Bike at 10,000ft

BlackIguana

A bit of a random question....

I'm flying my bike back to Ireland. Should I deflate the tyres (to make sure they don't burst when at altitude).

I know the answer probably is "you should, just to be safe"...

However I'm really hoping the answer you guys give is "nah, don't bother - there's no chance the tyres will burst"

I would really like to avoid getting the tyres pumped when I get to Dublin (I'm planning to cycle from the airport)..

Thanks - hopefully some of you have done this before. I haven't.

2 stroke

I wonder do they deflate the plane tyres before take off.

Ghost Rider

This strike me as the perfect, self-cancelling, zero sum thread.

(Shame I had to go and ruin it with a smartarse comment.)

copacetic

as long as you have them below 90psi you should be safe enough, just don't have them up at racing type pressures.

2 stroke

Seriously, atmospheric presure is about 14 psi at sea level reducing to half of that at 18,000 feet. Just don't have your tyres pumped to maximum presure and you should be ok.

Chips Lovell

I've flown mine before and never even thought to deflate the tyres, which were pumped up to 120psi. Nothing happened.

coggs

just flew to bikes to and from china , both had tyres pumped at race pressure , no probs wot so ever with them .

el tel

Usually the airline will stipulate that the tyres are deflated. This is certainly advised even though the risk of bursting at altitude is very low (the hold will likely be pressurised anyway, to the equivalent of approx 6-8,000ft altitude). The reason for deflating the tyres relates mostly to fire safety. The Oxygen in the air in the tyres is combustible and will fuel a fire should one break out in the hold.

Aircraft tyres are inflated with nitrogen which is more stable under temperature extremes and dosen't leak through the rubber of the tyres. Also it isn't flammable should the tyre overheat or explode. There's no need to reduce the pressure in the aircraft tyre as they are strong as hell.

Morgan

el tel wrote:

The reason for deflating the tyres relates mostly to fire safety. The Oxygen in the air in the tyres is combustible and will fuel a fire should one break out in the hold.

Are you sure about that? The hold will be filled with air anyway - the small amount in a bike tyre wouldn't make much difference.

blorg

I've flown with inflated tyres albeit touring pressure with no problems. I stopped a few years back when I asked and was told not to bother. If the cycle isn't packed and they are wheeling it onto the plane obviously it is going to make it easier and less risk of rim damage if you leave them inflated. A tube is cheaper than a rim.

BlackIguana

My interpretation of all that is it's unlikely to damage my tyres so I won't deflate them.

If I have an over-eager baggage handler they'll get me to deflate them (because that's the airline policy).

I'm flying with Ryanair so I'm not looking forward to it at all. God knows what stupid intransigent policies they'll have. I have pre-booked the bike on the ticket so it should be ok.

Cheers.

blorg

Bikeacess reports on Ryanair actually aren't half bad; a lot of complimentary reviews and the only complaints seem to be from people who wanted their bikes to travel for free (!?!). Certainly there are much worse reports on other airlines. TBH I suspect it is more down to the baggage handlers at the particular airport, issues I've had before (flying Aer Lingus) were due to Iberia handlers. Ryanair rules seem just to be twist handlebars, doesn't need to be boxed.

Let us know how you get on, may be flying Ryanair with a bike myself in the near future.

Cabaal

el tel wrote:

Aircraft tyres are inflated with nitrogen which is more stable under temperature extremes and dosen't leak through the rubber of the tyres. Also it isn't flammable should the tyre overheat or explode. There's no need to reduce the pressure in the aircraft tyre as they are strong as hell.

Hmm I wounder what would happen if you inflated bike tires with nitrogen

BlackIguana

blorg wrote:

Bikeacess reports on Ryanair actually aren't half bad; a lot of complimentary reviews and the only complaints seem to be from people who wanted their bikes to travel for free (!?!). Certainly there are much worse reports on other airlines. TBH I suspect it is more down to the baggage handlers at the particular airport, issues I've had before (flying Aer Lingus) were due to Iberia handlers. Ryanair rules seem just to be twist handlebars, doesn't need to be boxed.

Let us know how you get on, may be flying Ryanair with a bike myself in the near future.

Yep - I'll let you know. Let's just say I'm planning to give myself plenty of extra time in case there are 'issues'....

BlackIguana

I promised I would post my experience on flying from stansted to dublin with Ryanair. And more importantly bringing my bike with me. (sorry for delay)

It went like so. After a stressful evening of trying to get the pedals off my bike (the website advised that you had to) I eventually gave up. I also had a box to put my bike into (but it wouldn't fit with the pedals on).

Anyhow when I got to the airport the guys told me that they didn't need the box and the pedals didn't matter. They didn't even get me to turn the handlebars sidewards. I simply gave it to them and they told me a guy would come up and wheel it down to the plane (left the wheels on too).

When I got to dub the bike was waiting for me at the carousal so all went fine. The brakes on the handlebar had been knocked out of position though (I had to get an allan key out to change them back) so it obviously took a fairly heavy knock.

It is stressful though. I had to smuggle the thing onto trains with 'no bikes' signs everywhere (to get to the airport).

I've decided to leave the bike in Ireland rather than bring it over and back with me every time...

Cabaal

hmm sounds fun, so overall airports are not the problem just the trains
bike for each country sounds like the right job in the long term