Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Odd I would love to see how you do it? I use and install contis all the time and haven't had issues with blowouts on them and neither have shopmates. I am not saying you are doing something wrong but it is an odd thing. I now after having a blowout on some misized tires (it was for an old sears bike with that odd 26 x 1 3/8 590 ISO and tread specific tire and I used a different tread because they were out of the one we needed and the ISOs were the same) make sure to check the seating of the tire about 3 times while inflating just to make sure. Call it paranoia but it works.
It could have also been a bad batch of tires which happens to most any big manufacturer?
It wasn't a bead seating issue, I assure you. I check beads all the time. The first blowout happened 3 miles from the start of my trip (but after 1200 miles and a couple of days of bouncing around in my vehicle as I traveled to the start of my trip) when I stopped at a light and did a trackstand. It blew out while I was balanced over the wheel. The second one...in the same day but on a different wheel...happened when I hit a small pothole on a east Texas road about 20 miles into my ride.. The pothole may have been 3/4" deep but the rear wheel blew out. The third one happened in the middle of the night at the campground where I was staying. And the fourth one happened after I hitched a ride back to my truck, got my bike, got tubes and repaired the blowout in a hotel room while I pondered whether or not to drive the 1200 miles back home or risk spending 2 week dealing with blowouts. I reduced my pressure to 70 psi and risked it but never had another blowout on that trip.
I would attribute it to a bad batch of tires if I had not had previous blow out experiences with Continental touring tires that didn't leave me stranded but certainly left me frustrated. After 6 blowouts...5 of which occurred far away from home...and one Continental shredding after an impact with a small rock on a downhill, I'm very soured on Continental tires. I've used all kinds of tires and all kinds of brands but never had as much trouble with a brand as I've had with the Continentals.