Can leaving your bike in the sun cause a puncture?

[robing]

In Spain at the moment, very hot! I'm at a hotel at the moment and bike not allowed in room so locked in courtyard. Generally pretty shady, but this afternoon the sun was on it and I thought about moving the bike or letting some air out of the tyres but stupidly I didn't. Anyway this evening I had a flat, small hole in side of tube, no foreign body, tyre fine. So I'm guessing the heating up from the sun caused the tyre to blow.

Is this likely, happened to anyone else?

 

[robing]

I have the tyres pretty hard but only with hand pump sowouldn't have thought I could overinflate.

 

[Brandane]

Bicycle? Sunshine? What is this rare phenomenon of which you speak?
<<<<<
I am not qualified to answer your question.

 

[HarryTheDog]

I had a MTB tyre explode in the back of my car in the sun with a slime inner tube, made a right mess, green gunk everywhere.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I've blown 2 tyres when they've been in the sun in the car. One time I was driving, frightened the carp out of me!

 

[andytheflyer]

From the general gas equation (IIRC) P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2, since the T is in degrees Kelvin, going from say 293K to say 323K (a 30C increase) is not going to make much of a difference to P when V is a constant.

Not sure then that heating of a bike tyre in the sunshine (going from 20 to 50C) is likely to be the cause, unless the tyre was already inflated very close to its limit. But a better physicist than me can no doubt put me straight.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Yes, on a very hot day and the sun came round as the bike was standing and took the rear wheel out of the shade. I wasn't there when it went so I don't know how dramatic the rupture was.

 

[Katherine]

A few summers ago, we heard an explosion in the garage but couldn't find anything wrong when we went to investigate, until my son got out his bike the next morning to cycle to college. New tyre needed!

 

[robing]

Oh well. Easy enough to fix in the comfort of the hotel and not having to remove all the luggage from the bike. Fortunately bike shop down the road to stock up on inner tubes. It's my second already in a week! And new tyres on before I left.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Pavement can get pretty hot in the sun. I've heard of this happening with tubulars, but I was across the square when it happened,and ran to see what the noise was. I also had it happen on a tire that was a clincher, but believe I over inflated it. I had ridden about a mile on it when the tube exploded,also blowing out the tire.

 

[Bodhbh]

A couple of times I've come back to a flat after the bikes been in the sun all day. Both times I think it was friction holes cause by badly seated rim tape. So, I do suspect sun may push an inner on the verge of a flat over the edge. Temperature will soften the rubber too, so works on 2 levels?

 

[jefmcg]

I was stamping cards at the Ditchling Devil and there were a dozen or so bikes lying in the sun. This was about 140km into the ride. Suddenly there was a bang, and the back wheel on a Ribble was spinning, tube burst.

I had assumed it was the sun.

 

[Arthur]

I also had a front tube go bang when the bike had just been standing in the sun for about an hour. Still, I'd rather it happen then than during a fast descent.

 

[jay clock]

a friend had one go in Mallorca at the half Ironman. Left bike in sun all morning in transition and when he came to bike out, it suddenly went with a bang. turned out the glue had melted on an old repaired patch. Taught him only to race with tubes that have not been repaired

 

[andrew_s]

A black tyre in the sun with no airflow can get pretty hot - maybe 75°C or more, which would give a pressure rise of 20% or so, depending on the inflation temperature. Even so, 130 psi isn't going to cause a puncture unless there's some other problem such as misplaced rim tape or a tube pinched between tyre bead and rim.