Wheever

Hello all. Yesterday, I had my bike up on the bikerack on my car, (I use it as a work stand) spinning the wheels, and from my rear wheel was coming a strange sound. At first I thought it was the reflector, but after playing with it for a bit I realized what I was hearing was WATER INSIDE MY REAR TIRE. WTF?

This is a new bike, and has only seen water once, about a week ago, when it rained while we were driving with the bike on the bikerack. (Once we got to our destination, I wiped the bike down and lubed all the bits I though needed to be lubed. Even still, I ended up with a little rust on the seatclamp bolts.)

So my question is, how did water get inside my tire? And why only the rear? And how do I stop this happening again? Is this common? Is this some symptom of a faulty wheel? I'd like to stop this happening again because it was a PITA to take the tire off and wipe the tire and tube dry.

Thanks for any help or insights you might have!

FBinNY 

The water isn't in your tire, it's in your rim. The ONLY way water gets into your tire is from pumping in very humid weather. The act of compressing the air wrings water out of it (why compressors have drains and water traps) and since the air outlet is at the bottom, whatever water is there is pumped into the tire. meanwhile, what's left there corrodes the pump's check valve.

Water can enter the rim at the valve or spoke holes, and a double wall rim can actually hold a decent amount which is what you hear sloshing. It's dry if you leave the bike in a warm dry place, or out in the sun.

jimc101

Wheels tend to have a lot of holes in them, often about 33 or 37, water likes to seep into any place it can, mix the two, and you have what happened.

Not sure why you needed to take the tire off, neither rubber nor aluminium melt on contact with water, it won't hurt them,

alcjphil

Driving your car in the rain with a bike on a rack is like hosing it down with a pressure washer. Water can get into everything, not only rims, but also into every bearing assembly. If you have to drive in the rain with your bike, it would be better off inside the car if possible

Wheever

Well, I get that. The rack is a hitch style on the back of a volvo SUV, so it's somewhat sheltered. My question was why only the rear tire? And is that indicative of a flaw in the wheel?

alcjphil

Nothing to do with the wheel. It's all about how water flows around the back of your car in the rain and the position of the bike wheels when the bike is on the rack. If your bike is held at an angle with one wheel lower than the other, that wheel gets a lot of water thrown into it by the rear wheel of your car at high speed like a pressure washer like I said before. And, as I said before, in the rain your bike is much better off inside your car if possible

FBinNY 

+1, the wheel more in the air flow sees more water. It doesn't have to be lower, it could stick out more beyond the car, or a cross wind might have sent more rain that way.

In any case, next time it rains throw the passengers out and bring the bike into the car.

Or just accept that this stuff happens and is no no real consequence. Bikes get wet, then they dry. A decent bike with decent lube can handle it about as well as you would.

Wheever

Because there was a lot of water--a lot more than was going to evaporate in the sun. I'd guess around 1/8 of a cup. It was making a lot of noise, too.

I guess I'm surprised that that much water could make it past the rim strip and the nipple threads after driving in not particularly heavy rain for an hours.

Wheever

Well, not in the tube, no, but, yes, in the tire and the rim. I had to dry out rim and tire with a rag. There was enough water that there was no way it was going to evaporate out on its own in anything like a timely fashion. The bike had been in both a warm dry place with low humidity AND in the sun, variously, for almost a week. (And ridden 40 miles) between the rain event and my discovery of the sloshing.

Coal Buster

That is a lot of water. Have you checked your spokes? Maybe you have one or more so loose that they're basically holes?

Secret Squirrel

Probably went through the valve stem hole in the rim. get rid of the water. It will rot the tire from the inside or weld the tube to the inside of the tire (had this happen on Mtn Bike).

pdlamb

Find a good steep hill, preferably a couple miles long. Ride your rear brakes while riding down the hill. You'll hear lots of hissing and fizzing -- that's the water boiling out. Repeat as necessary.

BTW, riding back UP that steep hill is good training.

andr0id

I've had rims get water in them riding through low water crossings.
It is best to pull the tire and drain it through the valve hole or it takes a long time to work out.
Some high profile carbon rims now have weep holes for this reason.

FBinNY 

Water will evaporate on it's own, but if you're impatient of worried you can speed up the process by putting the wheel or whole bike into your solar oven out in your driveway for a few hours. Place the bike into the car, parked in direct sunlight with the windows closed except for one opened a few inches to allow moisture to escape.

Baking the bike at 125° for a few hours will purge all the water from everywhere, with no cost or effort.

Otherwise, the water won't cause any serious issues. The tube may get stuck to the inside of the tire, but that's not a problem. IME the worst consequence might failure of the valve/tube joint. Sometimes when wet, the base of the valve can corrode leading to a failure of the glue there (depends on the valve and tube construction).

However water in rims isn't rare at all, and if it were a problem we'd be inundated in questions from folks in the Pacific Northwest where riding in the rain is SOP. Bicycles are designed as all weather outdoor vehicles, and if water was an issue they'd be proofed against it.

Andrew R Stewart 

To hijack this thread- If you ever want to play a joke on a fellow cyclist just bleed off his tire's air and fill the tiers with a bunch of water with topping off of air at the usual pressure. Using an old floor pump that can have it's top cap removed and the piston pulled out. Pour water into the pump and stroke away. Repeat a few times so a third or so of the tube's volume is water. Top off the tire with air as usual. Then ask your friend to test ride his bike and say something like "I installed these super light tubes for you, check them out". What will happen is that the water will slosh around and induce a fore and aft force as the bike rolls forward. The bike will feel like it's surging while he's coasting.

I was told this story many years ago. A bike came into the shop for service. The owner couldn't figure out what was wrong. So my boss checked out all the usual items, bearings, spoke tension, chain tension (it was a balloon tire coaster brake bike) yet each time he test rode the bike it had a mind of it's own. So my boss checked the air pressure with a gage, the thumb test had seemed about right. After wiping off his face from the stream of slimy water that sprayed out of the valve he figured out that the tube had a lot of water in it. So he replaced the tubes and, using only air, re inflated the tires. the bike rode as it should. Upon pick up he asked the owner about how the tires were pumped up. The owner had an old compressor in his barn that he used. Seems the tank had filled with condensed water enough to run through the hose and chuck then into the tires.

So many years later when I had my own shop there was this "friend" of the staff. You know, the guy with the too expensive bike that talks a good deal but you never see actually riding... So when he had his bike in for some servicing (really unneeded as it was so little used) we decided to play the joke on him. We took an old pump, some water then called him to say that the bike was ready for pick up. He wasn't gone more then 5 minutes when he returned and asked what we had done to his bike. We were going to play him along and explain that his bike felt possessed to us but that we weren't capable of exorcizing a bike but I thought better and confessed. He didn't take it so well and we lost him as a hanger outer at the shop. We weren't too unhappy about that out come. Andy.

Al1943

If it was my bike I would get the water out. I once had an eyelet failure in an expensive racing wheel due to oxidation (rust). The wheel had been ridden in rain and the water settled in the wheel's heaviest side which always stopped at the bottom when off the ground.