Tale of an exploding inner tube

davmaggs

It's a quiet day on BR so I thought I'd write this up, perhaps for a chuckle or to warn people that they must wear ear defenders when changing tyres.

The short version is that I swapped to Marathon Plus and found the sidewalls a really tough item to snag onto the rim of the wheel. I split one tube near the valve, which I take the blame as I was rushing. I won the tussle with a second tube through slow patience and triumphantly pumped the pressure up to 100 PSI. I then stood back to admire my handwork and to wonder why people complain about M+ being impossible, when I noticed to my horror that the inner tube was bulging out between the tyre and the wheel. As I rotated the wheel to get to the valve the whole thing went bang, and I mean a ringing in the ears bang.

So, the move to M+ has now cost more tubes than the punctures. My hearing did return, but the pride remains dented.

Soul Boy

Had one of my mates tubeless tires 'go off' in the hallway, a few years ago, whilst I was sat in the lounge.

Fark, that was scary. I think I can still hear a ringing in my ears.

iPete

Being a tart I keep purchasing ulta light tubes for my race wheels. One exploded in the same way yours did, the other failed at the valve, deafened on both occasions!

bails87

This happened when I was slicking up my CX a few weeks back. I swear I didn't actually hear the whole 'bang', just 'B....' and then 'riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing' for the next ten minutes.

UndercoverElephant

Had a very loud puncture in the front tyre a couple of weeks back, whilst rushing home at about 25 mph. I'd like to think that it was the lack of traction which caused me to go somersaulting over the bars and not me jumping about-a-mile-high due to the loud bang, but I can't be sure.

MonkeyMonster

only explosion i had was a good 20 minutes into the ride - suddenly i was getting a voom voom voom noise as the bulge increased in size and rubbed against my frame then it was too big and jammed i halted going wtf and then as you say BANG. Not a pinch, just tube failure leading to bulge out. scary.

notsoblue

I store my bike in my open plan kitchen, and once while I was emptying the dishwasher I heard a sharp bang so loud it made my ears ring for a few minutes. I had no idea what it was, and started checking the halogen bulbs etc... Eventually I noticed my rear tyre was flat, but I would have never have guessed that was what it was...

The Running Man

Really funny you should that. I was 60+ miles into my planned 100 on Sunday. I was with a couple of pals heading back through some country lanes towards Chippenham and my rear went off like a bl00dy cannon.

The force of the tube exploding blew a hole in the side wall of my tyre and I was left with bits of beading hanging off the rim.

I had to call the race car out (SWMBO) and abort the rest of the ride. Scared the crap out of all of us and 5 minutes earlier I'd been doing 50mph downhill into Melksham!!!

davmaggs

I'd never thought of tubes going bang with such decibels, although I've had a decent pop noise when a chunky nail has gone through the tyre.

Seeing these stories I shall be thinking that the M+ will explode under me tonight on the commute home.

Clever Pun

Had something similar changing tyres over at home once... saw the tube start to swell, tried to release the pressure and bammo I near shat myself and had a ringing in my ears for a bit

couple of months later the same thing started to happen, I dived away proper duck and cover style before the explosion

bicyclepirate

I went to watch a disabled tennis match and one of the players wheel chair tubes went off right behind me and my mates. we all dropped our beer right as 200 + people all turned around to see what went off and then proceed to laugh themselves silly at us.

veronese68

I did that with some M+ whilst changing them in the office. Everybody jumped, then laughed at me.
In a petrol station some kid was pumping his bike tyres up with the air line when that went bang. He went straight up in the air then ran about 20 yards. Looked around, then nervously walked back to a smithereened back tyre.

dhope

Yeah, I've had two exploding tubes in the last year. First one was at 2am with the bike in the hallway while I was fast asleep. Woke me up with a start and I thought a picture had fallen off the wall or something. Went out to look, couldn't find anything. Next morning I go to get the bike and notice the flat and the tyre having been blown off the rim.

2nd time I'd just changed a flat and had set off home - got 50 yards out and something didn't feel right. Pulled over, picked bike onto pavement just as it went pop. Two girls nearby ducked behind a sign for cover at the noise.

Feckin noisy both times

Wallace1492

davmaggs wrote:

It's a quiet day on BR so I thought I'd write this up, perhaps for a chuckle or to warn people that they must wear ear defenders when changing tyres.

The short version is that I swapped to Marathon Plus and found the sidewalls a really tough item to snag onto the rim of the wheel. I split one tube near the valve, which I take the blame as I was rushing. I won the tussle with a second tube through slow patience and triumphantly pumped the pressure up to 100 PSI. I then stood back to admire my handwork and to wonder why people complain about M+ being impossible, when I noticed to my horror that the inner tube was bulging out between the tyre and the wheel. As I rotated the wheel to get to the valve the whole thing went bang, and I mean a ringing in the ears bang.

So, the move to M+ has now cost more tubes than the punctures. My hearing did return, but the pride remains dented.

Virtually identical to what happened to me when I first stuck the M+ on. Tore first tube, got second on fine, but with no bulges, pumped up to 100psi, took off track pump and gave tyre a small bounce off the floor and it went off like a shotgun. This was in living room and it blew the tyre off the rim, though leaving it undamaged. after regaining my hearing, the next tube was fitted very carefully, and inflated slowly..... They were on for just shy of a year and got 1 punture. Great tyres.

Greg T

Wallace1492 wrote:

They were on for just shy of a year and got 1 punture. Great tyres.

They are a bit squirmy on the overbanding though . . . . .

il_principe

Paging @CJCP...

It's happened to me once, went off at night and scared the living cr@p out of me. Stupid butyl ultra light tubes. Never again.

cjcp

Ahem, yes...

New Durano Pluses arrived yesterday, so fitted them last night (well, it was half-past-midnight). Duranos are a bugger to fit first time on, and so it proved.

Pumped up the rear. All good. Started to pump up the front and "BANG!", the rear tube goes. Scared the cr@p out of me, and there's a slight ringing in my right ear. Go into the hallway to check I haven't woken the kids and Mrs CJ. Nope, all fine. The neighbours appear to be undisturbed, too: no lights have come on.

So, I stop pumping the front, and replace the rear tube. Recommence pumping up the front tyre and finish that off. Started on the rear when, "BANG!", the front tube goes. "FCUK!", I say. Now I'm really fecked off. I'm two tubes down and the ear is ringing again. The kids and Mrs CJ remain asleep, but, if another tube goes, Mrs CJ may just wake up and beat six bells out of me. The neighbours may also be borderline concerned.

Taking great care, I replace the front tube. It's now approaching 1am, but I have any early start in the morning, so have to do it now. With some trepidation, therefore, I pump up both tyres. My ears can't take much more, so I whip the pump off and retreat to a safe distance in case the blast radius of both tubes going is bigger.

A minute goes by and so far, so good. Ten minutes pass and all's still good, so I retire for the evening, with the ringing in the ear having fortunately subsided.