Low tire in the middle of nowhere?

[unjonharley]

So unjon, if I hooked a tire pump up to you, would you be less of a drag?

Don't know. You know more about being in drag

[Captain Goddammit]

Lol, I can always count on you to match wits Damn ugly old curmudgeon.

[Molotov]

My bike tube saga continues...

Well, it wasn't the valve cores after all. After replacing them and still having no air pressure, I broke the front tire down and found a pinhole about like a spoke nipple puncture in the tube. Reinforced the rim liner (found no protrusions) with two wraps of Gorilla tape, then put a brand new self-sealing tube on. Here is where it got interesting....

Cruiser tire is marked "inflate to 45-60" psi. I'm a big guy so I need the pressure. As I reached about 55 psi one part of the tire suddenly started to swell and the new tube loudly exploded, blowing the tire off the rim, and spewing "slime" all over the shop. It was so loud the neighbor stuck his head in the door, thinking I had just blown my brains out. Who knows what would have happened if I had my hand around the rim.

At that point, I said "fuck this", threw the rim across my shop, and parked the now front-wheel-less bike in the corner. Never even bothered looking for the puncture in the rear tire. Maybe next year. I guess I will just look to borrow a green bike if I need one this year.

Maybe I will just get some of those solid tires for next year.

[FIGJAM]

Don't give up!

Put the tires and tubes on it and air them to 35 pounds.

Bring it to Elliots and we'll find the best operating pressure.

I was concerned when you first posted that you were going to travel with the tires at that pressure.

One year I put brand new tires and tubes on my trike and aired them to max.

When I unloaded on the playa, both the new tires and tubes were blown and ruined.

Pressure changes on the way blew them up!!!

[Captain Goddammit]

That does sound like too much pressure for a cruiser tire. Get another tube & tire and inflate it to more like 30 - 35.

Hey FIGJAM, if you look it up, the pressure change from sea level to BM altitude is only a couple PSI. If your tires blew it could be from overheating in the sun.
I had a couple car tires sitting in the driveway do that on a hot day!

[FIGJAM]

I go over a couple of 7000' passes.

I didn't think it would matter either since it was already over 100 degrees here before I started.

[unjonharley]

Again... Heat (sun) expands air.. Elliot never fills tire to the limit..

Sun light and ones fat ass puts a lot of heat to the tires..

Another thing I have learn from Elliot.. Never try to patch a tube.. Its a waste of time on the hot desert..

[Elliot]

Here is what happened to your bicycle, TexasRick:

It certainly wasn't the valve cores. You felt air coming out of the hole in the rim that the valve stem goes thru, right alongside the valve stem.

Two punctures at the same time is unusual, but can happen. Lots of less-than-week-old Walmart bikes have come in with unexplained flats. I blame poor quality of all components, plus careless assembly.

When you reassembled the tire and inflated it, you forgot to center the tire on the rim. Bicycle tires do not center themselves the way automobile tires do. You must put maybe five PSI in the tire and then wiggle it as needed until it is centered. Every tire comes with a line around each side so you can see that this line is evenly spaced along the rim.

When you put 55 PSI in the tire that was off center, one of the beads came away from the rim and the tube ballooned out thru this gap until it popped. It is easy to fail to notice this gap, because what grabs your attention is that the tire is bulging.

Regarding high elevations, I have had several properly inflated bicycle tubes pop on trips that took me over high elevations. Maybe there is no technically accurate explanation, but now I leave tires a bit low for the trip. Come to think of it, they were mostly Walmart bikes, so there is that poor-quality-tubes issue to consider.

I am a big fan of Thorn Resistant tubes of reputable brands. The few extra bucks are sooooo worth it. Make sure the tube size is wide enough -- the thicker rubber is less tolerant of stretching to fit.

Liquid sealant can work on small leaks. The downside is the mess it makes when a larger leak (eventually) occurs. Luckily, the stuff is water-washable. (At least, the green Slime brand is.)

While we are at it.... Old bicycle tires can rupture, usually in the sidewall. So inspect old tires for cracks or fraying.

What else? Oh yeah.... Time for me to go out and check the pressures in 12 tires -- bus, trailer and two spares.