Thanks for the link tsl; I bookmarked that page. BTW I weigh close to 300 lbs and I have always used max pressure because I read somewhere that it would help me to avoid pinch flats.
Originally Posted by
Wanderer
If this has happend before - you should, take more care to insure that you aren't pinching the tube during installation, inspect the tire for a bad bead, inspect the rim for a defect. MHO
I should have qualified my earlier statement - my two previous blowouts were on two different bikes. The first was as a kid with my BMX. The second was with my Raleigh MTB shortly after I bought it from an online classified ad; I tried to pump the old, cracked tire up to the max psi with disastrous results. It now sports some nice, new 1.5" slicks and I've had no repeat performances of blowouts.
The bike that I had the latest blowout with is my Big Box Store Schwinn. It has some cheap aluminum rims (I assume they're single-walled) but I didn't detect any noticeable imperfections after the blowout. Ditto the tire; and it seems to be holding the new tube just fine so far... even at max pressure.
Good point about the installation - the patch that I mentioned in the original post was due to a self-inflicted puncture with a tire lever. These Pilot City tires are a b*tch to install; the sidewalls are very stiff... which added to my surprise when the tube blew out.
Oh... I should also mention that I recently bought a new floor pump and I was wondering if maybe the gauge was off and I was over-inflating the tires. I checked the readings against a digital gauge that I have and it is spot-on, so unless they're both off I seem to be getting accurate pressures.