jyl

Curious if anyone has crashed due to a flat tire?

I've come close twice. About two years ago, I was descending a short grade at about 25 mph when I heard a loud noise and felt my front tire suddenly going soft. I braked with the rear while pushing my weight as far back as possible, and got the bike stopped with some excitement. My front tire went completely flat and came off the bead in places. The tube was split over 6 inches.

This morning, I was going through a curves (Couch S curve to Burnside Bridge, for Portland locals) at about 20 mph when I felt my front wheel suddenly slewing side to side and getting rapidly mushy. This time there were some dicey wobbles until I could get the bike stopped, the tire stayed in the bead but I was riding on the rim with just a deflated tire for traction. It was raining so I just walked my bike the 10 blocks to work.

Both of these experiences were with my daily commute road bike.

I've had rear tires suddenly flat, and there was no drama. But the front tire flats have been more exciting than I'd like.

This may sound crazy, but I am thinking about converting the commute bike to tubulars with sealant. I've had flats with tubulars, including one where the tubular casing actually blew in half (it was an old tire that I should have replaced) and the bike seems more controllable with a deflating tubular than what I've experienced with deflating clinchers.

ItsJustMe

Yes, just a few weeks ago in fact. It's because I was dumb and tried to take a corner with a flat front. Just wasn't thinking. I was on a higher traffic road and about to turn onto a low traffic road, so I thought I'd get to the low traffic area then change my tire. No chance at all, down with a bunch of road rash.

Even worse, I bent my derailleur, and after fixing the flat and about 5 miles later, I downshifted, threw the derailleur into the spokes, which ripped the derailleur right off the frame and threw it between the spokes and the frame, threw the chain into the spokes, destroyed the derailleur and stopped the rear tire instantly. I didn't go down but I had to buy a new RD hanger, a new RD, a new tire and a new chain.

ill.clyde

Dang ... talk about adding insult to injury.

cooker

I had a two stage injury - this was about in '96.

First I crashed while mountain biking, trying to do a low-speed jump over a load of gravel dumped on the trail. My front wheel nose-dived into a rut on the far side and stalled, and I flew forward and landed in the hard-packed dirt on my right flank and hip.

A few days later I was approaching a corner on my commuter, and went over a sharp-edged pothole, creating a pinch flat but I didn't realize it till mid turn when the front tire went flat and the rim skidded out on me. I was clipped in and didn't have time to release and get a foot down, so I landed on my recently bruised hip.

That was sooo painful.

EDIT: my legs just went shaky from reading what I just wrote.

FBinNY 

I've never crashed because of sudden depressurization front or rear, regardless of where.

OTOH- I've had 2 low speed spills riding 2" tires on narrow mtn rims on my commuter. It isn't flats, but a slow loss of pressure due to a slow leak. The rim/tire width ratio of the combination makes these very "floppy" (for lack of a better word), and I've dumped the bike turning into driveways with soft front tires. BTW- possibly because of weight or other factors, I detect low pressure squirreliness in the rear pretty easily, but the front can get fairly low before I notice (on a turn of course). The issue may have me moving to narrower tires, but these monsters are so forgiving of lousy city streets, and road hazards, that I'll continue to live with the issue.

Shimagnolo

I've never had a front flat while turning (thank goodness), but the scariest rear flat occurred while doing 30mph around my favorite banked blind curve. I was surprised to find 2" landscaping rocks spilled all over the road. I managed to avoid them all with the front tire, but one took out the rear tire. Within 20' of impact, the rear tire was halfway off the rim. I was able to change the tube and get home, but the rim was bent and needed replacement.

fietsbob

< knocking Wood for continued good luck>

I too have hears the glued on tire stays on the rim better when flat.

though the spare once put on the rim, is insecure .. and prone to rolling off the rim in corners .

Dave Mayer

Not crazy. For most of my miles, this is how I travel. Sudden deflations on tubulars are considerably more controllable than on clinchers. I also spike each tire with about 20cc of Stan's, and if I do have flats now, they generally hiss a little, and then the hole is sealed.

I have had two relatively rapid deflations notwithstanding. About 5 years ago I hit the bottom of a glass bottle that was sitting up like a crown. Tire was shredded - nothing could be done. Most recent event was a thick nail that went up through the tire and penetrated into the rim. Stan's dealt with the lower puncture, but the air escaped through the top of the tire.

