Road Bike on the Katy Trail

How many people ride road bikes on the Katy Trail? I'm looking at riding long distance on the Katy Trail and wondering how a road bike would hold up on the terrain? Please let me know for those of you that have used a road bike on the trail. Thanks so much!

Last year I did about 400-miles on this trail with a skinny-tire road bike. I made fairly good time on its hard surface when it was dry.

I was riding on the trail in late September 2010 pulling a Burley trailer. My bicycle has 700C
X 25 tires and I did all right with the hard surface crushed limestone. There are several
places where the trail is being worked on and it was tough getting through that. You'll do all
right.

I would recommend 700 X 28 as a minimum, especially following periods of wet weather. If no rain has fallen in the past week or more you could get by with 700 X 25, or during periods of real dry weather, 700 X 23 should get you by fine. In any case I would recommend Kevlar lined tires.

The trail is smooth enough in the tire paths that the integrity of a road bike is really non issue. What concerns me is the amount of dust, and limestone slurry when the trail is wet, that gets on the chain, gears, brakes and wheels. I don't really care for the sound of the grit between the brake pads and the rim when slowing down when the trail is wet. For that reason, if we know it's gonna rain, we just stay at home and avoid the clean up when the trail is wet. When the weather permits and the longbike gets to make a trip, it gets the chains cleaned are relubed often when riding limestone. When you can hear the shifting gears, the drive system needs attention.

Tires can be a greater issue than the bike. We ride 28's and they are fine....could ride narrower and stay in the tire paths and be okay. I think if you tend to weave around and find yourself in the loose stuff you can go down on about any tire. It's a matter of paying attention and not so much tire size to me. We've ridden Bontrager Hard Case for several miles on the Katy and the back tire is starting to get chewed up a bit. It's carrying the weight of two and usually rear panniers with a trunk bag. No flats, but it has several small cuts on it that may be from riding on the road too. I'll probably go with Continental before spring and see how they hold up.

If road bike tires aren't in good shape to start with, they are vulnerable to flats on the trail from small stones, thorns, and twigs, and from bumps and twists etc. Tuff-skin and Kevlar types work best; thorn liners help too.

I've been back and forth a few times on 700 x 35s and they have generally held up better than the tires used by my brethern who ride mountain/hybrid bikes.

The best ride I ever had on the Katy was with old cheapo 27" 28MM Tires. It was dry, and in July packed down pretty hard. The few sandy sections were no problem really. I coasted a lot while fatter tires had to keep pedaling. Another trip was part of a longer tour, in 1.5" 26" tires, with a wetter trail, and I found it kind of tireing. I kept wishing that I was back on the 27" wheels.
This winter I will be tackling it with 32mm 700c tires, mostly because that is what is on my tourer right now.
This spring I plan on hitting it with a vintage path racer type bike on 25mm tires, about as thin as I would want to try. If its wet, I expect a slog on those, but I will be going for speed that trip.

Regardless of the tire, it is best to realize that conditions change a lot, and bringing lots of patches/spare tubes is a good idea.

I rode a mountain bike....this past summer we rode from Clinton to St.Charles and the bike did well...make sure you have good tires!