Around 3 weeks ago i got myself a road road bike, and every time i’ve tried to pump air in it, one of the tubes have popped/ exploded. The week i got it i took the tired to an actual bike shop and had them replace and install the tubes for me, but this morning one of the tubes literally exploded while on the bike not even 5 minutes after me pumping it up to ~90 psi. What could i possibly be doing wrong?
by No_Wall_1993
17 Comments
Clean the inner portion of your rim and tire thoroughly. After that, run a cotton swab or microfiber towel around the inner portion of the tire lightly and around the rim to see if there is anything that would cause a puncture.
Use bigger diameter tubes they won’t stretch to the point of blowing up. I used to put the biggest tubes I could find in my ancient mtb when I was a kid, so much easier to patch as they didn’t expand so much when pumped up.
Maybe put mtb size tubes in them
Did you check the rim tape? Might be off center creating a little pinch spot on one of the nipple holes… exploding usually indicates a pinch flat, either on the rim due to rim tape issue or between tube and rim. Good luck finding the issue.
Every 5 Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) pressure increases by 0.5%. If the road is hot then pressure increases much more.
Or you exceed the weight limit. Or wrong tube size. Or you don’t have rim tape and tube got cut by spoke holes
90 seems like a lot for the tire in the background of that picture.
What size tire and what size tube?
Have you used a tire pressure calculator to find optimum pressure you should be running? Silca calculator, for example.
Happens once is bad luck, twice odd but not unheard of, 3 times theres a pattern.
more info.
Did the tire bead blow off rim? if so bead probably damaged and should not be used replace.
Those holes look like a tube pinched between the bead and thr rim wall and then burst. when you or the shop put the tubes in, did you double check the the tube was not pinched under the tire bead?
is there a small hole in the tire that the tube is bursting out of, but had to see when deflated? put tube in inflate to only 20-30 psi and check tire for holes, or bead damage, again replace if any.
while wont cause a burst tube like those. how in the rim strip? is the spoke nipples/holes fully covered? is there any debris in the rim?
Is the pump accurate? maybe you put 130psi in and pump only reading 90. Where the left in a super hot place in the sun at full pressure?
In short, there serval things that can cause this. but 9 times out of 10, its a damage tire, or a pinched tube.
I can tell you why I blew up a tire. I was pinching the tube right by the valve stem. That section of the tube is more rigid and harder to tuck into the tire than the other sections. Now i grab the stem and make sure i can push it in and out (as in its not bound up) before i fully inflate.
When you returned from the bike shop did you pump the tire at home?
90 is certainly not too high for that size tire. that plus more was standard for many decades before the recent low pressure revolution. Random idea though, possible your pump gauge is way off??? Like it’s getting 150 but says 90? My money would be on something sharp in there like others said, but if that’s absolutely not the case…
90 psi sounds like an awful lot of pressure, even though I know some bike tires are rated at high pressures. Try inflating until you can’t squeeze it noticeably, that’s what I always do. Not rock hard, but not much in the way of give, either. Good luck. Cheap tubes maybe?
Says right there on the label. “KENDA”. Those tubes always fail on me one way or another. I’ve had them split like that, leak at the stem attachment, develop multiple pinholes for no reason except they are low quality. Buy Contis or Michelins or something nice. You will probably have to order them online or special order at your LBS. And then do all the other stuff commenters are suggesting.
There’s a dude at my work with this exact issue. He mentioned this the other day and i told him to bring it to work so we could check it out. Small effing world if OP is actually my coworker 🤣. See ya Monday, perhaps?
Is your pump accurate? I had a pump whose gauge went wacky and I was running pressure that was twice what it should’ve been. Great way to blow a tube.
I know I’m coming off as an arrogant know-it-all, but the vast majority of the replies are simply wrong and ignorant.
1. You have tubes that fail by splitting lengthwise. This 100 percent caused by the pressurized tube being exposed to the lower outside air pressure, and it’s happening betweent the tire bead and the wheel’s rim. That’s why it’s a long split.
2. Zero chance it’s from a puncture. So the brand or quality of the tube doesn’t matter. No point in looking for a thorn in the tire body, a sharp edge in the rim, or bad rim tape.
2. Assuming you and the bike shop confirmed that the tube was not pinched between the bead and the rim during install, the only way this could happen is if the bead is being blown off the rim. Exactly why this is happening isn’t something any of us can figure out. Could be tire bead or wheel rim that’s out of spec. Could be a bad rim design where the hook is too shallow.
4. I’m 90 percent sure you just have a shitty old rim. Because of this, some tires will be fine, but others will blow off the rim like what happened to you. Source: I’ve seen this happen before with shitty old rims from the 80s.
Rim tape ain’t rim taping. Also, if it’s a used bike could be that a replacement spoke is too long and poking the tube.
Check your rim tape you may have an exposed spoke .
Are those steel rims? I had this happen to me recently and it was due to my steel rims not being able to hold the tube and tire at those higher pressures so when I pumped it up to anything above 80 psi it would be exposed to the rim and then blowout like that.