Nice places for visits from the fairy

secretsam

Got a visit from the little minx this morning, whilst coming through Trafalgar Square! Changed the tube leaning up against that model of Gromet done up as Nelson :twisted:

Then the damn minipump wouldn't do its thing :evil: , so had to walk to Cyclesurgery and borrow their track pump (thanks, guys)

Anyone beat that for a tourist-tastic location?

lostboysaint

Mine was on a road/track about 10km north of Sao Bartholomeu, in amongst the lakes and rivers, in 40degC heat and was a split sidewall.

Fortunately my riding companion was a smoker so with the lid of his fag packet folded over covering the split and a new tube gassed up I was able to ride the 35km back home without an issue (and the rest of the holiday's riding!).

bompington

I only cycle in nice places, so anywhere I've ever changed a puncture has been pleasant - at least scenery wise.
But here (I'm not one of the guys in the street view!) was no fun in a blizzard with inches of snow on the road one dark January night.
Here, on the other hand, was great, possibly due to the adrenaline of surviving a front tyre blow out at exactly 50mph (like a lot of street view pics, you don't really see the gradient) - without coming off or any damage beyond a bust tyre and a lightly dented rim.

pblakeney

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

secretsam

PBlakeney wrote:

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

how on earth did you flat in an apartment?

bompington

Well, when we were in PP we stayed in a flat...

itboffin

Outside the roebuck at one of the summer drinks, beer & a nice view

Meh

veronese68

itboffin wrote:

Outside the roebuck at one of the summer drinks, beer & a nice view

Meh

I once had the headlamp wiring in a car catch fire outside the Roebuck. Put the fire out and went for a few pints to calm my nerves. Well I couldn't drive it home could I.

tgotb

I managed to get a puncture on the turbo; I haven't the faintest idea how!

pblakeney

SecretSam wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

how on earth did you flat in an apartment?

Blow up the tyres to full pressure in a cool air conditioned room.
Move bike onto balcony in full sunshine and alloy rims.
Temperature increases, pressure increases, boom!

Also happened to someone in another group outside a cafe in Petra.

Lesson learned.

redvee

SecretSam wrote:

Got a visit from the little minx this morning, whilst coming through Trafalgar Square! Changed the tube leaning up against that model of Gromet done up as Nelson :twisted:

This Grommit??

FoldingJoe

here

Punctured up the climb so thought I'd change it at the top and enjoy the view.

The Rookie

PBlakeney wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

how on earth did you flat in an apartment?

Blow up the tyres to full pressure in a cool air conditioned room.
Move bike onto balcony in full sunshine and alloy rims.
Temperature increases, pressure increases, boom!

Also happened to someone in another group outside a cafe in Petra.

Lesson learned.

Doesn't actually stack up, say 20C inside to getting it to 60C outside that is less than a 15% increase in pressure even allowing for no stretch of the tyre!

pblakeney

The Rookie wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

how on earth did you flat in an apartment?

Blow up the tyres to full pressure in a cool air conditioned room.
Move bike onto balcony in full sunshine and alloy rims.
Temperature increases, pressure increases, boom!

Also happened to someone in another group outside a cafe in Petra.

Lesson learned.

Doesn't actually stack up, say 20C inside to getting it to 60C outside that is less than a 15% increase in pressure even allowing for no stretch of the tyre!

Fine.
You do the maths.
Still happened. And it was 16C inside. I like it cool when sleeping.

The Rookie

So another 2%, still doesn't stack up as the cause.

tgotb

PBlakeney wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

On the balcony of my apartment in Port Pollensa in the sunshine.

I simply got a bottle of lager from the fridge to cool down whilst changing tubes.

I cannot imagine a much more pleasant visit.

how on earth did you flat in an apartment?

Blow up the tyres to full pressure in a cool air conditioned room.
Move bike onto balcony in full sunshine and alloy rims.
Temperature increases, pressure increases, boom!

Also happened to someone in another group outside a cafe in Petra.

Lesson learned.

Doesn't actually stack up, say 20C inside to getting it to 60C outside that is less than a 15% increase in pressure even allowing for no stretch of the tyre!

Fine.
You do the maths.
Still happened. And it was 16C inside. I like it cool when sleeping.

Maths stacks up; 40 degree increase will cause an increase of 15%, which you'd have thought was well within tolerance. However I did almost the same thing many years ago; inflated the tyre outside, subsequently brought the bike indoors and sat it behind the sofa, and got the fright of my life when it exploded while I was watching TV. That would have been a 20 degree increase, at most. I did the same thing this Winter, putting a CX tyre inflated to ~20psi in the car and then turning the heating on, *but* that already had a very big bulge in the sidewall.

You're both right :-)

As a complete aside, the maths says that sticking your bike in an aeroplane will result in ~5psi increase at altitude, so you really don't need to deflate your tyres before taking your bike on holiday. Even taking them into space (+14psi) would be pretty unlikely to blow them off the rims.

Edit: Is 60 degrees a realistic temperature for a black tyre left in hot sun? I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if it got a lot hotter than that (thinking of anecdotal tales of people frying eggs on car bonnets).

The Rookie

I used 60 based on the internal temperature of a dark car parked in midday sunshine in Seville in July. Was testing for a car manufacturer at the time.

You need a very high solar load on matt black absorber to do that, so something like death valley, you won't get that intensity unless the sun is near enough directly overhead as a small change in angle has a significant effect on the amount of radiation absorbed in the atmosphere.

tgotb

The Rookie wrote:

I used 60 based on the internal temperature of a dark car parked in midday sunshine in Seville in July. Was testing for a car manufacturer at the time.

You need a very high solar load on matt black absorber to do that, so something like death valley, you won't get that intensity unless the sun is near enough directly overhead as a small change in angle has a significant effect on the amount of radiation absorbed in the atmosphere.

In that case, given that it clearly happened, one of your other assumptions must be wrong :-)

The Rookie

Or the setup was defective and about to go pop anyway, as that does happen without any external influence at all (had it just like that about 4 weeks ago, no sun, no heat, just pumped it up and came back 20 minutes later and the tyre was blown off the rim.