Turbo - puncture

navrig2
navrig2 Posts: 1,844
edited October 2018 in Workshop
Part the way into my turbo session last night I started to experience a slipping wheel. Stopped and checked to find the tyre defalting.

I re-inflated and went to have a recovery beer. Checked again a couple of hours later and it was flat so a puncture or a dodgy valve.

I know that this tube has been patched and suspect that the leak will be at the patch. I don't understand why the patch should fail. The bike is permanently on the turbo, it has a turbo tyre and hasn't been used extensively over the summer months. I've started using it more recently.

I don't think that rubber cement and a patch should melt under the temperatures a turbo tyre will achieve.

So why the failure?

Comments

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,728
    Navrig2 wrote:
    I don't think that rubber cement and a patch should melt under the temperatures a turbo tyre will achieve.
    But maybe it will. Just enough, if the repair had the slightest of defaults.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    Probably a dodgy valve, I have had a couple of Presta valves that have been damaged over time on the turbo bike.
  • Killerclown
    Killerclown Posts: 110
    Wheel on resistance roller type Turbos really don’t do any favours to tyres or tubes, they work them in an ‘unnatural’ fashion. The direct drive turbos are a far nicer solution.
  • SJH76
    SJH76 Posts: 191
    I had a puncture a few days ago out on the road. I usually inspect and inflate the innertube when I've removed it to see whereabouts the hole is - mainly to remove anything that's still in the tyre. I found the hole and it was on the seam of the tube but on the innermost part of the rim and not near a spoke. So it looks to me like the innertube just failed for no reason whatsoever.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Killerclown wrote:
    Wheel on resistance roller type Turbos really don’t do any favours to tyres or tubes, they work them in an ‘unnatural’ fashion. The direct drive turbos are a far nicer solution.

    Utter nonsense. Please explain.
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    Well you can build up a fair bit of warmth on the turbo - but a patched tube can start to leak on the road too.

    I don't think its worth over analysing it.
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,844
    Fenix wrote:
    I don't think its worth over analysing it.

    Of course it is worth over analysing. I'm an engineer. :roll:

    You are wrong :wink:
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Navrig2 wrote:
    Fenix wrote:
    I don't think its worth over analysing it.

    Of course it is worth over analysing. I'm an engineer. :roll:

    You are wrong :wink:

    Ah - right ...

    I propose a testing regime - 10 minute warmup - stop and use a temp probe to test the tyre temperature. Ideally you'd pop the tyre off and test the tube temperature too ...
    do the same after a 30 minute workout at varying power levels - see if you can find correlation between the amount of power entered and the temperature of the tyre & tube
    Depending on the turbo type - it may depend on rider weight too ... so get that in place.
    Don't forget to compensate for ambient temperature and occasional cooling effects (wife bringing you in a bottle refresh causing a draft)

    Let us know your results ... :)
  • CitizenLee
    CitizenLee Posts: 2,227
    It's an inner tube. I'd just fit a new one and move on with my life :P
    Current:
    NukeProof Mega FR 2012
    Cube NuRoad 2018
    Previous:
    2015 Genesis CdF 10, 2014 Cube Hyde Race, 2012 NS Traffic, 2007 Specialized SX Trail, 2005 Specialized Demo 8
  • Killerclown
    Killerclown Posts: 110
    Fenix wrote:
    Well you can build up a fair bit of warmth on the turbo - but a patched tube can start to leak on the road too.

    I don't think its worth over analysing it.

    True, and yes. However, to cut a long story short, riding on a road causes far less heating from friction, and you have airflow over and around the tyre on an outdoor road ride, that helps dissipate the built up heat better.
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,844
    Slowbike wrote:
    Navrig2 wrote:
    Fenix wrote:
    I don't think its worth over analysing it.

    Of course it is worth over analysing. I'm an engineer. :roll:

    You are wrong :wink:

    Ah - right ...

    I propose a testing regime - 10 minute warmup - stop and use a temp probe to test the tyre temperature. Ideally you'd pop the tyre off and test the tube temperature too ...
    do the same after a 30 minute workout at varying power levels - see if you can find correlation between the amount of power entered and the temperature of the tyre & tube
    Depending on the turbo type - it may depend on rider weight too ... so get that in place.
    Don't forget to compensate for ambient temperature and occasional cooling effects (wife bringing you in a bottle refresh causing a draft)

    Let us know your results ... :)

    :lol:

    Should I go for wired or wireless instrumentation - maybe do a desk study before I start to determine this? Is wireless technology too new and maybe I have to do a full ARM analysis?

    How should I report it? Tables of data or a full interpretative report summarising the factual data.


    Killerclown wrote:
    Fenix wrote:
    Well you can build up a fair bit of warmth on the turbo - but a patched tube can start to leak on the road too.

    I don't think its worth over analysing it.

    True, and yes. However, to cut a long story short, riding on a road causes far less heating from friction, and you have airflow over and around the tyre on an outdoor road ride, that helps dissipate the built up heat better.

    No $hit Sherlock? :roll:

    I'll have to rethink the garage. Liquid nitrogen cooling and several fans blowing cold air over the rear wheel. Maybe have to hire a wind tunnel to work out the ducting and airflow which stops me getting hypothermia but still cools the tyre.

    So much to do before I can get back on the turbo :wink:
    #anyexcuse
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Killerclown wrote:
    True, and yes. However, to cut a long story short, riding on a road causes far less heating from friction, and you have airflow over and around the tyre on an outdoor road ride, that helps dissipate the built up heat better.

    You've never actually owned a turbo, have you?
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,844
    Well it turned out that the tube had not been previously repaired and had developed a pinhole leak presumably as a direct result of heat build up. I guess there had been a few cycles of hot/cold with resulting expansion and eventually a weakness gave way in the tube.

    New tube fitted, old one ditched - normally I'll repair but this was unbranded and probably a cheapo I picked up sometime ago.
  • Killerclown
    Killerclown Posts: 110
    Imposter wrote:
    Killerclown wrote:
    True, and yes. However, to cut a long story short, riding on a road causes far less heating from friction, and you have airflow over and around the tyre on an outdoor road ride, that helps dissipate the built up heat better.

    You've never actually owned a turbo, have you?
    Yes I have, I still have one, I mostly use it to hold one of the bikes upright / store it, I rarely use it for anything except checking the set up after a big maintenance job. It amazes me how warm the roller gets, even on that sort of use, it’s certainly wouldn’t / doesn’t do normal tyres and tubes any favours.

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