bshanteau

My riding buddy had his front tire blow out while we were on a gentle downhill curve. The tire came out of its bead and caught in the fork, stopping his front wheel and sending him over the handlebars without warning. He suffered a severe concussion and was in the hospital for about a week. When I visited him, there was an attendant outside to make sure he didn't try to leave, as he was delirious.

When he started riding again, I told him that the bead must not have been seated properly. He swore up and down that he had checked it. But if it were seated properly, how could it have blown off?

wphamilton

If you flat going around a corner there's a good chance of falling. I've had it happen a couple of times, hitting a pothole or rock or something turning left, and although I've been fortunate not to fall it scares the fool out of me. Other than that I think you can usually coast to a stop.

dougmc

I had my front wheel blow out once, and it resulted in an immediate crash as the bike fell over to the side. (NOT an endo.) Was going maybe 15 mph. straight ahead -- exactly the situation where you wouldn't expect a problem, but yet I still crashed.

Still not sure exactly why I lost control at that point, but the bike did have fairly fat tires (perhaps 26x1.75" ?) and it was an Xtracycle conversion, if that matters. Just got too wobbly to keep it up, almost immediately -- no time to stop.

Beyond that, I've never had a flat result in a crash, even the sudden flats or flats while I was going around a corner or going fast.

FBinNY 

Injuries due to mechanical causes are a small percentage of all cyclist injuries. Tires flat all the time, and blowouts aren't rare either, and yet injuries due to tire failure are a small percentage of the small percentage of mechanical failure injuries.

My point, is that it's possible to lose control because of a blowout, but it's not likely for a relatively experienced cyclist, and the likelihood of an injury from a blowout is very low. Is it zero? Of course not, but it's the wrong place to focus your worries.

Myosmith

Wow, that's a lot of flats in a couple of years. I ride about 3,000 miles a year, sometimes on some pretty busted up roads, glass, trash etc. and I have about a flat a year. Haven't flatted yet this summer (knock on wood) and am over 2,000 miles on a wide variety of surfaces.

Back when I first started out I'd get more flats, mostly from underinflation or from failure to spot and avoid road debris or other problems. Cheap tires didn't help. Never crashed. Only had one true blow out and that was taking a corner on a city street. Things got kinda squirrely for a couple of seconds but I was able to pull to the curb safely.

nd2010

I had 3 blowouts in my life

First, when I had a flat and no patch kit. I thought I could ride 2 miles on a flat front tire to the nearest train station. After a mile, BOOM! The rear tire that wasn't flat blew out.

Next, I'm riding on the main street of town and run over a beer bottle. BOOM! There was a restaurant with outdoor seating right next to where my tire blew out, and everyone was looking at me.

Then, on a hundred degree day I leave my bike in the trunk and back seat of my car. The windows are up and I leave it parked all day in the sun. I had just pumped up the tires the night before. I learn the Ideal Gas Law pretty quickly on my drive home when I hit my first bump in the road and a tire comes in contact with the hot exterior of the trunk. BOOM! In the enclosed space, it sounded like a bomb went off.

FenderTL5

I had several rear tire blow outs due to a faulty/damaged wire bead. I had 11 flats in 10 months, the last 5 or 6 were the loud pop, blow outs with a 10" split in the tube.
Never came close to falling. I came close to throwing a tantrum but not falling.

New tires, so far so good (crosses fingers.. and toes).

Chitown_Mike

I have had a few flats but mostly slow leaks.

I did have a tire blow out last year. I was on a side street when it went and the people walking by and in the car next to me thought I was shot. I was maybe going 5 mph since I had just come from a stand still and the front tire blew. It knocked the front tire off the wheel and stopped the bike immediately, well the force caused me to end up slung and hanging over the handlebars.

People came running over thinking I got shot by the elderly couple in the Buick that was passing next to me. The looks on people's faces were priceless.

Bikedued

I had a properly seated rear tire sit overnight, on a Sunday. Rode the bike to work on Monday, and sat all day. On the way home I made it about a mile, and BLAM!. Didn't hit a pothole or anything. As much as people griped about the roads in Lake Charles being bad, they were fresh poured subdivision roads, compared to the smoothest road in Houston.,,,,BD

RobertHurst

This is not a criticism of your mechanical skills because it happens to the best of em occasionally. But that type of blowout is not the tube's fault. They occur because the tube was never completely installed inside the tire when the tire/tube were installed on the rim, allowing a little bit of the tube to slowly work its way out under the tire bead then BLAM!

Tubes cannot explode inside of an intact tire.

RobertHurst

So you thought...

RobertHurst

It's possible that it was an old or damaged tire that failed around the bead. Tires often get damaged there due to improperly adjusted brake pads that constantly rub on the tire. Also, rims can fail and cause blowouts/blowoffs. Very used rim sidewalls (due to rim braking) can get very thin, crack and blow up. Another plus for disk brakes.

Bikedued

Disc brakes on road bikes, are a horrible idea, at least with the currently available mtb crossover components. Great for mountain bikes, HORRIBLE on road bikes. Ask anyone who has been on a long descent and had the pads overheat and give out. Things can get dangerous, and quickly! I like how you insulted my mechanical ability. Anybody can make a mistake I guess, but being a head bike mechanic for the last three years, and building COUNTLESS bikes over the last ten to fifteen years, it's not bloody likely. Find someone else to pass your judgement on, I know it was properly seated, and you have no justification to imply otherwise.,,,,BD


https://www.bikerumor.com/2012/02/14/...ill-they-work/

Fargo Wolf

Have had both front an rear tires blow out. In both cases, neither resulted in a crash. That said, if the front tire blows, you will be at greater risk of losing control. The risk there is, is you could very easily, and, unexpectedly, move into the traffic lane (unless you were already in it). Fortunately, most punctures are slow(ish) and you will hear the pfft pfft pfft pfft as you ride.

RobertHurst

I'm not passing judgment on anybody, settle down. If it was properly seated you should have an alternate explanation for how the tube managed to find its way between the rim and the tire and explode. I gave you a few possibilities. Which was it? Either the tire bead failed (not common), or the rim failed (not common), or the tube worked its way out between the tire and rim and exploded (extremely common).

The delayed blowout you described is classic symptoms of an improperly seated tire bead due to slightly misplaced or too wide rim strip which keeps the tire bead from completely going into the rim. It looks pretty normal and even rides normal for a day or two then BLAM! Like I said, it happens to the best of em every once in a while.

Bikedued

Or it was mid seventies rim with a flat side(no lip) and the (new, and not cheap) Panaracer tire did not have enough bite to hold the pressure up to the sidewall rating. Since you seem to know exactly what caused it (without even being there I might add), then you can keep thinking that and keep it to yourself.,,,,BD

It happened twice, once at 105psi (sidewall rating) and once at 100psi. I lowered the pressure to just under 100psi, and it never happened again. Still running the same tire on a mid 80's red label Araya(with a lip) and It holds onto the rim at 105psi perfectly well.

Chitown_Mike

Great article, I appreciate you posting it. I have been looking at getting a CX bicycle for road/commute/potential race use and would love to travel out by my in-laws and ride the Appalachian mountains out there. After reading that I might just avoid disc brakes since they seem to not have what I want in them other than looks.