Hi all,
I have to start this by saying I'm a relatively new rider, so I don't have a lot of experience riding at high speed. Part of me wonders if this is just nerves, or if there's something really wrong that I need to fix, or if this is just how the bike behaves and I have to get used to it. Anyway, here's the story.
Today I took my relatively new bike (Giant TCR2 aero with less than 400 miles on it) up route 9W to Nyack for the first time. Nice ride, lots of rolling hills. On many of the downhills, when I really got cooking the bike seemed to wobble under me, to the point where I was nervous about falling or veering into traffic. It felt like I was riding in an erratic cross-wind. After the first two or three big downhills I was nervous enough that I felt like I had to brake and keep my speed down. I was a little more comfortable on the hoods than in the drops, but there was no way I was going to ride the aerobars.
I stopped and checked to see if anything obvious was wrong: the tires seemed OK, wheels were true, valves were sticking straight out, and the brakes weren't rubbing. I had pumped up the tires before I left to about 105 psi - the tires say "100 recommended, 125 max." - and they still felt pretty hard. Just checked everything out again at home and all looks OK. No bumps in the tires that I can detect with my eye or my fingers.
So I guess I'm wondering: is it just me being nervous about going fast, or is it likely that there really is a wobble? My bike computer says my max speed was 37 mph, which is about 10 mph faster than I've gone on the short downhill on my normal park loop. I guess I've felt a little wobble on the downhill in the park also, but that hill is pretty short so I just dismissed it. Could the speed really be generating enough air turbulence around the wheel to create the feel of a cross wind? If there really is a wobble, is there anything I can do about it? Anything else on the bike that I should check?
One thought I have is that the tires are pretty narrow and have very little tread -- 700x23 Hutchinson Carbon Comps. My previous bike had 700x28s and tread that you could see. (Which by the way made that bike a lot easier to ride in the rain.) Seems to me that wider tires might give a more stable ride, but that doesn't explain why the bike would feel unstable with the stock tires.
Thanks for any helps and advice you have to offer!
Lee
I have to start this by saying I'm a relatively new rider, so I don't have a lot of experience riding at high speed. Part of me wonders if this is just nerves, or if there's something really wrong that I need to fix, or if this is just how the bike behaves and I have to get used to it. Anyway, here's the story.
Today I took my relatively new bike (Giant TCR2 aero with less than 400 miles on it) up route 9W to Nyack for the first time. Nice ride, lots of rolling hills. On many of the downhills, when I really got cooking the bike seemed to wobble under me, to the point where I was nervous about falling or veering into traffic. It felt like I was riding in an erratic cross-wind. After the first two or three big downhills I was nervous enough that I felt like I had to brake and keep my speed down. I was a little more comfortable on the hoods than in the drops, but there was no way I was going to ride the aerobars.
I stopped and checked to see if anything obvious was wrong: the tires seemed OK, wheels were true, valves were sticking straight out, and the brakes weren't rubbing. I had pumped up the tires before I left to about 105 psi - the tires say "100 recommended, 125 max." - and they still felt pretty hard. Just checked everything out again at home and all looks OK. No bumps in the tires that I can detect with my eye or my fingers.
So I guess I'm wondering: is it just me being nervous about going fast, or is it likely that there really is a wobble? My bike computer says my max speed was 37 mph, which is about 10 mph faster than I've gone on the short downhill on my normal park loop. I guess I've felt a little wobble on the downhill in the park also, but that hill is pretty short so I just dismissed it. Could the speed really be generating enough air turbulence around the wheel to create the feel of a cross wind? If there really is a wobble, is there anything I can do about it? Anything else on the bike that I should check?
One thought I have is that the tires are pretty narrow and have very little tread -- 700x23 Hutchinson Carbon Comps. My previous bike had 700x28s and tread that you could see. (Which by the way made that bike a lot easier to ride in the rain.) Seems to me that wider tires might give a more stable ride, but that doesn't explain why the bike would feel unstable with the stock tires.
Thanks for any helps and advice you have to offer!
Lee