Bike Setup for Paris Roubaix

[welchy]

Hello everybody,

Just wanting to ask some basic questions from anybody that has ridden Paris Roubaix on equipment and kit choice, I will be using my Colnago C60 for the ride/race in April - unfortunately I can't afford another bike but fortunately it will be insured against damages.

Firstly I have two wheelsets, Edco Umbrial Carbon Clinchers and Campagnolo Zondas.

I will be attempting to use the Zondas for fear of annihilating the Edcos on the Pave. And I will be going for the widest tyre possible that will give me clearance, if I can go Tubeless I may attempt it.

I am running Campag SR so I have a chain catcher fitted as standard. So for the following:

-Best tyre Choice
-Double wrap bar tape?
-Anything else?!
-Actual riding gear, any good recommendations?

Cheers,

Tom

[Guevarca]

I rode the Roubaix sportive a few years ago as a change from the annual trip to Flanders, it was a great experience and you then watch the Pros race through different eyes.
Personally i stuck to my Zipp 303 with 25mm Conti Gatorskin tubs and had no issues although did see endless folk on the side of the road with punctures. Otherwise I tend to ride thin bar tape so didn't bother with double wrapping the bars, but a top tip is to make sure your bottle cages are tight - both in the frame and also hold the bottle very securely.
A little like Flanders sportive, upon hitting the first section of cobbles you do see the road littered with various parts from bidons to garmins, saddle bags and pumps etc!
Now there is a lot more choice in faster wide tyres so I would fit 28/30s dependant on frame clearance and look forward to it - it's a great ride!

[Frankie - B]

I wrote a small piece about it in the cycle chat version.

I enjoyed riding Paris Roubaix so much!



It all started a few months ago when I colleague of mine, who lives close to Roubaix, asked me if I wanted to ride the challenge as well and enjoy his hospitality. It all started out on a friday afternoon in a bar in the centre of the ancient town of Tournai. A beer and the Belgo French bar game of 421 in which you need to make sure that you are not holding any beer coasters after the last round of throwing the dices.
After dropping of my luggage we went to the velodrome of Roubaix to pick up our numbers and top tube stickers. We had a look in the new and the old velodrome and had a coffee over the the MCC of Rapha. of course i can go into describing the velodrome, but there are people who have done that better then I can.
Over dinner we discussed some alternatives to the 172km route we intended to do. My colleague had tendonitis in his knee and for me it was my first meeting with the Pavé. We decided that it would be the smartest to leave from his place the following morning, and with that have a ride of a 130km. the downside is that the first sector of pave that we would encounter would be the Trouee d’Arenberg. Starting out with one of the worst sections there is probably wasn’t a great idea as you couldn’t get a feel for the cobbles on earlier sectors, but we decided to do it anyhow.



You can ride Paris Roubaix on a super special cyclo cross meets road bike or a Trek Domane with 30mm FMB tubs, but you can also change a few things on your road bike.
In my case the Reynolds Assault tubeless wheels were swapped for Mavic Aksiums, 25mm Challenge strada clinchers and Challenge latex inner tubes were called upon for grip and keeping-air-in duties. 25mm was all that could fit into my frame, the brake bridge on the seat stays of my bike is placed a bit too low. The Tune bottle cages were swapped for carbon Arundel Mandible cages as those seem to have a vice like grip on bottles. Double bar tape and a normal padded saddle in stead of my AX Lightness Endurance finished things off.



The Paris Roubaix sportive is high on my list for next year as I’m gravitationally challenged compared to other cyclists. (i weight about 85 kilo’s) so sportive with a lot of climbing are doable for me, but with Roubaix it was so nice to take revenge on all of the skinny climber types who were bouncing all over the place. Lot’s of respect for those guys as for them it much be much harder to keep a decent pace. Paris Roubaix isn’t as crowded as any other sportive I’ve come across.



