On my ride home from work yesterday I blew a front tire. This was the first tire I’ve ever blown while riding, but I half expected it to happen. A week ago when I was putting on some new Vredestein cyclocross tires, my front tube blew out of the side like an airbag. It was still intact so I shoved it back in since I was anxious to get riding. I had installed the tire the night before, being careful to check that it was seated correctly before inflating it complete. I commonly do this to make sure the tire doesn’t pop over the rim when pressure is added. It wasn’t until right before the ride, when I inflated the tires a second time, that it popped off the rim. Interestingly this happened while the bike was sitting still in a stand about 20 minutes after I had inflated the tires. I heard a strange pop and couldn’t figure out what it was. I looked at my bike and it took a while to register what had happened. The front wheel looked grossly disfigured. It was a similar reaction to seeing someone (or your own) broken leg. It took a minute to decipher what I was seeing.
When I put the tire back in and pumped it up, I could tell there was a slight bulge where the tube had over-expanded. I rode anyway. Surprisingly it rolled smooth and I put a couple hundred miles on it before yesterday’s experience on Mt Glen Road. I heard a telltale thumping and hit the brakes to slow down gradually until it exploded like a gunshot just before I stopped. It sure spooked the horse near the road.
The shot reminded me of an incident last spring. In one of my classes we spent a day covering cycling. I was helping an aspiring-triathlete student pump up an old tire. We knew it was a risky endeavor because it was very old and the sidewalls were cracking. We put about 80 psi in it and it seemed to be holding fine. After a few minutes, while he was holding the wheel, it blew. The explosion sounded like a cannon shot because we were in a gym. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt, but he said the blast really stung his hand.
Lesson learned: Don’t inflate a suspect tire/tube.
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