Cycling through flood water.
- Thread starter Brandane
- Start date
-
- Tags
- bottom bracket hubs
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
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
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
Globalti
Legendary Member
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.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
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?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
It's a SRAM GXP BB, they aren't the best. They need regular greasing. Binned mine for a Praxis Works replacement,
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
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.
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.
Globalti
Legendary Member
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.
presta
Guru
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.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
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 !
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.
