I was riding home from work yesterday and all of a sudden my rear tire went completely flat. The rear of the bike felt really wobbly and as I tried to pull off the road to fix the flat, I lost complete control of the bike and wrecked.
I've had sudden rear flats before, but never one that caused me to lose control of the bike. I'm a little scratched up and the bike's a little scratched up too. The rear tube and tire are ruined (that's a first too).
So, what caused that sudden loss of control and the wobbly feeling? I really don't ever want to have a repeat of yesterday. (锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry to hear about the crash John.
Glad you're ok. Was it the Trek 1000 or the Tri bike? Hope the damage isn't serious.
Maybe you didn't hear any hissing because of traffic noise.
Did you find anything in the tire or was it a pinch flat?
You probably lost control because of the extra weight you were carrying on the back of the bike.
Were you going uphill or downhill at the time?
Sounds a lot like the flat I had on Sunday.
I was making a sharp right turn and had slowed down to about 6-7 mph. The back felt wobbly so I stopped after I completed the turn and saw that my tire had gone completely flat. I never heard any hissing. I had just ridden through some road trash and then crossed some RR tracks just a few feet before the turn. I found a small metal sliver in the tire, almost like a needle.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe it was the purple haze.....
(锕侊箒)~~~~---------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by purple hayes I was riding home from work yesterday and all of a sudden my rear tire went completely flat. The rear of the bike felt really wobbly and as I tried to pull off the road to fix the flat, I lost complete control of the bike and wrecked.
I've had sudden rear flats before, but never one that caused me to lose control of the bike. I'm a little scratched up and the bike's a little scratched up too. The rear tube and tire are ruined (that's a first too).
So, what caused that sudden loss of control and the wobbly feeling? I really don't ever want to have a repeat of yesterday.
Quick lose of air.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron,
It was the Trek 1000. I just finished doing a bunch of upgrades last month. The traffic was pretty heavy, that may be why I didn't hear the air escape. I was going down a gradual slope at probably 20 MPH when it happened.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
The wobbly feeling probably came from a very quick loss of air, like a blowout instead of a slow leak. If the tire had gone flat slowly, you would have more than likely noticed something. When the tire goes completely flat, it will feel squirmy underneath you. I had a sudden blowout (A combination of too high a pressure and some road debris) on a downhill doing around 30. I heard an audible "pop" and then the tire was compltely flat. I managed to get off the road somehow and found the tire (which I had just purchased) with a good sized puncture hole and some shredding from the rim riding on it flat.
Your loss of control was probably a result of grabbing the brakes too quickly or overreacting to the feeling of squirminess from the rear of the bike. When I had my blowout, I made sure I had my balance and was not heading into traffic, and then very easily applied the brakes and slowed to a stop. The feeling was unnerving, but the bike was controllable.
-Moab
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sounds like when you tried to turn that the tyre rolled across the rim and maybe even caught itself in the frame, causing a sudden loss of control. Even a slight loss of pressure results in an unnerving squishiness in the back end. If the tyre was flat enough it could be enouh to throw you.
Be thankful it wasn't the front tyre, and have a speedy recovery.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you have Slime or something similar in the tube that flatted? Those kind of anti-flat liquids can be very slippery in the event of a blowout.
