Gettin a punchure in a big peloton

aodhu

I'm far from a super cyclist but I have been out on a few long distance spins. Almost every second spin someone gets a punchure.

So my question is this:

What would happen if you got a punchure while in the middle of a big pelothon?
Do pro cyclists have special wheels to prevent this happeing?

Just wondering

Aodh

hellbell123

erm i think the pros just stop and replace the whole wheel ( as i saw on tour de france )

rubadub

No special wheels, AFAIK most dont even use puncture resistant tyres, probably due to the additional weight. They will signal and a car will come with a new wheel to put on. I often wonder if the additional weight is really that much of a delay to them, e.g. it might slow them down a bare fraction but will this be more than the time needed to put a replacement on.

I imagine they do training cycling on flats and are used to it so can ride a bike for miles on a flat, probably destroying the rim, tyre & tube but they do not care at that level.

aodhu

rubadub wrote:

I imagine they do training cycling on flats and are used to it so can ride a bike for miles on a flat, probably destroying the rim, tyre & tube but they do not care at that level.

That probably answers my question, I guess I was wondering if a flat would cause a massive pile up. But I guess the just ride out of the group change the wheels and off they go.....

Hermy

Getting a puncture on level ground while traveling in a straight line shouldn't necessarily lead to a pile up, even at high speed. However in the 2003 Tour de France Joseba Beloki lost his back tyre completely on the descent of Cote de la Rochette resulting in him hitting the deck and breaking his right femur in two places, his elbow and his wrist. In order to avoid the fallen rider Lance Armstrong left the road and descended a ploughed field, miraculously rejoining the race unscathed. Most of the time a puncture is nothing more than a nuisance but in the wrong place at the wrong time they can have dire consequences!

Sean02

If you could follow the Tour of Ireland peloton through Leixlip / Lucan / Strawberry Beds next Sunday you are very likely to see how the pro's manage punctures. The roads are a pure disgrace, discribed by a local county counciller as been laid using a garden fork.

banaco73

To answer your question alot of the pro teams are using Tublars which is not a tire and tube it is a one piece tire glued to the rim. when they do get a flat they can ride on it for quite some time once there is not to many tight bends.

The dangers are what happened to Mr Beloki in 2003 TDF if the Tub rolls off you are in trouble.

http://www.3-athlon.com/productsimgs/thumbs/t_589_01.jpg

Have a look at the above link

blorg

That Beloki crash on YouTube.

aodhu

Scary looking crash, but at least in that situation he didn't have the main pack with him or it would have been a lot worse.

blorg

There are a fair few peloton crashes on YouTube.

crashoveroid

The Reason Beloki crashed was because his rim over heated and melted the glue on his tubular tires. All pro,s are nearly on tubs instead of clinchers because when your braking hard your rims can get hot and melt your tube so it can be a little more hazzardous to your health. the ride tubular most of the time as you can pump them to 170psi