Cheap Tar N Gravel Roads
- Thread starter wazza300
- Start date
I wonder how durable they'll be, when it actually comes to heavy veichles or extreme weather conditions...
Soldato
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- Bristol
Depends how many layers of lego they use i suppose...
This is another one of those things that would be less of a drama if 50% of people didn't turn into morons when they get into their car...
Doing the advised 20 will a great deal of the time land you with either,
A) Some twozzock sat 3 inches off your numberplate
B) Some other twozzock dangerously overtaking and showing you with gravel
I've had both of those happen to me and it's horrible, some ***** do it so dangerously it's ridiculous, normally give them some abuse.
Soldato
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Oh really??!!
Is that why there's a set of roads here that have had to be resurfaced three times since February, then?
If that's extended life, how short was the lifespan of the old stuff, then?
It wouldn't cost enough that anyone would really notice.
We put our customers' bills up to cover the cost of all the resurfacing we do (using top quality materials and now adding in non-slip surfaces) when we dig up the roads and railways to fix our assets.
It amounted to less than 50p!!
They can hike the Road Tax (because that's what we call it) by a whole fiver and it wouldn't hit people badly at all.
No, they don't. They appear to be taking action, but it's about as effective as asking OCUK to RMA something you bought off the Rainforest!
There are potholes, fractures and outright splits everywhere!!
There's always one...
Prove it - Come give me your bike and let me ride it around here... !!
A 'B' road I've used every working day for the last 18 years regularly has tar and chipping thrown down on it. Usually you end up with big furrows of chippings on the road for weeks afterwards and the surface starts showing signs of wear within 6 months. It's usually redone after 2-3 years by which time huge patches of the road are just bare tar.
That said it was re-done a few months back and they actually seem to have made an effort this time. The road must have been regularly swept as there were way less loose chippings and the surface still looks pretty good. Time will tell if it all falls off within a couple of years though.
However, to suggest "it's fine if you stick to the speed limits" is complete tosh on a bike. You could be doing half the speed limit and the loose chippings cause you some very hairy moments. If you did need to brake hard for any reason, chances are you'd be off.
That said it was re-done a few months back and they actually seem to have made an effort this time. The road must have been regularly swept as there were way less loose chippings and the surface still looks pretty good. Time will tell if it all falls off within a couple of years though.
However, to suggest "it's fine if you stick to the speed limits" is complete tosh on a bike. You could be doing half the speed limit and the loose chippings cause you some very hairy moments. If you did need to brake hard for any reason, chances are you'd be off.
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Until they start issuing all 'road bikes' with knobbly tyres for gravel use that stuff is always going to be dodgy for two wheeled road users.
Road tyres are not in any way effective or designed to work on a loose gravel road.
Road tyres are not in any way effective or designed to work on a loose gravel road.
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A year ago.
Yes they do work and if people stick to the speed limits they are fine. It's when people ignore the speed limits. You get issues. How on earth do you ride in adverse weather conditions.
Just realised this thread / argument is over a year old now
But how do you explain me going at the recommended speed limit and stones still just about sand blasting my paint. Even going speeds that just about needed the clutch was flicking stones everywhere.
The stuff is bad. Ok, if you take the corners a lot slower then you'll be fine in terms of slipping, but it still sprays everywhere.
Have you ever ridden on the stuff freshly layed? i.e. you're pretty much first, before the cars? Early in the morning just when they're done.
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Yea my road I live on was done a few years ago, at the advised speed of 10mph there is zero issue.
Chipping should be regularly swept as weld by the cintractor, they aren't always, that isn't an issue with the method though.
It also isn't designed to repair roads. It's meant to fix the top surface and fill in minor cracks, it's not a fix for pot holes or anything else.
Chipping should be regularly swept as weld by the cintractor, they aren't always, that isn't an issue with the method though.
It also isn't designed to repair roads. It's meant to fix the top surface and fill in minor cracks, it's not a fix for pot holes or anything else.
