x30c tyres?

As a starting point try plugging some numbers into this online calculator.

https://roubert.name/joakim/pressure/

Its based on calculations originally produced by Frank Berto and published by Bicycle Quarterly magazine.

Here's another link to an article which explains the theory behind Berto's data and reproduces his original graph.

https://www.renehersecycles.com/tire-pr ... take-home/
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Navrig
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Navrig »

Norman H wrote: 18 May 2021, 9:37am What pressures are you running in your 700x30c tyres?

As a starting point try plugging some numbers into this online calculator.

https://roubert.name/joakim/pressure/

Its based on calculations originally produced by Frank Berto and published by Bicycle Quarterly magazine.

Here's another link to an article which explains the theory behind Berto's data and reproduces his original graph.

https://www.renehersecycles.com/tire-pr ... take-home/

Large pinch of salt.....
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Mick F
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Mick F »

Plugged my numbers into that calculator.
Got the rear correct at 120psi but reckons that I need 98psi in the front. :shock:
Also reckons that the weight distribution is 55% rear and 45% front.

I once measured my weight distribution but I don't think I have the numbers to hand.
There's absolutely no way on God's Earth that I have 45% of the all-up weight on the front.

For the record, I put 120psi rear and 80psi front.
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st599_uk
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by st599_uk »

I think the weight distribution is selectable as it's an input to the equation.
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Mick F
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Mick F »

Ok, when I'm that way inclined, I'll get on my bike with the bathroom scales under one wheel at a time and calculate the actual weight distribution whilst sitting normally on the hoods. Will try it on the drops too.

When I did it last ............

and I wish I'd kept the figures, but this subject has been on here before so I could search to see if my figures are actually there .................

I used a block of wood the same height off the floor as the height of the scales to make sure the bike was level.
I set it up in the hall doorway and leant very very gently so I could stay upright and steady to read the digital scale readouts.
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Paulatic
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Paulatic »

Mick F wrote: 18 May 2021, 3:43pm
When I did it last ............

and I wish I'd kept the figures, but this subject has been on here before so I could search to see if my figures are actually there .................
Don’t think so
In 2010 MickF said
We have some bathroom scales, but because of modern digital technology, it won't read "variable". By that, I mean that you can't stand on it slowly, you have to step on briskly.

The way I wanted to measure me and my bike's weight distribution, is to sit on the bike in a doorway and move gently onto the scales. That way, I could measure the front weight and the rear weight. The total would be (approximately) Bike plus Mick.

Anyway, I can't do it, I need some old-fashioned scales!

I expected to find a 25%/75% split front/rear.
Pand by 2011 MuckF said
spent a little while this afternoon on my bike in the hall with our bathroom scales. By using a makeshift ramp I could roll onto the scales and weigh each wheel with me sitting normally. It wasn't easy!

In the end, I weighed me - don't ask - then only weighed the loaded front wheel. The rest of the weight was on the rear so adding weight of bike to weight of me and subtracting the loaded front wheel weight, I could work out the loaded rear wheel weight.

I stress this wasn't easy, and my figures may not be spot on, but what I found by weighing a few times was that my COG is just under 2.5"(60mm) behind the BB.
17 days later you’d lost them :lol:
Sorry, but I've lost the figures I found from my bathroom scales, but I took ages rolling back and forth on a set of wooden ramps I made, whilst keeping vertical on to the hall/living room door-frame.
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Mick F
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Mick F »

Well spotted! :D
I knew I'd done this before!

60mm behind BB eh?

So what were the percentages front/rear?
COG may be work-out-able into percentages.

Just measured the bike. Not absolute, but near enough perhaps.

Wheelbase 1020mm
Rear to BB 430mm

Someone else can do the arithmetic.
Too late in the afternoon for me. :wink:
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Red Kite
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by Red Kite »

I can't contribute an expert opinion here but I would also have some regard to the maximum pressure shown on the tyre wall.

I aim for 50psi/40psi on the Cube (47-622), and 100psi/75psi on the Brompton (37-349), the front tyre being the lower in each case. The higher pressures are also the marked maximum.

Good luck finding smooth routes generally. If the government accrued for road repairs (I strongly suspect it doesn't) I think the deficit would be a lot higher.
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robL1969
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Re: Glasgow Any Good 'Smooth' Routes? Im in Govan?

Post by robL1969 »

VinceLedge wrote: 17 May 2021, 1:50pm I think you will find .many Scottish roads in poor condition wherever you go, it is occasionally a nice surprise to get some smooth tarmac!
Thanks for your reply. Yes smooth roads do appear occasionally lol. ;)
TrevA wrote: 17 May 2021, 2:40pm When we did our John O Groats to Lands End ride, we crossed Glasgow almost entirely on off-road paths. We started from Dumbarton and there’s an old railway line that’s been turned into a cyclepath, which then joins onto a canal that takes you into the centre of Glasgow. Going east there’s a path that follows the river that takes you all the way out to Strathclyde Country Park.

If you go onto Google Maps, you can enable cycle routes in “Map details”. Roadside and off-road cycle routes will then be shown in bright green on the map. Most of the better cycle routes seem to be on the north side of the river Clyde, but there seem to be a few bridges that you may be able to cross.

These routes should be fine on your hybrid. We did the rail, canal and riverside paths on our touring bikes with 32mm tyres on.

You could also use the website “cycle.travel”, which shows on and off road routes and will suggest a ride you can do.
Thanks for your reply. Well done on such an achievement. I have saved that website into my favorites so thanks for that. I will use these maps and search for nearby cycle routes and there is a bridge not far from me so getting across the river is not a problem. Many thanks ;)
Navrig wrote: 18 May 2021, 8:46am Just treat every ride as an off-road ride.

You are specifically looking for a relatively short ride (10-12 miles) which means roads in the immediate vicinity of your house. Surely you will know them much better than a random bunch of strangers on an internet forum?
Thanks for your reply. I was hoping someone with knowledge of Glasgow would be able to help. I drive around a lot and as well as cycling and its hard to find a bit of reasonably smooth road. ;)
Cannondale Quick 2 2017 (hybrid)
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