'Ka-BOOM' Does Hot Weather Cause More Catastrophic Tube Explosions?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dave Jacque on July 29, 2015 at 9:17am

Yeah it sounds like a shotgun. I was in my garage doing some maintenance on my neighbor's ancient Huffy last Saturday, pumped up the tires, and BAM! I could hear the echo off the houses on the other side of the street. My ears were ringing for a while.

I don't think it was over-inflation so much as a set of tubes that were manufactured during Eisenhower's second term. I'll recommend my neighbor replace them every decade or two, even if she only rides the bike twice a year.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 29, 2015 at 10:10am

I had that happen to me with a fairly new tube recently. Even worse, it happened in a neighborhood where gunshots are not uncommon. A couple of guys nearby were about to hit the deck and I had to reassure them that it was just a tire blowout. They were still jumpy until I showed them the flat tire.

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on July 30, 2015 at 7:54am

Happened to me last summer but I had a sidewall blow out in my rear tire on a Conti 4000 Black Chili 25mm. I was close to the limit on the pressure but I don't think I was over. Perhaps the ride friction and warm temps drove the tire temp up enough to over pressure the tire. A guy on the adjacent sidewalk was holding his chest afterward and really glad it was just a tire popping.