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This morning I heard the tube in the rear tire explode (I never heard a tube explode before. It was quite loud). I hope someone can shed some light on why this may have happened (and how to prevent it).

Details:

  • The bike was inside a house and nobody had touched it for 12 hours.
  • It is a road bike. The tire says pressure should be between 90 and 125 PSI, and just yesterday I inflated it to 110 PSI and after that went for a ride just fine.
  • The tube was very new, it had only 4-5 days.
  • The tube has a small hole is one of the sides. The tire has a little crack on that spot. It is very thin and about 0.5cm (0.2 inches) long. The rim seems fine.
  • The tire was still in place, it did not come off of the rim.
  • Two weeks ago it happened with another fairly new tube. That time I didn't hear the explosion, but one morning I found the tire deflated without explanation. Both tubes have the hole in exactly the same place, so I guess the cause is related.
  • 10 minutes before it exploded, I opened a door-window next to it, so the temperature dropped a bit suddenly. However, I'm in California so the temperature is very mild. It's not cold at all.
  • The bike is in the sun during the day.
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  • 3
    If the holes in tubes are exactly at same place, it's speak for itself. Replace the tire.
    – Alexander
    Apr 11 '15 at 18:02
  • I have had tubes of one brand tear on me after a tiny leak had developed. All of those of the same brand but different sizes. I am not sure it is limited to that one brand and I am also not sure it is still the case with this brand (and therefor no brand name here).
    – Willeke
    Apr 11 '15 at 19:46
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    It doesn't take a very large hole in the tire for this to occur -- pretty much anything larger than a simple nail hole is going to be a problem and should be "booted".
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Apr 11 '15 at 22:58
  • If the tire is good apart from the small slit you can patch it on the inside with a large tube repair patch. For such a small slit it should be fine. I have done this on a gash of 1.5cm; with such a large gash this should only be used as an emergency measure.
    – andy256
    Apr 12 '15 at 2:14
  • Better than a patch is a purpose-made "boot". Or one can cobble a boot several ways -- a folded dollar bill is a popular choice (and actually quite good).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Apr 12 '15 at 3:01
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A bang explode pretty much only happens when the tube leaks out from tire.

Either the slit is big enough for the tube to push through or the tire pushed over the rim and the tube leaks out. Without a tire a tube will only handle a few pounds of pressure. I suspect the tire belt is damaged. When you see the tire off the rim you might assume the explosion blew the tire off the rim but most likely the tire came off the rim and then the tube exploded.

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4
  • The slit is very thin and about 0.5cm (0.2 inches) long. The tire did not come off the rim.
    – netal
    Apr 11 '15 at 18:00
  • That is interesting. Then I suspect this is enough for the tube pressure to release rapidly and produce a bang. Regardless if you have a slit you need a new tire.
    – paparazzo
    Apr 11 '15 at 18:12
  • I am not accepting the answer because I still don't understand what happened. The slit is big enough for the tube to push through.
    – netal
    Apr 12 '15 at 3:54
  • @netal Unless you have video then can only speculate. Tube ruptured and went bang. You need to replace the tire. What else to you need?
    – paparazzo
    Apr 12 '15 at 12:33
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The tyre is there to support the tube, without the tyre you couldn't put 110psi into the tube on its own. Once you get a hole in the tyre, the tube isn't supported and will have escaped through that hole and stretched until it failed with a bang.

The hole in the tyre might look small when it has no pressure in it but when you put 100psi into it, the hole will get bigger.

If you were to replace the tube with a new one and inflate it you would find that the new tube would do the same thing that the previous one did. I would not recommend doing this. I'd recommend a new tube and tyre, it might be possible to repair the tube but I wouldn't try to repair the tyre.

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