Recently, I've acquired a number of bikes in need of fixing, mostly from my
mother-in-law (who hasn't ridden in years, oddly enough). Tonight, I finished
working on a Raleigh Custom (circa 1970), and moved on to a Motobecane (circa
19something-or-other). First up were the tires/tubes, as the tires appeared to
be original, and were badly cracked along the sidewalls. I decided to start
with the front tire.
So, off come the old tires and tubes, on go new Performance tubes and tires.
The fit was a tad tight (I needed levers to seat the tire), but not too bad. I
checked the whole way 'round to make sure the tube was not trapped between rim
and bead, and started pumping. The tire was rated to 90 psi.
I made it to about 80.
POW!
The fact that I was in an unfinished basement doubtless made the pop sound more
impressive than it was, but it certainly made itself known.
"Dang it, Zoerhoff, you let the tube get trapped between the tire and the
rim!" So I dutifully unseated the tire, then dug out the tube, looking for the
telltale long tear of a bulge gone wrong. But I didn't find one.
What I found was a lovely star burst pattern, somewhat hard to appreciate in
the fuzziness of the photo (imagine yourself admiring a Monet if you must):
<http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=314586100&size=l>
I thought this odd, so I grabbed the tire. When I checked it in the same spot,
I saw that the blowout had gone clean through the tire as well!
<http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=314586281&size=l>
I did a cursory visual and tactile check of the rim in that spot, and found
nothing the alarmed me, but that just means I couldn't find anything, not that
nothing was there. So what was there?
--
__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [email hidden]
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