# Cycling through flood water.



## Brandane (8 Aug 2019)

I hope this guy stripped and re-greased his hubs and bottom bracket after this bit of bravado.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-sc...ist-makes-it-through-flood-water-in-edinburgh


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## Mo1959 (8 Aug 2019)

Brandane said:


> I hope this guy stripped and re-greased his hubs and bottom bracket after this bit of bravado.....
> 
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-sc...ist-makes-it-through-flood-water-in-edinburgh


Think if that was one of my “good” bikes, I would have walked and carried it!


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## PeteXXX (8 Aug 2019)

I hope he had waterproof socks on!!


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## fossyant (8 Aug 2019)

Never gone over BB depth, although have gone over 'shoe' height


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## Drago (8 Aug 2019)

He's an idiot. The floodwater can rise quick enough to blow off manhole covers, and then the force of the water draining can suck a human in and easily fold them in half to fit the normal the pipe. It's not nice.


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## DaveReading (8 Aug 2019)

Drago said:


> He's an idiot. The floodwater can rise quick enough to blow off manhole covers, and then the force of the water draining can suck a human in and easily fold them in half to fit the normal the pipe. It's not nice.



You could see he was taking care to keep clear of the whirlpools.


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## Drago (8 Aug 2019)

Unfortunately, if you hit a submerged obstruction and fall you suddenly lose all ability to keep clear of any danger. Thoughtless and reckless.


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## netman (8 Aug 2019)

Did better than the car drivers though eh?!


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## Cuchilo (8 Aug 2019)

Drago said:


> He's an idiot. The floodwater can rise quick enough to blow off manhole covers, and then the force of the water draining can suck a human in and easily fold them in half to fit the normal the pipe. It's not nice.


You seem to be an expert in blowing off man holes


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## Edwardoka (8 Aug 2019)

Cuchilo said:


> You seem to be an expert in blowing off man holes


Shots fired


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## Ming the Merciless (8 Aug 2019)

Serious stuff if you hit a pothole or debris under the water.


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## Profpointy (8 Aug 2019)

Drago said:


> He's an idiot. The floodwater can rise quick enough to blow off manhole covers, and then the force of the water draining can suck a human in and easily fold them in half to fit the normal the pipe. It's not nice.



Whilst I agree with caution in deep water the water can't simultaneously blow manholes up and suck down the hole.

I have been blocked by floodwater trying to get into Llanrhwst some years back so took my trousers off and waded (waist deep). When I got to the farm gates and the whooshing water across the A road I was walking on made me realise the water level was a foot higher one side if the dry stone wall than on the road I was wading on. Realising what would happen to me if the wall collapsed (quite likely) I thought better of it and retreated


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## Globalti (9 Aug 2019)

That cyclist will be on here in a couple of weeks asking how to free up his rusted forks, solid BB and siezed dropper post....


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## Paulus (9 Aug 2019)

It's not a good idea to cycle through deep water as you can't see what obstacles are in the way. Holes, posts, as already mentioned raised manhole. It may seem a jolly jape but it is not worth risking it.


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## T4tomo (9 Aug 2019)

He appeared to be cycling on the pavement which should have elimated potholes and and unlikely manhole cover disasters. Will still have done his bb and wheel bearings no good.

Cant believe car drivers, seeing water almost covering the white bollards, still think it’s a good idea to drive through it. Nobbers.


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## GuyBoden (9 Aug 2019)

I was impressed, but I was waiting for him to fall off........

I once was forced into flood water on one side of the road by an inconsiderate car driver, hit a pot hole and fell off. The car driver laughed.


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## Gravity Aided (9 Aug 2019)

If I don't know how deep it is , I don't go through it. Because there could be an abrupt dip in the road covered by water, or a sinkhole, caused by the flooding, or the cause of the flooding.


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## Johnno260 (9 Aug 2019)

I wouldn't risk it, but each to their own.


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## ChrisEyles (9 Aug 2019)

I've been over BB height once before cycling through a flood. No problems cycling through it other than wet feet, but it was a PITA re-greasing the BB and wheel hubs afterwards!


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## HLaB (9 Aug 2019)

Mo1959 said:


> Think if that was one of my “good” bikes, I would have walked and carried it!


Or he could have just crossed the dual carriageway at its crossing points and stayed dry


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## Globalti (10 Aug 2019)

It's a silly thing to do to a bike because once water gets inside the frame it won't dry out but will just create a moist atmosphere, which will rust the BB and anything else inside the frame, no matter how well you think you've dried it out. 

It's the reason why my best bike doesn't get ridden in the wet or washed down, I just wipe it over with a damp cloth after a ride.


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## MrBeanz (10 Aug 2019)

I saw a dude riding thru a puddle about 10 yards long, 10 inches deep take a bad tumble. Thought he would roll right through but there was sand at the bottom that had drifted down from the shoulder. He hit hard. Then I realized riding through any bit of water can be disastrous!


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## ChrisPAmbulance (28 Aug 2019)

I have done this. It was a very short bit of bridge over which I had cycled many times before and didn't expect any problems. 

