Washing a hot bike causes flats?
07-19-19, 03:33 PM
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Washing a hot bike causes flats?
I went for a nice paved ride on my road bike this morning while it was cool. Nothing unusual, just my normal route. I never get flats, and I run Mr. Tuffy liners.
I came home and went inside, leaving my bike out in the sun. Things heated up fast today, to about 105 F. I went out a couple hours later thinking I should bring my bike in, and decided to spray it off and wipe it down while I was out there. Figuring the heat would dry it quickly and completely. So I rinsed it with cold water from the garden hose and wiped it down. Everything was fine. I left it outside for another hour to dry. When I came back out, both tires were completely flat, not a trace of air in either one.
I came home and went inside, leaving my bike out in the sun. Things heated up fast today, to about 105 F. I went out a couple hours later thinking I should bring my bike in, and decided to spray it off and wipe it down while I was out there. Figuring the heat would dry it quickly and completely. So I rinsed it with cold water from the garden hose and wiped it down. Everything was fine. I left it outside for another hour to dry. When I came back out, both tires were completely flat, not a trace of air in either one.
07-19-19, 03:45 PM
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That's weird. Once I filled up my tires on outside on a frigid morning before my commute to work. I brought the bike inside at work. A couple of hours later there was a muffled "Bang" in the office, then another an hour later. When I went to ride home, I found that the cold air had expanded and blown out both tubes. Finally explained the loud noises.
What kind of damage to the tubes? Rim strips okay? Are the rims themselves okay? Check the seam opposite the valve stem. Are they true? Check all the spokes.
What kind of damage to the tubes? Rim strips okay? Are the rims themselves okay? Check the seam opposite the valve stem. Are they true? Check all the spokes.
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07-19-19, 03:54 PM
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Even watched one of those videos where they crush a metal drum by heating the inside of the drum, then dousing the outside with cold water? Something something pressure differential.
My uneducated guess is something similar happened here.
My uneducated guess is something similar happened here.
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07-19-19, 04:12 PM
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My guess is that you got the bike too hot leaving it in the sun. Black tires. I doubt it was washing.
Over-pressure in the tires?
Perhaps washing caused quick contraction of the valve stems... still... that would be odd.
Over-pressure in the tires?
Perhaps washing caused quick contraction of the valve stems... still... that would be odd.
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07-19-19, 04:24 PM
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Washing a hot bike causes flats?
No, but it has been known to remove the special sauce that is believed to make red bikes go faster.
No, but it has been known to remove the special sauce that is believed to make red bikes go faster.
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07-19-19, 04:36 PM
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That's weird. Once I filled up my tires on outside on a frigid morning before my commute to work. I brought the bike inside at work. A couple of hours later there was a muffled "Bang" in the office, then another an hour later. When I went to ride home, I found that the cold air had expanded and blown out both tubes. Finally explained the loud noises.
What kind of damage to the tubes? Rim strips okay? Are the rims themselves okay? Check the seam opposite the valve stem. Are they true? Check all the spokes.
What kind of damage to the tubes? Rim strips okay? Are the rims themselves okay? Check the seam opposite the valve stem. Are they true? Check all the spokes.
I went for a nice paved ride on my road bike this morning while it was cool. Nothing unusual, just my normal route. I never get flats, and I run Mr. Tuffy liners.
I came home and went inside, leaving my bike out in the sun. Things heated up fast today, to about 105 F. I went out a couple hours later thinking I should bring my bike in, and decided to spray it off and wipe it down while I was out there. Figuring the heat would dry it quickly and completely. So I rinsed it with cold water from the garden hose and wiped it down. Everything was fine. I left it outside for another hour to dry. When I came back out, both tires were completely flat, not a trace of air in either one.
I came home and went inside, leaving my bike out in the sun. Things heated up fast today, to about 105 F. I went out a couple hours later thinking I should bring my bike in, and decided to spray it off and wipe it down while I was out there. Figuring the heat would dry it quickly and completely. So I rinsed it with cold water from the garden hose and wiped it down. Everything was fine. I left it outside for another hour to dry. When I came back out, both tires were completely flat, not a trace of air in either one.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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07-19-19, 04:38 PM
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Unlikely. Even if you did the equivalent by bleeding pressure back to desired while hot, the pressure would just be lower when it cooled down. A can crushes because it was at ambient pressure when hot, and then ends up at a negative pressure. Being a fixed size and rectangular (or at least cylindrical) it really can't handle more than a tiny negative pressure.
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07-19-19, 04:59 PM
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3 month old, double-wall, presta-drilled rims, factory rim-strip. The bike is ridden daily and I've never had any issues, never had even a single flat either.
07-19-19, 05:06 PM
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I moved the bike more into direct sunlight after I wiped it down. By then it was well over 100 F and just a scorcher. I bet it didn't have anything to do with washing, I bet they just got too hot and expanded till they burst. I run them about 95 PSI.
07-19-19, 07:13 PM
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I suspect this is the cause. I service some bike share bikes that sit on new black-top, they had the same problem last July. The rims were showing temperature of ~135°f with a contactless thermometer around mid-afternoon and the tires would flat later in the evening. Same exact visual appearance as riverdrifter posted. Used some gorilla tape to make a buffer around the valve stem hold and the problem was resolved.
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07-19-19, 07:22 PM
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I suspect this is the cause. I service some bike share bikes that sit on new black-top, they had the same problem last July. The rims were showing temperature of ~135°f with a contactless thermometer around mid-afternoon and the tires would flat later in the evening. Same exact visual appearance as riverdrifter posted. Used some gorilla tape to make a buffer around the valve stem hold and the problem was resolved.
07-19-19, 09:43 PM
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I put a 2" piece of tape under the rim strip, over the valve hole and then cut a X into the tape. When the valve pushes through the X it creates a nice layer over the aluminum edge of the valve hole.
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