Thanks for the responses. Very helpful indeed....
The blow-outs are pops. The tube bulges, pushes past the rim, and bang.
The rims have the older style / rounded hook for the tire bead. The 700c tires usually go on much easier than with most of my other bikes -- I barely needed the tire lever for the tires I just put on last week. It doesn't look like the rims are actually damaged, and at least with the front wheel, the rim tape covers all the spokes.
Edit: The rims are Araya 700c's.
I think I'm going with BCRider and jgedwa on this. Kind of sucks since I just bought some very nice, and not particularly cheap, 23c's that are too narrow for my cross bike. This bike also has a rather long list of little things that need to be fixed. ~gaah~ Ah well, at least the latest blowout didn't destroy the sidwall.
Tires don't spoil after a year or so, do they?