What I didn't appreciate was that once the water level rises noticeably above the BB, pedaling becomes significantly harder against the inertia of the water. I slowly and surely ground to a halt and just like something out of Monty Python toppled over sideways.

At the top of the road was a church with a sign outside that said - Bring us your problems and we will pray for them. I found someone inside and asked if they could pray for my socks. They were very kind and let me and the bike dry off on their old cast iron radiators before I headed home to strip the bike down.

FOOL!


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## nickyboy (29 Aug 2019)

Globalti said:


> It's a silly thing to do to a bike because once water gets inside the frame it won't dry out but will just create a moist atmosphere, which will rust the BB and anything else inside the frame, no matter how well you think you've dried it out.
> 
> It's the reason why my best bike doesn't get ridden in the wet or washed down, I just wipe it over with a damp cloth after a ride.


Don't understand this. If there is a way for water to get in surely there is a way for water vapour to get out? Vapour will get out easier than water will get in


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## Globalti (29 Aug 2019)

No. A damp atmosphere can never escape from an enclosed space because inevitably some of the moisture condenses on the cooler walls then re-evaporates in a constant cycle inside the container. It's the reason why double glazing eventually "fails". It doesn't fail but it's made with tiny breather holes in the separator bar so as to allow atmospheric pressure to equalise inside, otherwise cyclonic or anticyclonic weather would stress the two panes. Each time atmospheric pressure increases, air enters the gap carrying a tiny amount of moisture. After 20 years or so the water-absorbing granules become saturated and the atmosphere in the gap becomes moist enough that condensation begins to happen inside the outer pane, which is when the unit is said to have failed. Water can easily penetrate a bike frame but the only way to dry the tubes out thoroughly would be to pass a stream of warmed air through them.


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## Goldy (29 Aug 2019)

Even ruts on farm tracks can be an issue when it's dry everywhere else


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## Richard A Thackeray (29 Aug 2019)

Drago said:


> He's an idiot. The floodwater can rise quick enough to blow off manhole covers, and then the force of the water draining can suck a human in and easily fold them in half to fit the normal the pipe. It's not nice.


So true


This idiot took the biscuit for me
June 2007 (so the file states)

Barnsdale Road/A656
Out of Castleford, to (quite ironically) Allerton Bywater (or,_ Inwater_, as it was that week), towards Aberford
If any locals know the road, & the River Aires nature, you'll know that it's essentially a floodplain






I took this, then movement in the distance took my attention
I had one of my decent cameras with me, as I was in the Landie that day

At first I thought it was maybe a branch floating, but a zoom in revealed...………………….







That guy will have been wading through floodwater that deep, for almost 1/2mile

As @Drago states, the pressure will have lifted manhole covers, before the floodwater rose to cover the road
He was damned lucky
I did watch the local news, & keep a close eye in my _*'Yorkshire Post'*_ partially expecting to read a missing person report


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## tyred (29 Aug 2019)

No mudguards He'll get his feet wet


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## tyred (29 Aug 2019)

When I was younger and stupid(er) I drove a MKI Golf through a piece of flooded road at a bridge near my parent's house. I knew the road well, it regularly flooded there, I knew to look at the hedge that it wasn't stupidly deep, perhaps about 6 inches at most, it looked calm on the top and I thought it wouldn't be a problem but there was clearly some sort of undercurrent and I knew that as soon as I entered the water as I felt the pull on the steering wheel and it almost tool the back end around with it. I accelerated and hoped for the best. Perhaps I should have driven into it faster with more confidence but even so, I learned the lesson to respect floods and treat with extreme caution and avoid if at all possible as if it could almost wash away a 900KG car, what would it have done to a cyclist? You do not know what is going on beneath the calm surface.


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## nickyboy (29 Aug 2019)

Globalti said:


> No. A damp atmosphere can never escape from an enclosed space because inevitably some of the moisture condenses on the cooler walls then re-evaporates in a constant cycle inside the container. It's the reason why double glazing eventually "fails". It doesn't fail but it's made with tiny breather holes in the separator bar so as to allow atmospheric pressure to equalise inside, otherwise cyclonic or anticyclonic weather would stress the two panes. Each time atmospheric pressure increases, air enters the gap carrying a tiny amount of moisture. After 20 years or so the water-absorbing granules become saturated and the atmosphere in the gap becomes moist enough that condensation begins to happen inside the outer pane, which is when the unit is said to have failed. Water can easily penetrate a bike frame but the only way to dry the tubes out thoroughly would be to pass a stream of warmed air through them.


You warm up the whole frame by popping it in the sun. Water evaporates and escapes the frame. It doesn't condense as the frame is the same temperature as the water in it (it must be as the water can only get warm via conduction from the frame) Problem solved


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## Globalti (30 Aug 2019)

You can't drive out all the moisture. You will create a hot humid atmosphere inside and as soon as you remove the heat the remaining moisture will re-condense.


