Originally Posted by
Iride01
Depends on what a blowout is to you. To me I've never had a blowout that was a hazard to my life. I've had some scare the crap out of me and if I had done the wrong things I might have had a spill. However just letting the bike slow down and stop on it's own with no braking or just minimal braking till I get down to a safer speed always seems to work.
I can't agree with this approach, but that may be down to the difference between our riding. I had one blowout at the bottom of a nice little hill, a quarter mile from the projects. Sounded like a rifle shot, I was cruising at 35-40 mph, but fortunately it was straight and level where the tire blew. (Not sure whether I was lucky that nobody gave me more than a passing glance!) I was able to bring it to a stop.
I've also had a blowout on a curve going half that speed, and let me tell you, when you try to make that turn on an aluminum rim, there ain't no traction.
But for the grace of God, one of those tires might have blown on a steep downhill, going into a right hand curve, with traffic coming uphill. Catastrophizing? Maybe. But until I'm reduced to riding a nice level bike path around a lake, I'm not going to take a chance with a failing tire casing causing a bulge in the tire ever again.