Riding over the cobbles was a great adventure in it’s own way. The asphalt and Pavé alternate real nice. When on the Pavé you are completely focused and concentrated on the task ahead. On the Trouee de Arenberg that is getting across in one piece. On most of the other Secteurs it is picking the best possible line and overtaking the people who are enjoying the Pavé at a slower pace at a good enough spot.
The pressure in my tires was 5.5 bar front and 5.8 rear, this was enough and borderline safe as the sound of the edge of a piece of Pavé pushing the tire against the rim was heard quite a few times. the first time you hear it, you are immediately thinking: ‘oh no! I hope i didn’t flat.’ the next time your thoughts are, ‘well, it went right the last time as well’ the third time, you just take it for granted that you don’t flat. Which didn’t happen.



The last km’s into Roubaix are a bit boring, but once you enter the velodrome all of your sorrows are forgotten

[Aeo]

Are your Zondas the 2-way-fit version? If not, tubeless might be risky.

[Nejmann]

Hey there.

I’m doing the flanders for the first time in 2019

I’ll be using my caad12 winter/indoor bike instead of my colnago. But only because i have the option.

I haven’t decided if I would go with double bartape.

But I will be using 28mm Vittoria Corsa Controls on my hed belgiums+ wheels.

King Ti bottle cages (you can bend them tighter.)

Asssaver if the weather is bad

And 52/36 - 11-28

[Look565w]

Hello everybody,

Just wanting to ask some basic questions from anybody that has ridden Paris Roubaix on equipment and kit choice, I will be using my Colnago C60 for the ride/race in April - unfortunately I can't afford another bike but fortunately it will be insured against damages.

Firstly I have two wheelsets, Edco Umbrial Carbon Clinchers and Campagnolo Zondas.

I will be attempting to use the Zondas for fear of annihilating the Edcos on the Pave. And I will be going for the widest tyre possible that will give me clearance, if I can go Tubeless I may attempt it.

I am running Campag SR so I have a chain catcher fitted as standard. So for the following:

-Best tyre Choice
-Double wrap bar tape?
-Anything else?!
-Actual riding gear, any good recommendations?

Cheers,

Tom

Well done you for taking on the Pave, you'll absolutely love it even though it will be a really horrible riding experiance

All good advise from members above, just a few personal experiance I can share.

I would be cautious riding 28mm tyres on your C60 over the Pave, due to the clearance. There is a lot of C60 photos & views regarding tyre clearance on this forum.

The 3 times I rode Roubaix was all done on 25mm tubulars or clinchers, but on my Lynskey rather than my C60 though & it's been fine every time, only 1 puncture ..... thank god!
Tyre pressure is just as important in these instance, I rode around 85-90psi front & back.

I double wrapped my bars the first time I did it, but didn't bother the 2nd & 3rd time, I even managed it without mits the 3rd time round

You want to ride full gas on the Pave, because it's a lot "easier" if you carry speed over them, I found going slow makes it feel even worst. Recover on the tarmac & smash it on the Pave, usually approx. 28-29 sectuer of Pave if you go the full 174km route or around 19-20 for the shorter 143km (logistically better as you start & finish in Roubaix)
Keep it on the Big ring when riding over the Pave for chain tension, it will "bounce" around violently. I had a 13-29t cassette at the back (as I was touring around Flanders on bike before Roubaix) & found it just right for me with 25t or 27t being used on most Pave occasions & with 34 up front.

2 pairs of shorts - 1 pair of padded shorts under padded bib-shorts works for me

The three 5* star sectuer of Trouée d’Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle & Carrefour de l’Arbre will have you wishing you were somewhere else, but the rest of them are all very managable, you just have to have the right frame of mind, don't hate it, don't be afraid & try to "enjoy" it, do that & you'll be fine. Keep cool & stay relax ....... it might be hard to do but try!

As a side note - I would recommend stay on the Belgium side during your trip, I find it a lot more pleasent & enjoyable. We stayed in Lille in all the times I did Roubaix, the more I stay there the more I hated it!
Kortrijk - seems an ideal place to call base, not far from Roubaix & looks very pleasent (I personally have not been but would consider my base if I do it again in future)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kortrijk

I've also done Flanders twice, but the smooth well maintained cobbles of Flanders is no match for the f*cking brutal, chaotic nature of the Roubaix Pave. But both event are brilliant experiance! I love it!

