chaadster

We were doing hill repeats last night when, braking hard on a descent, I locked up the rear and *boom* it blew like gunshot. Some say it sounded like a car backfire, but you get the idea either way: it was loud.

I was nearly stopped, so no problem there, and upon inspection found found a 1.5” flap torn from tread center to nearly the bead. It wasn’t a long skid, but I figured I flat-spotted it to the threads and just yielded with a bang. Looking closer, it looks like there’s wear to the threads all around the circumference, concurrent with cracking of the tread right along the centerline. Weird…but there was heat coming off the rim, too, so I wonder if there wasn’t some swelling from overheating the aluminum rim, too. I mean, the tire didn’t have a lot of mileage, and looked to be in good condition prior to the ride; often a worn tread will look thin, revealing the casing texture underneath or looking a little bubbly or wavy, and there was none of that. I certainly would have noticed if the tread was worn through to the threads, anyway, so maybe I was on the verge of that starting the ride and just missed the signs.

Anyway, the Hutchinson Galactik was such a shredded, irreparable mess that it precipitated the “call of shame.” The mosquitoes this year are outrageous here, and I got mauled awaiting my rescue. I can’t recall ever having this type of failure in all my years, so it was something new and, I guess, interesting!

WhyFi

Lol - and I thought that I got a little risky with runnin' my tires down to the cords. I will admit, though, that I did have one tire that did something similar - it looked okay at the start of a ride and was showing cords all the way around at the end.

The Galactik is essentially their RDO tire, isn't it? Probably not too much tread to begin with, so not surprising that you didn't get many miles out of them.

Racing Dan

Thin race tyres doesnt last long if locked up. That is one trade off with such light tyres. Then again, I once suggested riding mountains on GP 4 Seasons, for safety reasons. Response was a flood of snide remarks, as if it was the most stupid thing ever, even contemplating it .. There you go! - Watch out and Stay healthy :-)

chaadster

Yeah it is, I believe, so I’m not shocked or anything, just interested by the failure mode. I’ve never had a tire explode through the casing like that before. One of my clubmates said she saw it “spark” when it blew! It did leave a black blast mark on the pavement, too…how about that!!

Aside from the dramatic way it went out, it was an excellent tire…really handled well and seemed fast. I’ll probably go back to Schwalbe Pro One, though,

chaadster

Worth considering, but I’m in SE Michigan, so small hills, but no mountains. It was probably my corpulent 250lbs that put the real hurt on that little tire!

Iride01 

Did you check to see if your rotation arrow was going the correct way when you installed the tire?

Though I don't really think it matters one bit. Although they are hard to make out in the pic, it just seemed to me that the pattern on the tread is in the wrong direction.

I've had tires blow out too, but mine were old and you could almost see the air inside. Although I did have a fairly new tire get a very small sidewall cut and the tube pushed out through the cut and made a noise like a 22 caliper pistol going off...... or did someone with a 22 caliper pistol shoot my tire?

Maelochs

I was not shocked when you said Hutchinson.

I have been using their Fusion 5 tires on a couple bikes with bad results. I have had the bead separate from the body on a couple, and another has developed weird wear marks as if the rubber compound was badly mixed and some of it was too soft.


This tire has not been abused, and pretty obviously I didn't lock it up to create those wear patterns .... I would have been skidding through a pretty horrendous low-side, and those moments tend to be memorable.

I think Hutchinson built a bad batch of tires, maybe? Sticking with Contis or something else from now on, I guess,.. Too bad---I really liked the Hutchinsons while they were holding air.

ThermionicScott 

Tread direction looks right to me. Remember, it's a rear tire.

chaadster

Maelochs Whoa!

popeye

I was just getting home from the last ride on this thin GPsomething when I thought it might be a good idea to lock up the rear and see what happens. It blew almost instantly and then I realized you fool you just ruined a good tube.

Iride01 

Oh....

Your are right. I should have put my glasses on so I could see the blurry part a little less blurry. <grin>

Kimmo 

@chaadster: Phwoar!

Dude, wuut?! That's gotta be in the top five of the weirdest things I've seen go wrong with a bike.

BTW, just discovered something neat - I just @ed "OP", and the board did the rest.

ThermionicScott 

Does "RDO" mean "Race Day Only"?

WhyFi

Yup.

Sy Reene

yiid

CliffordK

Anybody consider not locking up the rear wheel? Or if you manage a chirp, let it go very quickly.

znomit

That looks horrible. Is it rubbing somewhere?

CliffordK

Ahhh... that doesn't look too bad.

Quick boot and you're back on the road.



Gator Hardshell, mounted previous day new. 70 miles or so into the ride. Bead blown off.

Booted, removed brake pads, and limped an additional 20 miles to the nearest bike shop, picking up anything that appeared useful along the side of the road.