hot weather = flat tire
 

so, i left my bike in a car while i was at work for a few hours and when i came back the back tire was dead flat. I assumed that it had expanded and blown- i did just fill them up quite a bit yesterday, and i let a little bit of air out of the front tire and it seemed very grateful to have some of the air let out of it...

but today when i put a new tube on, i pulled the old one out expecting to have a giant obvious hole somewhere- i didn't see it so i put some air in it and it seems to hold air; i even did the old sink/bubbles test and there wasn't more than a few tiny bubbles anywhere. So what gives? what else could this have been?

Also, should i be worried about my rim? I have heard of people ruining rims by over inflating/blowing tires... this is kind of the same thing, sort of.

Do you have any friends fond of practical jokes?

A "few" tiny bubbles can add up over time.
Possibly a speck of dirt got lodged in the valve stem?

No, the tire will blow off the rim way before the rim itself can be damaged by the pressure.

I expect the stories of rims being damaged by "overinflating" a tire are really explained by the fact the rim in question was badly worn and weakened before the tire was inflated and just picked then to finally break.

Right a few tiny bubbles at a psi or so is a huge leak at 100 psi. Any bubbles == problem

Sheldon