Keep in mind that there are no heavy duty tubular tires out there. Tubulars may be inherently safer than clinchers, but lightweight tires are still more prone to flats. So during the winter, I commute on clinchers - Vittoria Randonneurs, with the 3 kevlar layers. Heavy, but I have never had a flat on these.

dynaryder

Once. Stood up on the pedals just as I was banking to make a fast turn and the front end washed out from under me. Only damage to the bike was a scratched pedal and chewed grip end,but I got road rash on the elbow and knee and bruised a rib from the armored cable lock I was wearing bandolier-style. Limped off to a bit of grass behind a bus stop. Luckily had band-aids in my kit,but it was so hot and I was sweating so much I had to wrap duct tape around the one on my knee to keep it in place. Pulled the tube and couldn't find anything wrong with it(and nothing in the tire). Had ridden it for half a block with no issues before it flatted. Cut the tube and tossed it,swapped in my spare,and limped home. Never had another issue.

This was the last blue bike I've owned. For some reason,blue bikes have been nothing but trouble for me.

old's'cool

I had a close call last year. Was approaching a traffic light at cruising speed when it turned green, so I took the shoulder to pass a car stopped at the light (right turn lane was a cut-out to my right). Ran over some gravel on the shoulder and as I passed through the intersection I heard a pffffffff... a second or so later I made the connection and realized I had a rear tire going flat. The bad part was, I was already going ~20mph and there was a steep downhill grade on the other side of the intersection, that I was already accelerating down due to gravity when I grasped my predicament. I had a few more seconds of moderate tire pressure before the tire went completely flat, and I used those seconds to brake as carefully as possible. To my amazement and relief, I brought the bike to a controlled stop with no injury to me or further injury the bike, but the tire was completely flat by then. The second bad part was, I soon realized that my normal flat repair strategy was foiled because the bike I was riding did not have quick release wheels (Denali vacation bike, long story blah blah blah...) and I did not have a large enough wrench in my stem bag to remove the wheel in order to install a replacement tube, which I did have with me (this was a workout ride on vacation away from home, so I did not have my normal bicycle repairman toolkit along that I have for commuting). So I reverted to a quickly formulated Plan B, which was to find the hole in the tube and repair it in situ with the wheel in place, using the patch kit I also have in my stem back for such eventualites.
Coda: I now carry a mini adjustable wrench in my stem bag, so Plan A will not be thwarted a second time for the same reason.

lasauge 

I have, once, front tire blew out while going around a corner downhill, fortunately I was already slowing down in preparation for a sharper turn, so my road rash wasn't too bad. Bent a pair of drop bars though.

ItsJustMe

Oh yeah, I forgot, on my 2nd accident of the day, throwing the chain into the spokes gouged up the spokes so badly that I had to replace all the spokes on the drive side as well, so I had to buy a 50 pack of spokes.

TransitBiker

All these stories makes me scared to ride again!

I can relate though, with re-telling a bad crash giving you the willies.

Thankfully every flat I've gotten, I've been able to hear it before i lost all inflation & make a safe stop. I'm sure running slightly fatter tires has helped too, as it takes more time to deflate.

Now, if you'll excuse me i gotta find some wood to knock on.

- Andy

bigbenaugust 

Once. Turning left into a parking lot to fix the leak. It was flatter than I thought and instead of stopping and turning left, I went *crunch* at low speed.

wphamilton

When I was 16, on a motorcycle. I liked to take some air out of a certain alley, start a turn midair and give it the gas landing in the street. The front blew on landing - that hurt.

I've had the front bicycle tire flat a couple of times on left turns, once it was a pothole going too fast and the other I don't have a clue why. It just went flat cornering at a low speed. Both times I got the bike upright and straight before I knew it and coasted to a stop. I think it was just an automatic reaction because that first time stuck with me after all these years. It's not really all that difficult or risky on a bicycle as long as you back off quickly.

Number400

Luckily, most of my flat tires have happened after I had just come to a stop. I have had a rear blowout with a bang but pulling off the road was a non event. I recently hit a big rock on a gravel path and noticed that my front tire was rapidly deflating. I was stupid and was just going to keep riding until it was fully flat then pull over. I should have just pulled over once it started going mushy as I was barely able to wobble over to the edge and the tire was rolled off the rim by the time I got the bike stopped. Here is what is funny, I was on a lonely gravel road but am so much a roadie that I pulled off the road before stopping. In hindsight, I could have more easily stopped in the middle of the road then walk my bike off to the side.

skins_brew

I was leaving my house one morning and checked my rear tire, but failed to check the front. My driveway has a hill and as I came down, I noticed the "thuds" as I rolled over the concrete spacers. Made my turn and lost all control. For some reason, I put my arms out to either attempt to grab or protect myself from the mailbox. Anyway, took out the mailbox and laid it down. Scrapped up my knee a bit, but man, did my pride take a beatdown.

