exploded inner tube??



webbhost

New Member
Oct 17, 2006
174
0
0
36
Hi,

Want your guys views here - yesterday i did some maintinence on my bike. Part of that maintinence meant patching a puncture and re pumping my tyres. No problem right?

The tyre says to pump them upto 110 PSI, so i proceeded to do so, but by the time i got to 90 PSI i was knackered and was struggling to push air in.

So i left it at 90 PSI which is 20 below what the tyre recommended.

Biked to work today - no problem.

On the way home, i got half way gome and i stopped at my mates (on the route) to talk to him about a issue he was hving at work.

Just sitting in the front room, bike was against wall then after 10 minutes or so we just haerd an almighty BANG.

Looked around after being frightened to death (well almost), i found my front tyre is now flat?



My question is why did my front tyres innertube just explode like that when it was infact 20 PSI below rated? It instantly deflated my tyres, and if i was on the road when this happened i would have been sure to have swerved and had a nasty crash.

This is a racing bike by the way with those thin tyres.


Upon further inspection, i took the inner tube out, and found a 4MM hole about 10 CM from the tube valve.


Any ideas?

My inner tube was a Slime self healing inner tube (althrough i dont think its giong to seal this hole somehow lol).

ill be lucky if i can get a patch to work on this, but im not sure i trust a patch any more
 
Most likely you got some tube stuck under the tire bead when you mounted the tire. Next time be sure to inspect the bead seating all around at low pressure (after a few pumps) and then again at high pressure. You'll have to be extra careful if you do this on the road because you might run out of spare tubes.

Why didn't it blow up earlier when you were riding? I don't know, but it happens. Usually it's while you're pumping but it can happen any time.
 
thanks for the reply, what you mean by the tyre bead?

Im guessing its not some weird inner tube defect then?
 
hmm, just been checking the physical tyre itself.

Seems that the brake has been rubbing against it, as the tyre is frayed.

At one point there is actually a hole in the tyre where it has frayed too much.

Wonder if this is part of the cause?

is it possible that the innertube would have gone through this hole? and blew up as a result?
 
Entirely possible if there is a hole right throught it, in fact it sounds more possible that getting the tube under the bead since you biked to work ok.

Check your brake pads and brake adjustment, chances are the tire is stuffed and you'll need a new one. Not what you wanted to hear, but you can get very high quality tires that last ages (Gatorskins for example) for reasonable prices online at sites like probikekit.

Also, check whether your wheels are running true. It may be something as simple as the wheel not being put back in straight after you changed the tubes.
 
xxamr_corpxx said:
Entirely possible if there is a hole right throught it, in fact it sounds more possible that getting the tube under the bead since you biked to work ok.

Check your brake pads and brake adjustment, chances are the tire is stuffed and you'll need a new one. Not what you wanted to hear, but you can get very high quality tires that last ages (Gatorskins for example) for reasonable prices online at sites like probikekit.

Also, check whether your wheels are running true. It may be something as simple as the wheel not being put back in straight after you changed the tubes.
hi

well i haven't got any fancy tyres but i did get 2 new ones this morning (ya have to have em to match innit lol)

2 new slime inner tubes too, (back tyre didn't ever have a slime one), so hopefully ill be ok from here :)

Ill take a look at those tyres you suggest as ive been looking for a good quality tyre.
 
webbhost said:
hmm, just been checking the physical tyre itself.

Seems that the brake has been rubbing against it, as the tyre is frayed.

At one point there is actually a hole in the tyre where it has frayed too much.

Wonder if this is part of the cause?

is it possible that the innertube would have gone through this hole? and blew up as a result?


Yes, that's possible and would probably give the BANG result. You'd have to have a real hole though, not just fraying. You would have seen a bubble of innertube come out the hole (if you were looking for it). New tires for sure but fix your brakes because they'll ruin your new ones too.

The bead is stiff part of your tire that clinches the rim - two beads per tire. If you get some tube between the bead and the rim, the pressure will try to lift the bead away from the rim and explode.
 
webbhost said:
...but by the time i got to 90 PSI i was knackered...
You're getting knackered pumping a tyre up to 90psi? What are you using for a gauge?
Back to old school for mounting tyres on rims - Don't use tyre levers to put a tyre on. Put enough air in to hold the tyre in shape. Run around the rim ensuring that the bead is seated on both sides, the tube is not caught under the bead, and the valve is perpindicular to the rim. Pump up to pressure without getting knackered. Check that the bead is evenly seated once the tyre is at full knackerizing pressure.
 
Hi,

Was already aware about the bead - just didnt recognise it when you called it a bead.

There was a hole in the fraying , about 5MM wide and it roughly matched the position of the exploded tube.

I bought 2 new tyres this morning, 2 Slime tubes (so that both tyres now have slime) and adjusted the brakes. Turns out my back one had started fraying too.

Btw EoinC your post was funny to read lol.

I use a hand 2 way hand pump with a fitted gauge on it to measure the PSI.

Wouldn't say that 90 PSI "knackered" me, but it became considerably hard to get each pump through it.
 
webbhost said:
Hi,

Was already aware about the bead - just didnt recognise it when you called it a bead.

There was a hole in the fraying , about 5MM wide and it roughly matched the position of the exploded tube.

I bought 2 new tyres this morning, 2 Slime tubes (so that both tyres now have slime) and adjusted the brakes. Turns out my back one had started fraying too.

Btw EoinC your post was funny to read lol.

I use a hand 2 way hand pump with a fitted gauge on it to measure the PSI.

Wouldn't say that 90 PSI "knackered" me, but it became considerably hard to get each pump through it.
I am curious about the "slime" tubes... how have they worked for you (besides the reason for the thread...) and where did you get them?
 
Believe it or not - halfords lol.

Funnily enough i've had 1 puncture (besides the exploded tube)


When i got it, my tyre went down, and i thought it had failed on me. Got down the street on a flat (away from houses) - so i decided to give it another go.

I pumped my tyre up and it was as if there was never a puncture!

My guess is if you get one, try feed some more air into it, and spin the tyre quickly (hands?) then it reseals.

When i got home and took my tyre apart, i had to pump up the inner tube quite a bit before the slime finally gave way of the hole again.


as long as the puncture is reasonably small (thorn etc) it seems to have worked a treat for me so far.


I have been that impressed by the company "slime" that i have fitted 2 slime inner tubes, and also have 2 of their slime tyre inserts (like a rubber / plastic strip that goes around your tyre to strengthen against punctures.

With this combo i have not had 1 puncture yet (as opposed to 1ce a week or 2 lol)



Hope that helps