maddmaxx,

Wow - thanks very much for that information!

Last year I stopped to help two cyclists who seemed to be having tire problems of some sort, and volunteered the floor pump already in my car (I was returning from a ride).

On asking how much she'd like in the tire, I was told that she preferred it to be inflated to the limit (140 psi), so...

I did as asked - and it blew just as I reached 140 (it was her last spare, one having blown a few miles earlier, which was inflated with a cartridge)...

The moral of the story - if she hadn't wanted a rock-solid tire, her ride wouldn't have ended so early...

Safer to not inflate to the maximum, for a variety of reasons...

P.S. What you mentioned does support the theory that perhaps our late club member had inflated the tire to it's maximum, leaving no room for the heat factor you mentioned, especially considering the ride wa in the steep short mountains of North Georgia - perhaps a lesson to be learned, for sure...