ItsJustMe

Meh, I did drive in after calling for a bail-out with my wrecked bike (and after cleaning and dressing the wounds) but that's just because I was already 2 hours late. The next day I rode my back-up bike along the same route, and had new parts ordered to fix the road bike, I was back on it 3 days later.

PaulRivers

I've never had an accident from a flat. It's always seemed like it takes at minimum a couple of seconds for the tire to lose pressure and I can stop during that time.

I've avoided using sealant because I've read people saying it seals some flat, but makes other flats impossible to fix.

It sounds like the people who crashed after a flat did so when not immediately stopping and trying to turn - a situation I suspect would not have been made better with tubulars. I dunno, personally, the whole glue/sew the tire onto the rim seems like a situation that's to likely to leave me stranded and unable to repair a flat.

Bug Shield

Afraid so. Tried to rail a corner one time only to learn that my front tire was going flat. Oops.

I've also had a couple saves that might have dumped me. The most notable of those was a blowout on the front of the tandem doing about 30mph. Glad my wife didn't get any road rash out of that incident.

tarwheel 

Never, but I came close to crashing recently when my front tire went flat. I rarely ever get front flats, and this might have been my first while actually riding (most seem to happen overnight with slow leaks). I was making a left turn onto a busy, 4-lane street and noticed my bike handling very strange. I didn't realize until I was in the middle of the street that the front tire had gone flat. It wasn't a blowout and the tire still had some air in it but was rolling on the rim. I straightened my path and made it to the other side of the street, where I fixed the flat. I'm still not sure what happened because I couldn't find a hole in the tube or the tire, and the tire was a very flat-resistant Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy. That experience made me realize how dangerous front flats can be because my bike almost went over when it happened. I had always heard that front flats are the worst, but this was my first experience while riding. I hate to think what would happen if going fast downhill on a corner.

ItsJustMe

It takes a long time for the tire to go flat, but it doesn't necessarily follow that I *realize* the tire is flat much before a turn. This last time, I realized it was flat about 2 seconds before the turn. I should have just blown straight through the turn and stopped in a straight line, but I just wasn't thinking fast that morning.

PaulRivers

Ah, fair enough, as I mentioned the OP asked about using a tubular instead (the kind you sew or glue to the tire) and I'm dubious that would improve safety if the tire went flat. I do think it makes it more likely you'll get an unrepairable flat on the road if you do flat, the kind slime wouldn't help with. That's my internet opinion at least. :-)

I wonder what kind of tires the OP is running now. Some tires are much more flat resistant than others. I think the Specialized "All Condition Armadillo" tires are some of the absolute most flat resistant, but are kind of a harsh ride. I think the Roubaix Armadillo Elite's are more in the middle good flat protection, but not so much that it creates a harsh ride.

joeyduck

I have never had a front sudden deflation. Nor have I crashed due to a flat.

But I have had sudden pressure drops on both tubulars and clinchers.

I personally think there is a huge handling difference in the two when flat.

On the tubular I was on a sweeping turn going at least 20 mph and boom the rear popped and sounded like a ***. I was able to slow, never lost control, never rode the rim to pavement. I was only a five minute walk from home, I even think I gingerly pedaled it home.

On a clincher, over heat blowout after a descent and climb one hot August day. I was in a paceline (near the end) and boom like a *** again. Had I been at speed I am certain I would have crashed, we were coasting and reforming the group at about 15 mph.

The clinchers tend to go to one side or the other exposing rim. Whereas tubulars are glued and tend to overlap the rim equally when flat. Tubulars have less side to side play when they are flat. Where as clinchers will just slide around.

But sudden front deflation is a scary beast to think about no matter which tire is in use. Always put new tires on front of any vehicle.

TransitBiker

Sounds like me. I crashed bad many years ago. Got home, dressed wounds, rode the bike back, It had a few scuffs, just like me, and like me was good to go.

After reading all this stuff, i'm feeling some tire liners may be a worthwhile investment along with the tube changing tools on my list.

- Andy