Cycling UK Forum

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotla ... -edinburgh

well his chain etc will need a good lube after he is done. I would rather than got my feet wet and carried the bike.

I saw that, and I have done it myself in the past, but these days I would get off and shoulder the bike if I were to go through at all. Firstly, what about hidden obstructions under the water. And secondly, that is a real test for the seals on everything with bearings.

Reminds me of Ride London 2014 [emoji23]

Been there and done that on a recumbent trike ........

I had to get off before the end of the flood because I had so much air trapped in my side bags that the back wheel started to lose contact with the road.

YMMV ........

Someone ought to invent the amphibious bicycle...

Oh! They already have!...

https://youtu.be/Z7YLWpnYfts

One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

You should be OK if you hang onto your bike!

Mike Sales wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

You should be OK if you hang onto your bike!

Indeed, but perhaps riding it might be the better option.

Oldjohnw wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

You should be OK if you hang onto your bike!

Indeed, but perhaps riding it might be the better option.

I would be, but I was also thinking of those who recommend walking.

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

well there would have been a whirl pool then?

mercalia wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

well there would have been a whirl pool then?

I was wondering about that. I guess it would depend on the volume of water in the flood and the volume to be filled underground.

Mike Sales wrote:

mercalia wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

well there would have been a whirl pool then?

I was wondering about that. I guess it would depend on the volume of water in the flood and the volume to be filled underground.

I think the drains simply can't flow sufficiently quickly and the water backs up. It has to go somewhere. Manholes are a weak point.

It was me a couple of years ago, on a country road, although at first sight the flood didn't appear to be anything like so deep. It looked as if, as long as I went through slowly, the water shouldn't quite come up over the bottom bracket. Wrong! Not only the bottom bracket, the hubs as well. By then there was no point in trying to turn back so I carried on through.

When I got home I tipped the bike up on its rear wheel and about a cupful of water came out, presumably from the blow holes in the chainstays and/or the mudguard hole in the chainstay bridge - I'd yet to fit mudguards on that bike - which is where it must have got in.

I overhauled the hubs and stripped the bottom bracket out - original cartridge - and when I shook it, water came out. I dried it out as best I could and slathered the casing with grease to try to prevent water getting in if it ever happened again. Maybe that helped - that bottom bracket still spins as free as you like, two years on, whereas my other two bikes had the same OEM bottom bracket and they both failed within a year.

I believe water ingress is a bottom bracket's worst enemy, although the likes of (usually aftermarket?) Shimano UN55s seem so well sealed that they might be almost immune to that. Anyone think it's worth drilling a drain hole under the bb shell? I suspect a lot more gets in than we realise.

Mike Sales wrote:

mercalia wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

well there would have been a whirl pool then?

I was wondering about that. I guess it would depend on the volume of water in the flood and the volume to be filled underground.

He was foolish to ride do close to the edge where any manhole would be? and then there is the road camber , so the water would be deepest at the edge?, where any debris may have drifted also. Compare the dark car and the white car I guess he thought he was a he-man and a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do

Mike Sales wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:One of the problems when a road is under water is that manhole covers can lift. It is not unknown for people to disappear into these.

You should be OK if you hang onto your bike!

I commend your post - funny and logical.