These pieces of cycling gear should never be left in your car as temperatures heat up. – By Molly Hurford

Cars get hot in the summer, and plenty of cyclists are more than happy to leave bikes and gear locked up in sweltering temperatures. But cars can get extremely hot: according to HeatKils.org, when it’s only 21 degrees out and sunny, a car can get up to 45 degrees within an hour. When it’s 38 degrees, a car can easily heat up to 78 degrees.

Kevin Haviland, head mechanic and team manager for Norco Factory Racing, has seen his share of hot car disasters. In fact, his best advice is that if it’s hot enough that you would hesitate to leave a child or a dog in the car for any amount of time, your bike probably shouldn’t be left in the heat, either.

Here are key items of your cycling gear that you shouldn’t leave cooking in your car on a hot day:

There’s a reason that Ironman races allow athletes to pump up their tyres on race morning: because overnight, heat can potentially swell an inflated tyre and cause it to explode. The same applies to any tyre that’s pumped up to its max bar in your car, says Haviland.

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Bikes with Hydraulic Gear

Really, any liquid that goes on or in a bike shouldn’t be out in temperatures above 44 degrees. Haviland points out that almost all chemicals on the bike—from the oil that keeps hydraulic brakes working to chain lubes to degreasers—all have temperatures listed on the containers, and most say to keep the liquids under 50 degrees. After that, their efficacy goes down, and in hydraulic brakes, fluid might even evaporate.

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Chamois Cream

Because chamois cream is hard to use when it’s liquified.

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Your Neon Bike Frame or Helmet

The problem with the now-trendy neon paint on a lot of bikes, Haviland says, is that it has the tendency to get ‘sunburned.’ Unless your bike is in the trunk or blocked from the sun, you risk fading your paint a lot faster by leaving it in your backseat.

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Gummies, Gels, Bars

Any food that you don’t want to be melted into should probably be stored somewhere cool— especially gummy packs, like Shot Bloks from Clif or Chomps from Gu, which can easily melt into a single, massive gummy. But if you don’t mind the mess, you’re probably still safe eating your super-heated sports nutrition. “Clif Bars can absolutely withstand extreme temperatures in a hot car,” Drew McGowan of Clif Bar explains. “Like most baked foods, our products are likely to become softer in high heat and firmer in freezing temperatures. Bars that get hot may end up misshapen and messy, and chocolate and drizzles will melt, but our products will still be safe to eat.” If your bar includes perishable ingredients, it’s still probably best to mind where you leave it.

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