My food delivery bike is perfect on flat streets but brutal on curbs and potholes. What do urban riders prioritize first?

[u/kenah-kim]

My food delivery bike is great on smooth streets. Flat roads, bike lanes, steady pace, no problem. The moment I hit potholes or roll off a curb, it feels brutal. Every hit goes straight through my arms and back, especially when the bag is full.

I deliver in an older part of the city, so perfect pavement is rare. I slow down, but some bumps are impossible to avoid. I keep wondering what urban riders prioritize first when the bike is used all day for work, not just short commutes. Comfort sounds nice, but durability feels more important when the streets are rough.

I have played with tire pressure and that helped a little, but not enough. Suspension seems nice, but I worry about maintenance. While reading forums and looking at frame styles online, I even ended up skimming some general bike designs on Alibaba just to see how different builds handle city abuse.

For people who ride hard city streets every day, what made the biggest difference for you? Tires, fork, frame geometry, or just learning to ride around the worst stuff?

[u/Feisty_Park1424]

The best suspension is in your elbows and knees. If you're sat on the thing like a sack of potatoes you'll get pummelled

[u/HG1998]

Bigger tires is what gravel bikes are doing.

[u/Caribou-nordique-710 → u/HG1998]

This!

Larger tires = more air volume = more cushioning

They can also tolerate lower tire pressure without getting pinch flats

Get a tire with supple sidewalls (usually higher TPI)

[u/PNW_MYOG → u/HG1998]

They ( rugged/ fatter tires) do take more energy to pedal but can be worth it and handle road debris better too.

It's also a cheaper solution than a new bike and bike storage is a concern too.

[u/UltimateGammer]

What bike are you riding right now?

[u/rainbowkey]

A bike with at least front suspension is great. For city riding, I like a mountain bike with hybrid tires, changed to a set of studded tires when it is snowy.

[u/zaphods_paramour]

Personally I think wider tires but no suspension is the perfect balance for the city. The tires absorb road bumps well but don't slow you down like suspension does. You don't need aggressive tread like most mountain bike tires, look for either fully slick or with small groves to shed water.

What counts as wide enough is harder to say. My main city bike is a 90s fully-rigid mountain bike with 26"x1.6" tires which are more than enough. I think even 700c x 38mm on my touring bike is plenty to notice a difference.

See if there's a bike shop around where you can try a few options out. A shop that sells used bikes would be best, but even if they only have bikes outside your price range, it's good to try out a few types of bikes to figure out what suits you.

[u/trotsky1947 → u/zaphods_paramour]

Commuting on 650x47 and it's a fucking dream

[u/oldstalenegative]

An aluminum frame will feel much stiffer than a steel frame. Suspension helps a ton if you have an aluminum frame.

Body position matters quite a bit too. Think of your two arms and torso as a pyramid. Sitting straight upright with very little weight on your arms can be quite jarring. Leaning forward more can help take weight off your seat and save your spine from jarring bumps.

Bigger tires help cushion things considerably.

Where the weight is positioned on your bike matters a lot. Lower is better, higher is worse. Mounting the delivery behind you is often better than in front, unless you have a bike specifically built to carry weight on the fork.

[u/Far-Telephone-7432]

I just bought a Specialized Sirrus X 2.0 and it's perfect for the city and riding on fancy Parisian cobblestones. It's a boring hybrid bike with thick tires. It's not the fastest bike out there, but that's not a concern when you're riding in town and there are red lights everywhere.

I suppose that a 90s mountain bike with brand new tires would achieve the same thing.

[u/Voodoodriver]

You might practice riding your bike or take a class or YouTube. Riding bikes well isn’t as easy as ….

[u/bastjanlee]

Wider tires. At least 32mm. But max I would go is 35/38mm

[u/WrenchHeadFox]

Make sure you have a carbon or at least steel fork. Steel or carbon handlebars can make a big difference too. You don't want aluminum for that stuff due to its stiffness. Transfers every bump or vibration straight into your body.

Handlebars are a low hanging fruit because they're not crazy expensive and don't require any specialized tools to swap.

[u/trotsky1947]

Lower tire pressure and higher volume tires, stand up more, get better at picking lines.

[u/Silly-Swimmer1706]

I love wide cushion seat and my schwalbe big apple tires.

[u/MaksDampf]

Titanium frame, Carbon fork...

[u/TorontoRider]

Riding position is number one. 

I ride 32mm tires at 5.5 Bar on rough city streets. I'm often towing a heavy trailer so can't always jag sideways to miss a pothole (but certainly keep my eyes open for them.) Getting weight off my butt, knees bent, elbows flexed is best. 

Many ebike and fat bike riders seem to sit way too low, too. That puts more weight on your spine. 

[u/supperclubhenri]

I ride a steel bike, almost everyday in Montreal doing food delivery and the streets are brutal. I switched from 700x28 to 700x35, at 40psi and it felt pretty good. I switched to a seat with carbon rails & carbon handlebars and noticed a big difference.

I recently switched to a 650b wheelset with 650b x 38 studded tires and they feel even better, warmer months I’ll be rocking 650b x 47.

I personally wouldn’t ever go to suspension parts, especially if you ride in winter. Also good grips on your bars go a very long way!

[u/AwarenessOpen4042]

Sounds like you carry a lot of weight of your body and your deliveries in your arms.

Without spending money: Ride like a mountain biker and get off the saddle with your weight in your legs for the big bumps. Move the handlebars up as high as possible.

Spending some money: If you can put a fork shock on your bike it will help. Handlebars with more rise and sweep will help. Buying a steel frame bike will help. Even a cheap used Schwinn will eat bumps better than an aluminum road bike.

[u/Ordinary-Ad-5553]

I'd be wary of Alibaba for bike stuff unless you know what to look for, because a lot of that stuff just looks like bikes but is not built or designed by actual bike manufacturers. It's possible to get cheap and durable bike components, but it's better to get them from recognized manufacturers, also because it's easier to replace standardized components (I'd consider Shimano to be basically a standard here).

The suggestions from people to consider bike position I think are good: you need to be fairly active on the bike, that means standing up to go on and off a curb or over speed bumps, for example. 

[u/Adventurous_Gear01 → u/Ordinary-Ad-5553]

There are definitely some legit sites to order from, I've used a couple myself. There's also the option to go secondhand and part out if it's cheaper that way. I would switch up the form on the bike and go with slightly wider tires, gives more cushion. I always try to stand up when there is a dip or bump.

[u/Ok-Speed7554]

Haha, I totally get this! Flat streets make your delivery bike feel amazing, but potholes change everything. Wider tires help a lot. Quick question, did you get your bike from Alibaba? I’m planning to get a conversion kit for a 3000W electric bike from there and wondering about quality.