P.S I'm by no means build for cobbles, I weight 64kg only & it made me cry (honestly) the first time I hit the Pave. But somehow, I keep going back every year ........ & I hope it does the same to you!

Enjoy & let us know how you get on please!

Cheers

[welchy]

Amazing advice from everybody and thanks so much for taking the time to put in informative posts.

After talking with my friend who I am riding it with and is riding it with me I will most likely use Challenge Stradas or Vittoria Pave tyres with Latex tubes in 25MM. As for size/weight, I'm 6ft 2" and 90KG on a good day and 94KG at the moment! I got down to 90KG for Liege last year which was fine so hopefully my size will finally not be a massive hinderance! Really need to start riding properly now and drop weight and get fitness back.

Unsure of best bibshorts etc in my contignecy, will probably use some Rapha gear as it just seems to be thicker and comfier than my other stuff. Will go with Waterproof gilet, knee warmers and arm warmers on the day.

Bottle cages are Arundle Mandibles as well so hopefully will hold my bottles strong! For the sake of £10 on bar tape I figure I may as well go for double wrap..Asssaver probs a veryy good shout for the likely damp conditions too.

Thanks so much, any more advice keep it coming!

[LionelB]

I am going back next year for a third time. If the budget allows I would try to find tubulars and ride 27mm tires. This is more appropriate for Roubaix.

Both times I did it on my nemesis/record/FMB 27 setup and it worked well.

I may bring my Bora 50 this year I an attempt to try to kill them to upgrade to wider ones


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[WILLIAMDENYS]

would sure buy better bottle cages that you can bend so you dont lose your drink.
then buy much wider tyres like 28mm and run them on lower pressures
double bar tape is kind of choice... i did it and didn't regret it.
i placed a chain cather and shortened my chain 1 link.
and better control if all the bolts are right torque.

[LionelB]

Here is what my Roubaix bike looks like for 2019.

[onegear]

reviving an old thread!

I'm signed up for the 170km April - would love to hear some updated tire choices for this sportive. From what I've gathered so far most people run 28-30c tires with little to no tread. I'm worried about puncture resistence on something like GP5000 (my usual) for Paris Roubaix - so was thinking Panaracer Gravel King SK in 32c but I'm worried that the additional puncture resistance comes at a cost of speed. For reference this is 50km of cobbles and 120km of roads. This is all clinchers by the way. Would appreciate any thoughts on this or if I'm overthinking it and should just run normal road tires.

[raggedtrousers]

I'm signed up as well and can't decide whether to use my road bike or my gravel bike. I run tubeless on both, so that's moot, but my inclination would be to run Pirelli Cinturato, probably in ~35 if I choose the gravel bike (AXS 1x w/clutched RD). I'm not going to win it, and moreover, there's nothing slower than a puncture. With the road bike, I'd be limited to a 30, and I'd be a bit more worried about chain retention.

[nickf]

I did the ride last year. Top of my list of my all time favorite rides. Will definitely be doing it again one day. I ran 38mm gravelking ss tires, tubeless. No issues and didn't have to really think about position, just rolled over everything. Fit the biggest tire you can get away with. I just used regular summer kit and bar tape. It's rough but just ride the edge on some off the sectors to avoid the really bad stuff. My travel bike that I brought was running SRAM force 22, no problems at all with chain retention.

[jdecraene85]

I'd pick the largest tires your frame can fit.
I rode the large route in 2016 or 2017 on a 3T Exploro with WTB Nano 40c tires...
On the asphalt you're mostly on flat-ish roads in a peloton, so the power required to keep up is not that big, and on the cobbles I was flying past everyone.
If I were to do it again, I would pick tires with less profile though... Probably a gravel bike with 650b wheels and WTB Byway or something similar.

[onegear]

any thoughts on tread? or is semi slick okay or is it better to have a tread pattern for traction?