Originally Posted by
Ritterview
Maybe I did, I dunno. The tire didn't have that many miles on it, at most 1500. And this was a 305 gram Roubaix, not some PR3 or anything. It could have been worn in a particular spot, however, so your scenario is quite plausible. There was no warning whatsoever, however. I'd think that a casing defect herniating a tube would have been noticeable immediately prior to rupture. It was a bolt from the blue.
By the looks of the pic, that tire is REALLY squared off (i.e. worn)...it may have only been ~1500 miles, but that's on the rear of a tandem, right? With the higher weight loading on the rear it's going to wear significantly faster than if it was on a single bike.
You wouldn't necessarily have much, if any, warning with the failure. Once the weakest part goes, it pretty much "tears" away as the tube attempts to "extrude" out the hole...think of it like trying to tear a piece of cloth (tires are basically made of fabric) with your hands; it's really hard to get the tear started, but once it starts it's pretty easy to keep it going.