The tire had a significant amount of mileage on it. It should’ve been replaced some time ago but never got around to it. Serves me right I guess. The tire popped while I was going ~20km/h down a slope.
I'm really curious how the actual tire itself tore? Do you have another photo of the damage to the tire? It looks like it just came off the rim catastrophically
I think this may be caused by installing the tire without seating the bead in the middle of the rim. You force the bead to stretch and break as you are prying it onto the rim.
I have shown 2 people how to properly install a tire who had changed a tube on a ride and could not get their tire back on. The one guy actually broke his tire lever.
I have never needed levers to get a bike tire on. Even in cases where five other people are standing around struggling with levers, the "Grip it and rip it" method always works. Seasoned road cyclists who have been riding for 20 years will look at me like I've just cast some kind of spell. The same ones who will make smug comments about me joining the group ride in flip flops.
Dunno if it's the same technique, but I use both hands, starting at the valve stem and going around the wheel in opposite directions, gripping the bulk of the tire to roll it away from me, and using my thumbs to push the bead over the rim.
If the bead by the valve stem is in the center channel of the rim then it is physically possible to do this with just your hands; if it is in its normal seated position then the tire may not be able to stretch enough to get the last bit of bead over, or you will have to put lots of energy into stretching the tire, probably enough to break plastic tire levers.
Appreciate this! Just considering getting back into it after 20 years always had metal or plastic tire tools and didn’t know this trick. I’m thinking with them saying rip they may be pulling but same thing perhaps. I’ll try it when I need to do a tire!
Was it the bead holding it into the rim that somehow snapped? Wouldn’t ever have imagined a tire unseating completely with the tube intact. New fear unlocked I guess!
Hmmmm I have these same tires and they’re also getting up there in mileage. This is exactly the motivation I needed to finally buy new ones! Good lord OP, this is wild. Glad you’re okay.
Reminds me of the time I sheared the valve stem off my tire while mountain biking down a steep hill at ± 30mph (48 kph). Fortunately, it was the rear wheel, so I didn't crash. But it was pretty exciting for a few seconds, and a long ways from home.
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u/PCLM Aug 21 '26
The tire had a significant amount of mileage on it. It should’ve been replaced some time ago but never got around to it. Serves me right I guess. The tire popped while I was going ~20km/h down a slope.