How can I make road-bike rims survive tree roots on trails? It would be nice if there was in my area an extended network of bike paths on regular roads.

Unfortunately the network is in its early phases, and given the speed it's introduced at, it may be another 100 years until it's done.

But I'm not here to preach to the choir.

Since bike lanes are a rarity, I generally use trails, even though they're not well-maintained. Every few minutes, I'll encounter root damage. It's usually visible enough because they're highlighted with an orange marker.



With a mountain bike I don't worry about hitting these obstacles, even when they straddle the path perpendicularly. The tires will take it.

With a road tire on a road bike I'm less sure. What would you / do you do?


If it seems like just a 1cm / 0.5 " protrusion and the tire is properly inflated, just fly over it. The rim will not become an oval after that. Nor will the aluminum rim have a nasty (and irreparable) dent.
Reduce your speed, and go around the tree root. The unpredictable grass would in this case be more rim friendly.
Avoid bike trails that have root damage altogether. Stick to city streets. At least pot holes are easier to go around.


The physics of the problem

I was able to appreciate the suggested solution intuitively, but not rationally. If you're also wondering "but why would rising help?", head on over to Physics SE for the answer. Succinctly, you squeeze (crush) the light/fragile frame between the ground and your body mass (which is substantial compared to the frame).
Simply unweighting the saddle is enough to roll over most tree roots even on skinny tyres. On my 28mm tyres I don't even need to bother doing that very often. You may want to lift the front wheel in severe cases, or on the very lightest (low spoke count) front wheels.