What happened to my tube?

[Pay Jota]

I came out to my Rad Rover to discover I had a flat. I hadnt ridden it in two days, though I had checked the pressure.

No problem, I figure. It's a slow leak. I'll pump it up and just do a short day before I trouble shoot this.

I begin the inflation with an electric pump. All seems to be going good.

BOOM!!!!

At somewhere between 10-15 psi, the tire bursts. The hole is a star pattern with legs about 1-1.5 inches long.

What happened? About 275 miles on the tires. Probably 85% pavement.

 

[mrgold35]

Looks like a weak spot on the inner tube where the rubber was a little thin? I usually had good luck with the tubes other than getting too many holes from goatheads and finding it easier to replace the tube than patch +5X holes (have Mr Tuffy+Stans sealant and goatheads still make it to the tubes sometimes). Got in the habit of always having a spare tube around for when stans or a patch won't do.

I've had good luck with:

Mongoose MG78253-6 Fat tire Tube 26X4, Amazon, $13
Zol Fat Tire Inner Tube 26X4, Amazon, $12.5

 

[Tars Tarkas]

RadRover tires are so big, with a total flat you have to be careful that the beads seat properly when you reinflate. It looks to me like part of the tube may have ended up outside the tire as it filled. I don't think you could have had that kind of tear pattern, or heard a boom, if the tube was entirely within the tire and the beads we seated properly. I've found that it's very important to air up slowly from a total flat. Put in 2 or 3 pounds of air, check everything, put in a few more pounds and check again. By then, if all is good, you're probably safe to air up the rest of the way.

TT

 

[Pay Jota]

Yeah, I dont think I was paying much attention to the bead/tube placement. That's probably what happened.

I could find no embedded spike of something in the inner casing that could have caused the initial flat, but I did have to pull some goatheads out a few days before. Probably the whole spike came out and caused a slow flat.

Mr. Tuffy liners arrive today!

 

[mrgold35]

Yeah, I dont think I was paying much attention to the bead/tube placement. That's probably what happened.

I could find no embedded spike of something in the inner casing that could have caused the initial flat, but I did have to pull some goatheads out a few days before. Probably the whole spike came out and caused a slow flat.

Mr. Tuffy liners arrive today!

I had to trim the ends of my Mr. Tuffy liners a bit to limit the overlap inside the tire. I ended up getting a pinch flat from the liner sliding on top of the ends and bunching up in the overlap area. It causes a 1/8-1/4 inch pinch slit in the side of the tube. Zero issues with sliding and pinch flats once I cut to proper length.

I also have to take out the liner every few months and pull out goathead stickers that are stuck in the liner and inside of the tire; but, I can't remove from the outside. I usually have 5-10 thorns on the inside of the tire; but, stopped by the liner. I also have 1-5 goatheads that are stuck in the liner and those are made holes in the tube (stans sealant works wonders). That is when I sometimes just replace the tube if I start to get too many holes to patch on a maintenance weekend.

 

[Toomanycats]

I had to trim the ends of my Mr. Tuffy liners a bit to limit the overlap inside the tire. I ended up getting a pinch flat from the liner sliding on top of the ends and bunching up in the overlap area. It causes a 1/8-1/4 inch pinch slit in the side of the tube. Zero issues with sliding and pinch flats once I cut to proper length.

I also have to take out the liner every few months and pull out goathead stickers that are stuck in the liner and inside of the tire; but, I can't remove from the outside. I usually have 5-10 thorns on the inside of the tire; but, stopped by the liner. I also have 1-5 goatheads that are stuck in the liner and those are made holes in the tube (stans sealant works wonders). That is when I sometimes just replace the tube if I start to get too many holes to patch on a maintenance weekend.

Wow. We are having a bad goathead year in California, I think because of all the rain. I have MrTuffy in my front tire, but I still check all the time for goat-heads ( whenever I hear that clicking noise- could be pebble or goathead) or whenever I have to stop, to make sure they don’t get embedded in tires.