Grip Handlebars Tight To Prevent Tires Shifting?



richfootfastfate

New Member
Jul 2, 2015
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I ride a hybrid with riser handlebars. There are a lot of oak nuts on the ground at the time of the year now. Each ride pass sounds like a chain of firecrackers popping crushing the nuts. I grip the handlebars so tight, because I am afraid of the tires possibly being turned ( I had a few accidents because of hitting a little tiny rock which caused the tire to turn). Should I grip the handlebars so tight??? Or should I just grip it firm but not tight like usual?
 
You don't need to ride with white knuckles. An acorn won't turn your front wheel. It may shift it sideways if the nut rolls out from under it, but the bike will self-recover. I love fall riding, but it does present some added challenges.

The acorns all over can be far worse than gravel if you're turning. Anyway, around here we have chestnuts. These are 2" in diameter and you get a decent jolt and some shudder when you partly climb on one and it rolls out from under.
 
Riding through nut fields the front wheel is gonna skitter a bit. Keep a LOOSE grip on bar, stand up just a little, leaving knees bent and slide your butt back a little, the rearward weight shift will help the front wheel float over the nuts a bit. Let the front wheel go where it wants to go to some extent but try to coax it to go fairly straight.
 
Perhaps another way of describing it is you want to allow your hands to move with the bars and damp the motion rather than try to forcibly prevent it.
 
Stay loose and relaxed, let the bike recover its stability instead of trying to force it to stay stable. Just react with the bike, not against it.
 
Firm and relaxed -not white knuckle
Now wider tires and lower pressure SHOULD decrease the nasty tendency to side slip
Yeah good grip-but relaxed if that makes sense
I would use wider tires and lower pressure so the nuts will "sink in" a bit before they slide your tire sideways,
If the pressure is high-the tire will Climb Higher ON THE NUT-THEN when it side slips-it will fall farther-and at a steeper angle

If you are on a public street-this is one time something akin to LANE CONTROLLING might make sense-since you will be plopped IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LANE
If you side slip-you won't side slip from "not in the following traffic" to "in the following traffic- you will already be directly in front of following traffic
One disadvantage of FRAP(which I almost always do) is if you side slip -from road **** storm drains botts dots-you can get dumped directly into the traffic-
the following cars -expect you to hold your line-they won't expect you to suddenly FALL into their path
If you are in the middle of the lane-you are already in their path and they should be prepared to brake(they won't be but they should be-they will be texting of course)
Normally I am opposed to lane controlling-for a lot of reasons-
but **** on road is one exception-door zones another-very few others come to mind
Luck
Charlie
PS Those kinda cool "fat tire bikes" probably have zero side slip problems-slow heavy of course-but stable-and kinda cool
 
When I first handled the so-called easy rider bikes that was popular when I was in college, I crashed several times. The problem is the handlebar which had a bad contour. My hand felt like the handle bar is not directly connected to the front wheel. And with gripping the handlebars too tight, I guess that's not a good idea because you will just be tensed and may even cause you to lose your balance. Better yet, hold it firmly but not too tight as if it will escape from your grip. Take it easy.