modernjess

I have had nothing but bad luck with specialized tubes over the years including several of the sudden and catastrophic blow outs you describe. The closest LBS to me is a huge specialized dealer and sometimes I need a tube now and that all they have. So take this with a grain of salt, as it is purley anecdotal data from my own experience over many years, but I avoid specialized tubes like the plague. They've provided me with nothing but heartache, of course YMMV.

FenderTL5

I'd been having blowouts regularly. I took the tire/wheel with the blown tube still in to my LBS. He found a small section of missing/frayed wire bead. Anytime I was at full pressure or weight, I was having a blowout. The tire couldn't catch the rim so it would push out allowing the tube to hit the rim and burst.
It was the loud blast, balloon burst kinda' blowouts leaving a 10" tear around the tube. I believe it to have been a manufacturer defect in the tire since it started happening almost immediately after I bought my bike and progressively got worse. I've had 11 blowouts since May 2012.

I ended up replacing the tire (tires actually). So far so good.

JohnJ80

^^this almost certainly.

When you install a new tube, you need to just partially inflate it and then make sure that the tube is inside the tire and not trapped under the bead. This is not obvious unless you look around completely both beads. Make sure it's clear and then pump it up. Most often, the tube becomes trapped if you put the tube in the tire completely deflated. It helps to inflate it a bit to give it shape once it's inside the tire and before you check the bead and before you pump it to pressure.

The temp cycling would not make that much difference. Go look at the ideal gas law - PV=nRT where Volume and temperature (in Kelvin) are proportional. You have to make big changes in temp to have a big impact on volume. If you had pumped that tube to 100psi, I'm sure it would be good to at least 125psi and more (I routinely used to pump my clinchers that high before I went to tubulars) without a problem. That would mean a 25% change in the temp in degrees Kelvin which is highly improbable. You would have had to go through a much, much higher temp change (like 70-100 degrees C or so) to get a 25% volume change (0C=273K).

J.

randomgear

+1 DCrowell, check the sidewall for any small cuts. I've had it happen to me, the first time with 10 minutes of pumping up the tire, the 2nd time about 10 ours later. The telltale was that the 2nd time it happened was that the patch blew out (I left the clear plastic film on the patch, it may have helped delay the second tube boom.

tdister

I'm going with the majority here, most likely an improper tube installation.

Just to throw it out there, and for documenting, what kind of rims do you have? Is the rim true (no major hop)?

I have seen some older tires that just wouldn't stay seated anymore but I'd guess they were 10+ years old. They were also super easy to mount by hand...too easy.

ChrisIIDX

I had this exact same problem last night with the same size Marathon Plus tire. I installed some Marathon Pluses on my wheels, inflated the tube and I heard a loud pop about 45 minutes later. I'm pretty sure it was improper installation from me. I replaced the tube and was much more careful to make sure the tire was seated properly and everything seems fine.

Wanderer

Check the tire bead carefully, especially if it is a wire bead. Any sharp bend in the wire, or other damage there, will make it impossible to seat correctly, causing the blowout you described.

Andy_K 

I've had three blowouts of the type you describe and two of them happened in the office just minutes after I "fixed" a slow leak. Those were almost certainly caused by improper re-installation of tube and/or tire. The other one was a tire that popped in the middle of the night while the bike was hanging in the garage. I blame gremlins for that one.

EAA

I've only had one similar blowout, it happened after inflating the tire in the basement to the psi on the sidewall, and then leaving it outside in the sun. The explosion came about 30 - 45 minutes later. I also found a long split in the tube, mine following what looked like a seam in the tube. No idea what brand tube, but it had been in use for some time. My guess on probable cause is: a) increased pressure from sun heat, plus b) maybe the sun's heat softening the tube, causing that manufacturing "seam" to fail. Maybe the tube was marginal and the heat and pressure put it over the edge.

one_beatnik

Besides the things mentioned, when you put your tube inside the tire, yes partially inflated, push the tube a bit into the tire at the stem before you put on the nut and air it up a little more. Then make sure the bead is seated. Around the stem is the most common place for the bead to slip because of the extra thickness on the tube at the stem. That doesn't mean it can't happen in other spots, but everything you're describing, the problem is most likely the tire bead not seating properly. That's where I've had the issue when it's happend to me. It is, indeed, very unlikely for the tube to explode if it's from things internal like the rim tape. I'm not saying it can't happen, but unlikely.

Bead all the way I'd say.

Stryver

Replace the rim tape. Sand the inside of the rim. While not correctly seating a tire _will_ cause a blow-out, it is not likely to happen when the bike is just hanging out and after multiple rides. One particular rim I had on a cheapo internet tandem blew tubes left and right. They were carefully seated (especially after two or three), talcum'ed, and everything else I could think of. Finally, I spent two hours with fine grit sand paper making the inside of that thing as smooth as a ball bearing and then put good rim tape in. Successfully pumped it up and sold that <expletive> as fast as I could. Buyer never complained, so I assume it worked.

PartsMan

Just for reference running to small a tube (38mm in a 45mm tire for me) can cause a similar problem.

bent-not-broken

Huh - Why?

truman

Repeated for emphasis.

Sometimes, during reinflation/topping off, the tube will push the rim strip off the spoke hole slowly and gradually, exposing the edge and eventually blowing the tube. This precise thing has happened to me more than once. I even posted about it here, several years back

tdister

So, some of you are suggesting that the tube pops and the release of energy unseats the tire from the rim?

asmac

I hope you meant 15 months!
I've had a problem with a Schwalbe 700/40 folding Mondial blowing out and am not sure if it's fixed. It's a long story:
1. I got some new wheels using Velocity psycho rims and accept that they were a bit wide (31 mm) for 700/40 tires.The tires seemed to mount very easily.
2. My first Mondial was a wired tire and it had a flat spot caused by a missing piece of belt under the tread. Schwalbe replaced it under warranty and gave me a folding version (superior in all respects including compound and sidewall) as they had no more wired tires.
3. I put about 500 problem-free miles on the tire, mostly commuting and loaded touring.
4. Then the blowouts began and there were eventually eight of them all occuring near the valve which is always near the tire label.
5. I checked everything, pressure (and the pressure guage), mounting technique, tube brand (tried a few), rim tape, rim, etc. Nothing helped.
6. Schwalbe told me the rim was maybe too wide though I had no trouble with the identical front tire & rim.
7. I replaced the tire with the old wired Mondial and rode all winter without a blowout.
8. My new Dyad wheels finally arrived and I put the blowout-prone folding tire back on.
9. So far so good but I notice that the tire is about 3/32 inch further from the rim in the vicinity of the label.
10. I intend to ask Schwalbe if this is within spec and will keep you posted.
I was lucky previously but really don't want a blowout going down a hill or in traffic and this tire makes me uneasy. Can this be caused by a defective bit of kevlar bead? Are folding tires problematical in this regard?
Any other suggestions?

PartsMan

I guess they were stretched out too much.
After three blowouts with tubes that the LBS said "should work fine" I ordered the right size and was good.

MNBiker

Has anybody else noticed the 4-1/2 year gap between post #20 and post #21?