Help - Tire popped of rim & blown tube

[horsefarmer]

Putting a 26" Balloon tire on a used Chinese cruiser steel rim. new rim strip, Sun lite tube and Duro Beach Bum tire.
Everything went OK put 20 psi in with hand pump, spun tire, looked OK.
Next day upped psi to 40 (sidewall says 50psi max), sat on bike a few times adjusting seat, walked away from bike and BANG! tire popped off bead and blew long slit in tube. Everything seemed ok, could rim be undersize or tire bead be oversize? front tire seems OK so far but that is a new steel wheel assy. How much air you run in balloon tires maybe I put too much psi? Only used my hand pump.
Tires were "on sale" and kinda stiff and flattened out. Please help, I don't want to keep blowing tubes!

 

[user 135]

There are some loose combinations of tires and rims and some very tight combinations. Next time pump it up to 10psi and double check both beads to see they are uniformly seated. Do this again at 20psi. Adjust as needed. Two ways to check the bead: look at it all the way around or spin the tire and watch the sidewalls.

You may also try letting everything come to room temperature since you are in a Northern climate especially if you tires feel stiff.

 

[horsefarmer]

Yes, I'm thinking maybe try it again with low psi and maybe let em set like that for a while in the house (not going anywhere soon anyhow)
Thought I'd measure the Chinese rim vs 2 rims off a 1950's Columbia middleweight the Chinese rim was same dia as the Columbia rear but the Columbia front was 1/8" smaller! The Chinese rim is only 1" wide inside tho the Columbias are wider, maybe that is a deal breaker with a 2.125 tire?

 

[user 135]

Rim Width can be a problem but usually on really extreme differences. 1" wide is plenty. I had a 24x3" that I had to use zipties to hold the tire on while I inflated it because it was so loose. It held just fine. Try also looking to make sure the rim doesn't have any damage that may be causing it.

 

[alistair clark]

I would suggest once you had the tire up 10 or 15 lbs is to put your weight on it and roll the rim and tire on a hard surface. All things posted above is good advice

 

[Bicycle808]

I agree that you'll want to inspect for any damage to the rim, especially at the beadhook. Also, some steel rims don't even have a real hook, per se, and these can only handle low-pressure situations, regardless of what the tire may be rated for. Worksman rims, for instance, are only s'posed to take something like 40psi max

 

[us56456712]

Cheap Chinese rims do this. The tire will seat at low pressure, but up the pressure and the tire bead starts to come unseated. Look carefully at the bead seat as you inflate and you can see where it is uneven. This has happened to me on two cheap wally world bikes with Chinese rims. The way to fix it is to seat the tire and inflate it until it starts to come unseated. Mark the place with a magic marker where it becomes unseated, deflate it, push in the area that has started to unseat and spread a thin layer of Sho Goo or other goo adhesive on the spot that has become unseated. Reinflate it to a low pressure and let the goo dry, then slowly inflate it. You may have to glue one spot on the other side. It is easy to remove the tire if you need to as you only used a small amount of goo. I have fixed flats and then had to re glue the tires. I only have one of these rims as I trashed the others as I got better rims. One of the reasons not to buy a cheap Chinese bike I guess.

 

[horsefarmer]

Thanks everyone I'll try low pressure first and watch the beads.
the tires have been stored in such a way they are somewhat misshaped.
When inflated they look fine but no doubt the casings have some "twist" in them - home overtime they relax a little. Depending on how the gearing and the coaster brake behaves I may toss the rim anyway.

 

[gowjobs]

I had a tire/rim combo that loved to get pinch flats, no matter how careful I was when installing the tire and tube. Finally cured it by coating the tube with baby powder first - just enough "slip" so that it wouldn't get folded as the pressure increased.

 

[horsefarmer]

Tried lower pressure and baby powder method tonight - so far so good.

 

[clamdigger]

Sounds like a rim size and tire ISO mis-match. This may help ; http://sheldonbrown.com/rim-sizing.html

 

[patman73]

i bounce the tire as i inflat it, not on the bike when changing tire & tubes , i check the bead as i go along

 

[horsefarmer]

Sounds like a rim size and tire ISO mis-match. This may help ; http://sheldonbrown.com/rim-sizing.html

Because bike is kinda unknown "fs elite" and obviously seen little use (paper sticker residue on cranks where R and L were) I thought that too.
Compared to mid 50's columbia rear rim and were identical just a little narrower. Tire is 559cm dia. Of course, if ya keep blowin tubes ya might not ride the bike much...

 

[pedals]

Other than bouncing a tire while inflation, I will also massage my tire and tube all the way around after getting the low pressure in it.

 

[Handyman163]

+1 on the baby powder and low pressure massage. I put the baby powder into the tire and spread it around with my hand, then put the partially inflated tube in there and run it around to coat it - sprinkle more as needed. Once mounted, everything moves easily. Inflate slowly, massage to get everything straight (spin the wheel to notice uneven-ness). Then pump up to pressure. I usually deflate it by about half and re-inflate just to make sure the tube isn't bunched up anywhere. Haven't had a blowout in years doing this.

 

[Wildcat]

A new front wheel might be good. You wouldn't have to worry about it popping. Wider and not expensive. Your local shops may have them at a good price also.


http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/wheels/wheels/26/26-x-1-75?sort=priceasc

 

[horsefarmer]

I just wanted to add this. Today replacing tire/tube on 15 year old Giant built Schwinn - 26 x 2.00 tire looked original and very baked/rotted. Aired up new 26 x 1.95 tire and tube and it popped off the bead after about seeming to be ok for maybe 30 seconds. Looking at rim strip it was put on (at factory?) really crooked and one edge was over the bead area one one side for maybe a 10th of the rim edge. I pushed it back into the center with a screwdriver and now tire seats fine. Something else to check when changing a tire!