track races vs. road races

[cycler1217]

ive had trouble finding a road race event in my area but there is a velodrome near by, but i am in possession of only a road bike and i was wondering if i could use that in a track race or is that against the rules ? comments advice, stories are welcome .

 

[531Aussie]

No, you most likely won't be able to race a road bike at sanctioned velodrome races, unless things have dramatically changed and no one told me. The rules are quite strict. You can't even use road wheels with skewers, and when I rode the velodrome about 15 years ago, we even had to use special track wheel nuts with rounded ends, like this:

 

[alfeng]

ive had trouble finding a road race event in my area but there is a velodrome near by, but i am in possession of only a road bike and i was wondering if i could use that in a track race or is that against the rules ? comments advice, stories are welcome .

To amplify -- it's a safety issue ...

Because the lower BB + sometimes longer crank arms on a Road bike could lead to the rider gouging/catching the track's surface AND/OR crashing.

FYI. A lot of tracks do have "rentals" which will give you an opportunity to see whether or not you want to buy your own bike.