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## Dogtrousers (9 Sep 2019)

View: https://twitter.com/davidguenel/status/1170754924524662784?s=19


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## Shut Up Legs (10 Sep 2019)

Been there, done that 

View: https://youtu.be/HuDgcGOXb2g


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## Ajax Bay (17 Oct 2019)

I think that one 'experience' of the subsequent effort and time (and non-availability of the bike to ride) required to dry out the places water shouldn't be allowed to stay in (steel frame, listed below), after you've ridden through water flooding a road which is deeper than your bottom bracket, deters you (well, me) from ever doing so again, however far round it is. I guess I might wade through carrying the bike (we're talking Devon country lanes (with hedges) here where I can see where the flooding ends) if it's a long way round. More likely I'll just think of the hard-learned maintenance implications and enjoy the extra miles and the ad hoc navigation, and accept I'll be late at the pub, or late home.
Bottom bracket shell
Down tube and seat tube (and seat stays/chainstays?)
Fork
Headset, lower bearing
Hubs, front and rear
Rims, front and rear
Lights


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## Globalti (17 Oct 2019)

Bicycles are not designed to be ridden by real people in wet muddy places, they are designed to be ridden by beautiful people in California where it's warm and dry. This explains the woeful design of BB bearings and headsets, especially those where muddy water flies off the front wheel and soaks the lower bearing, creeping around it and filling the head tube with moisture.


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## Ajax Bay (17 Oct 2019)

Globalti said:


> This explains the woeful design of BB bearings and headsets, especially those where muddy water flies off the front wheel and soaks the lower bearing, creeping around it and filling the head tube with moisture.


The cartridge square-taper bottom bracket seems pretty well designed to me.
How can "muddy water fl[ying] off the front wheel" have any effect on the headset lower bearing: surely your mudguards will prevent this. What is/are the adverse effect(s) of moisture in the head tube?


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## fossyant (17 Oct 2019)

Dogtrousers said:


> Some years ago I rode through a small flood/very large puddle. Probably not more than about 10cm deep or less at the crown of the road where I rode. Got some spray on my feet, but carried on. Anyway, the next time I went to take my bike out the BB (SRAM GXP) was seized. Crank wouldn't shift at all. Completely jammed. I'm inclined to think it was just a coincidence, rather than cause and effect but you never know.



It's a SRAM GXP BB, they aren't the best. They need regular greasing. Binned mine for a Praxis Works replacement,


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## Pale Rider (17 Oct 2019)

A few on here are being harsh on the rider in the OP.

It might be his commute, so he may know it well, certainly better than a bunch of know-alls on an internet forum.

He probably knew there was no chance of him coming across a manhole cover, submerged post, or the Loch Ness monster.

And so what if he fell?

The water would have provided a softer landing, and while it's possible to drown in the bath, the chances of him doing so on that road were vanishingly small.


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## Globalti (17 Oct 2019)

Ajax Bay said:


> The cartridge square-taper bottom bracket seems pretty well designed to me.
> How can "muddy water fl[ying] off the front wheel" have any effect on the headset lower bearing: surely your mudguards will prevent this. What is/are the adverse effect(s) of moisture in the head tube?



Most road cyclists do not have mudguards. You must never have stripped the headset on a modern bike where the lower bearing is actually visible in the gap, then been shocked at the filthy rusty state of the cartridge bearing. Similarly you can't have seen the effect of constant moisture, evaporating, re-condensing and dribbling down, soaking the upper and lower cartridge bearings and eventually working its way into the innards.


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## presta (17 Oct 2019)

I had to wait for a spring tide covering the Strood at Mersea once. The cars started crossing at 4-5" deep, but I wasn't going to fill the rims with salt water, so I waited until it was below tyre depth. I used to work with someone who lived on Mersea, and his car was as rotten as a pear. I'll go through freshwater floods as long as I can keep my feet dry.


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## fossyant (17 Oct 2019)

I had to ride through a flood under a bridge on the Fallowfield Loop for about two weeks (old railway track converted for pedestrian use). There wasn't an 'exit' near by so it was easier to ride through. Only 6" deep. Wasn't the best idea though, as the 'aero' rims filled with quite a bit of water !


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## Mike_P (17 Oct 2019)

Globalti said:


> Most road cyclists do not have mudguards.


Matter of choice that, it's no real task to fit a set of strap on down tube clamp on seat tube mudguards and equally to remove them for drier weather.


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## Globalti (17 Oct 2019)

Sure it isn't and I do in winter but that doesn't take away the terrible design of bicycles that get ridden in the wet.


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## Zipp2001 (18 Oct 2019)

Alright I will admit I'm a puddle player.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d-EXFA-tR4


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## Paulus (18 Oct 2019)

Zipp2001 said:


> Alright I will admit I'm a puddle player.
> 
> View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d-EXFA-tR4



not so much a puddle, more like a lake


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## tallliman (20 Oct 2019)

Cycled through some flood water yesterday on the basis that a bus went through it! Didnt seem that bad but got deeper until it was 6inches high.....very odd to cycle through that. Good of the cars to stay back for me!


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