Why does innertube air smell funky?

[Cyclopathic]

I may have asked this before but I don't think anyone could tell me.

 

[ianrauk]

rubber always smells funky

 

[snorri]

Why do ladies in rubber............ STOP! snorri, you have gone far enough.

 

[Cyclopathic]

rubber always smells funky

I hadn't noticed it on other rubber products.

 

[Globalti]

Singletrack has already discussed this: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/inner-tube-air-why-does-it-smell-so

 

[cyberknight]

Some folk have waaaaaaaaaay to much spare time

 

[numbnuts]

Gas masks smell funny too ..........so I'm told

 

[snorri]

Gas masks smell funny too ..........so I'm told

Ah! Memories.
My introduction to fetish wear, although I didn't realise it at the time, putting on the WW2 gas mask that still lay about the house in my early childhood.

 

[Melonfish]

have you heard your pump squeak when you pump it?
that isn't "air" that's going in there you know....

 

[Cyclopathic]

See, nobody knows. It's yet another on the long line of bicycling mysteries like whether or not we should wear helmets or the complexities of bike stability or how pudgy blokes in full lycra think they are sporting a "look". We'll never know.

 

[ufkacbln]

Ah! Memories.
My introduction to fetish wear, although I didn't realise it at the time, putting on the WW2 gas mask that still lay about the house in my early childhood.

I used to wear one at work!

 

[ufkacbln]

It is in fact the malodorous manifestation of the P*nct*re fairy's flatulent bowel!

 

[Octet]

A combination of stale air, dirt and oil which has been in those tyres for a long time are the causes of the funky smell. The rubber plays a bit of a part in it but not as much as the rest, and especially not as much as the air being old.

If you completely replaced the air every couple of days it wouldn't smell as bad, but you normally only top it up between rides and so it isn't replaced. The same sort of thing happens on things like ships, take for example the Channel light vessels, they never are manned except for maintenance and so when the crews go onto them they have to carry protective gear and air meters to check how stale the air really is. It is all trapped in a single space without proper ventilation or circulation.

 

[Cyclopathic]

A combination of stale air, dirt and oil which has been in those tyres for a long time are the causes of the funky smell. The rubber plays a bit of a part in it but not as much as the rest, and especially not as much as the air being old.

If you completely replaced the air every couple of days it wouldn't smell as bad, but you normally only top it up between rides and so it isn't replaced. The same sort of thing happens on things like ships, take for example the Channel light vessels, they never are manned except for maintenance and so when the crews go onto them they have to carry protective gear and air meters to check how stale the air really is. It is all trapped in a single space without proper ventilation or circulation.

Thanks. I never knew that about the light vessels and the funkified air. I'd have thought it would be a fairly straight forward matter to install some very rudimentary ventilation in them though. But I'm not a marine engineer so I could be wrong.

 

[Octet]

Thanks. I never knew that about the light vessels and the funkified air. I'd have thought it would be a fairly straight forward matter to install some very rudimentary ventilation in them though. But I'm not a marine engineer so I could be wrong.

The problem is that ships use watertight, bulk head doors which in themselves are fairly airtight. In an operational ship you have an air ventilation unit which circulates the air and allows the crew to breath.
On unmanned ships, it is pointless to have a ventilation unit running, when the ships are manned for a day or so every couple of years, since the only source of power is the solar panel on the top, which is designed to run the light and not the ship which is anchored in place.

The same thing happens in sewers and drainage tunnels, which is when you have a build up of 'Sewer Gas' which although is more than just stale air, has the same principals of a lack of ventilation and air movement. This is why it is dangerous to explore such tunnels (urban exploration being a common activity worldwide) without respirators and gas readers, and is also the cause of many deaths.