Self exploding tire scared the #$&^ out of me!

[Delpo]

Picture this. Midnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I am mildly sleeping and thinking about Sunday's group ride. Suddenly a loud boom travel across the house. After a half hour looking for the source I go to the bike rack and find that the rear tube/tire (Ksyrium SL) was the source of the explosion.

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire? Was it a divine signal that I should not ride the next day? I had ridden 50 miles on that tire that same morning and nothing happened. Would love to hear from the forum about potential reasons for the big boom.

Thanks.

Delpo

[Sandy]

Was the tire in a very warm spot? If tires become very hot, like in a closed car on a warm day, they will "explode" with a very loud noise. I was in San Juan many many years ago. It was extremely hot there during my visit. Check for a heat source.



Hot Air Sandy

[Bruce K]

If you had recently mounted the tire/tube or deflated it for travel you could have pinched the tube and just been lucky enough to get the first ride in before the inevitable failure.

BK

[Richard]

Odd things happen. Once, while I was working on something in my garage, I heard a LOUD "pang" followed by a ricocheting "something" all around me. I though someone had fired a shot into the garage. Turned out to be a seatpost seat clamp bolt that hadn't been touched for a year or longer. Just fractured and fired off like a gun. Weak spots fail at odd times.

[BarryG]

Originally Posted by Delpo

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire?

I've seen many reports of similar occurrences - a pinched tube slowly migrates outwards and entropy is eventually served.

[djg]

Originally Posted by Delpo

Picture this. Midnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I am mildly sleeping and thinking about Sunday's group ride. Suddenly a loud boom travel across the house. After a half hour looking for the source I go to the bike rack and find that the rear tube/tire (Ksyrium SL) was the source of the explosion.

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire? Was it a divine signal that I should not ride the next day? I had ridden 50 miles on that tire that same morning and nothing happened. Would love to hear from the forum about potential reasons for the big boom.

Thanks.

Delpo

I doubt that the wheel had much to do with it. The dynamics of tire and tube failure can be a funny business--all sorts of things can cause a tear and a really nasty collision can trash a tube, a tire, and a wheel nearly instantly, but sometimes either a manufacturing flaw or a lesser trauma or an interaction between the two can create a structural weakness that's a sort of failure lying in wait; anything or nearly nothing might push things to threshold in a given case, and asking what happened is sort of like asking what caused a stroke or an embolism at a particular moment. If the tire is trashed, throw it out. If you've been having a bunch of tube failures lately, it may be that you have a bad batch of tubes and should consider something different. Otherwise, I guess I'd check out the wheel and the tire and proceed as normal.

Originally Posted by Delpo

Picture this. Midnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I am mildly sleeping and thinking about Sunday's group ride. Suddenly a loud boom travel across the house. After a half hour looking for the source I go to the bike rack and find that the rear tube/tire (Ksyrium SL) was the source of the explosion.

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire? Was it a divine signal that I should not ride the next day? I had ridden 50 miles on that tire that same morning and nothing happened. Would love to hear from the forum about potential reasons for the big boom.

Thanks.

Delpo

Tubes only go bang! when the tube is outside the tire (else they go pffft...). If the tire casing is intact, then the tire was mounted with the tube pinched under the bead. It's highly doubtful that the wheel could have heated to a point where the tube would raise the bead off the wheel. If the air inside the tube started at 80*F and went to 150*F, the pressure in the tire would only go up about 13% or so, which wouldn't do it.

[Elmer]

Group ride last night - usual Monday night hammer fest. I start with the "B" group, grab onto the "A" group as they catch up. Midpoint I loose a contact lens, gets stuck on the inside surface of my sunglasses. I stop, re-insert, hammer to catch back on - success. Ride with the "A" group for the next 10 or so miles - flying at race pace. Lens pops out again - this time I loose it for good. I slow my pace and one-eye willie it home 15-17 miles out. About 6 miles to go - pssssssst, rear flat. It's now pretty dark out. I change the tube and re-inflate rather quickly but as I re-insert my frame fit, "POW", rear tube explodes. OOOps, I did'nt check the tube being pinched by the tire cuz I could'nt see the darn thing. Do it all over again and get home about 40 minutes past sunset. Oh yeah, 15 miles of nasty headwind on the way back - I could only laugh.

[Grant McLean]

Originally Posted by Delpo

Picture this. Midnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I am mildly sleeping and thinking about Sunday's group ride. Suddenly a loud boom travel across the house. After a half hour looking for the source I go to the bike rack and find that the rear tube/tire (Ksyrium SL) was the source of the explosion.

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire? Was it a divine signal that I should not ride the next day? I had ridden 50 miles on that tire that same morning and nothing happened. Would love to hear from the forum about potential reasons for the big boom.

Thanks.

Delpo

Was the tire intact?
I've heard tires let go with a rip in the sidewall, they go boom.

g

[palincss]

Originally Posted by Delpo

Has anyone heard of a self exploding tube/tire?

Delpo

Sure. I had one blow out in my car - back wheel was no more than 6" from the back of my head - driving down I-66 at around 75mph one day in the late 80s. I was heading back from a bike ride. Talk about taking you by surprise - it's a wonder I didn't jump out of the drivers' seat! (or worse)

[Kevan]

bikes were standing idle all over the place, I'm walking around minding my own business, chewing my powerbar cud, when "BANG!!!!", right next to me, a tire blows. When I finally returned to earth, I wasn't checking for a blown tire, I was looking for a bloody hole.

Bike was standing in the hot sun when it happened. I'm with Sandy on this one.

Umm..please don't tell him.

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by Kevan

bikes were standing idle all over the place, I'm walking around minding my own business, chewing my powerbar cud, when "BANG!!!!", right next to me, a tire blows. When I finally returned to earth, I wasn't checking for a blown tire, I was looking for a bloody hole.

Bike was standing in the hot sun when it happened. I'm with Sandy on this one.

Umm..please don't tell him.

" I was looking for a bloody hole." Yeah, so was I . Next time I won't miss!


Shotgun Sandy

[Ginger]

That's just wrong.

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by Ginger

That's just wrong.

That I shot or that I missed??


Still Shooting Shotgun Sandy