It cheap that's why they do it
Is it safe to ride on? Hell no
The worst part is after the newly gravelled surface has ended and you get swathes of gravel strewn all over the tarmaced roads,so easy to slip and come off
Just burn the old surface off and re tarmac it,do a proper safer job
Is it safe to ride on? Hell no
The worst part is after the newly gravelled surface has ended and you get swathes of gravel strewn all over the tarmaced roads,so easy to slip and come off
Just burn the old surface off and re tarmac it,do a proper safer job
Soldato
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And still the vast majority of peoples' experiences disagree with you...
Ah, so they work perfectly fine...
And yet they don't work perfectly fine...
Make yer mind up!!
FYI, this *is* supposed to repair ALL the defects, potholes, cracks and pits, as well as renew the grippy surface right the way across the roadway... I have the specs from several different local authorities, detailing their exact methods which we are also to follow. The deal is that we do the dig and fix our assets, while at the same time repairing any of their road defects along the stretch we're doing, all to their standards.
If they're not following their own standards, then it doesn't work and it *is* then a problem for bikes.
Lol, you make no sense. So becUse some dont do it properly. Then it's a fail?
Then perhaps we shouldn't relay any roads wither. As they've messed one up around here, and it went down with a wash board like aurface now that is annoying on a bike, so much so that I reported it. Not that they've dine anything about it.
So because one didn't follow guidelines then they are all fails.
And no redressing does not fix any off those things, hence there's extra specs to carry out extra work.
Then perhaps we shouldn't relay any roads wither. As they've messed one up around here, and it went down with a wash board like aurface now that is annoying on a bike, so much so that I reported it. Not that they've dine anything about it.
So because one didn't follow guidelines then they are all fails.
And no redressing does not fix any off those things, hence there's extra specs to carry out extra work.
Maybe it does work when done properly, but I think a lot of people's point on here is that they've never seen one that has been done properly, that's certainly my point! Every time I've ridden on these nasty relayed roads, at the recommended speed, I'll get blasted with stones and if you DARE go near the central bit or the edges (e.g. when moving to position to turn) then it'll get nice and slippy. Even turning at a slow speed, on a junction, it's not nice on gravel.
None of them seem to follow the guidelines for sweeping up etc. and I don't think they can really. Relaying like that causes so many stones everywhere that they'd have to sweep every 2 minutes!
None of them seem to follow the guidelines for sweeping up etc. and I don't think they can really. Relaying like that causes so many stones everywhere that they'd have to sweep every 2 minutes!
A section of road around here has been resurfaced correctly and it is like a race track, as soon as you ride over it the bike feels amazing and perfect!
Shame the section is about 500 yards in a 40mph limit with three corners
Everywhere else has been bodge job gravel in pot holes, tar and gravel over cracks and none of it lasts more than a few weeks before they have to go around and do it again!
They've started redoing the section at the end of my road properly as it has become a critical part of the bus link - the difference is marked.
To be fair not an easy bit of road at the best of times due to the contours and its a run off in wet weather - when they used to redo it proper it would need redoing maybe every 3 years or something, when they started using the gravelly method it would turn into crazy fractures 3-4x a year and look like a newly plowed field if left for long - which they used to do until it became part of the bus route which meant they were constantly redoing it - now they've gone back to the old way which surprise lasts a lot longer.
Soldato
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Well... yes.
Nothing is effective if you cannot apply it properly in the first place... and, as mentioned, it seems neither council nor contractor is bothered about correctly applying it.
Thus, fail.
It's starting to look that way. You seem to be the ONLY person who doesn't get loose chippings flying off, even below the speed limit... or you just have your car radio on too loud to hear them!
If they were so effective, why do they always have so many loose chippings that they need to leave warning signs about it?
Redressing is not resurfacing or relaying.
Redressing is a thin top surface. Resurfacing is stripping the old off and applying new, relaying is digging down past the foundation.
We're generally talking about resurfacing using substandard materials.