Exploding Tyre!

[Gilles27]

I recently bought a 2nd hand Cube Touring Hybrid One. Until I got a proper lock I have kept it in the house. Last night I was woken by a Big Bang at about 1:30 am. The inner tube on the rear tyre had exploded! There were small pieces of rubber in the room.
Has this happened to anyone else? The room has big windows and does get hot during the day, but this happened in the middle of the night.

 

[vfr400]

I've seen it happen twice. Both times, the tyre had been stretched by incorrect fitting so it didn't fit on the rim properly. Basically, the diameter becomes too big to seat the bead on the rim, and it ends up very close to the edge of the rim. Some time in the future, it just pops over to let the tube out. If that's what happened to yours, you'll need a new tyre.

 

[Atlav4]

Happened with a caravan jockey wheel (inflatable type) but during the heat of the day whilst enjoying a tipple with friends. Had everyone diving for cover thinking it was the gas bottle in the front locker.

 

[Jonah]

I had a tyre explode not long after a new bike was delivered. Getting a new tube in the LBS they said lots of people had had tyres explode after taking their bikes in the back of vans. This was early summer when it was hot. I assume this was the cause, my bike had been in the hot delivery van for who knows how long.

 

[Gilles27]

Thanks for the replies. I took the bike to my local repair shop and they said that the tyre looked fine. They were baffled about why an inner tube would explode during the night!

 

[vfr400]

It's not baffling at all, and it'll probably happen again if you don't change the tyre.

If it was the same shop that put the tyre on, I can perhaps understand why they're baffled, but then that makes me baffled too as to why you would want to take it back to them to fix it. As Einstein said, "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. "

 

[Gilles27]

It is baffling as so far nobody has had the same thing happen or offer an explanation for what happened. I showed the guys in the shop this thread and they can see no damage or problems with either of the tyres.
I traveled 100 miles to buy the bike so I think it is unlikely that it is the same shop that put the tyre on.
As Einstein said “Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.”

 

[Steed]

It is baffling as so far nobody has had the same thing happen or offer an explanation for what happened. I showed the guys in the shop this thread and they can see no damage or problems with either of the tyres.
I traveled 100 miles to buy the bike so I think it is unlikely that it is the same shop that put the tyre on.
As Einstein said “Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.”

Quite right, after all Albert Einstein was a keen cyclist!

 

[Gilles27]

Quite right, after all Albert Einstein was a keen cyclist!

When I posted my question I really didn’t expect Einstein to provide all the answers, but there you go!

 

[Swizz]

The only blowouts I have had are from using an overinflated tyre on a hot day. And yes plural, because this numpty did it twice.

Given yours blew at night for no apparent reason, it may just have been a 's**t happens' scenario like a faulty tube?

 

[Wicky]

Likewise, I was out & about on an old bike (not pedelec) and sidewall of a tyre already well past its best by exploded while pootling along.

Possibly then your tyre bead was somehow damaged and the tyre turned into a ticking time bomb.

 

[vfr400]

Given yours blew at night for no apparent reason, it may just have been a 's**t happens' scenario like a faulty tube?

He said there were bits of rubber in the room. The only way that can happen is when the tyre bead rises above the rim to let the tube out. If the tube was somehow defective and exploded inside the tyre, the rubber would have been contained. That's simple logic

 

[vfr400]

I had a tyre explode not long after a new bike was delivered. Getting a new tube in the LBS they said lots of people had had tyres explode after taking their bikes in the back of vans. This was early summer when it was hot. I assume this was the cause, my bike had been in the hot delivery van for who knows how long.

I've heard of that happening too in both bike shops where I had an affiliation, and we were able to figure it out. The bike shops' delivery vans normally have a rack inside, where there's a narrow channel to put the wheel in. When the van is driving and the bike hasn't been tied properly, the bike rocks from side to side and the tyre gets prised over the rim, like using tyre levers. In your case, it only got most of the way out, and some movement or changing conditions later caused it to go the rest of the way.