gravelocity

it says 65 PSI on the tire. My gauge read slightly less than 60 when the tube exploded. I think the tire bead had just started to poke out over the rim a bit when it happened.

The bike is a Schwinn Breeze. The tire is a Kenda 26 x 1 3/8 – 1 1/4. The tube was a Goodyear heavy duty 26 x 1 3/8. The pump is a Blackburn telescoping frame pump with gauge.

DiabloScott

If it really "exploded", then yeah, it blew the tire bead off of the rim because you didn't get the tube all tucked in properly. If it just failed and ripped or something, it was probably a defective tube.

JoeTBM 

This is most likely the cause and indicated that the bead was not sitting evenly on the rim. when inflated.

dsbrantjr

There is a "witness line" around the tire above the bead. You need to check that this line is evenly spaced from the rim before inflating the tire.

Iride01 

Is this an old Schwinn Breeze, circa 1970's?

I don't know if Schwinn used smooth beadseats on wheels of that size but they did on 27" tires in the 70's and thereabouts. If you use a folding tire on those smooth bead rims, then they can easily come off if the beads aren't perfectly seated prior to inflating.

Usual recommendation is to only use wire bead tires in them.

Might be that smooth bead rims were unique to just some of Schwinn's 27" (630 bsd) wheels. Maybe someone knows for sure and can say.

oldukbkr 

Adding to Iride01's comment, if you have an older wheel that does not have a bead hook on the rim then the tire will blow off the rim at higher pressures. Run your finder around the inside of the rim. If you can feel a lip on the inside, it has a bead hook that is designed to hold the wire bead of the tire in place. If it feels smooth there is no bead hook. Regardless of the pressure indicated on the tire, if you have no bead hook I would keep the tire to 55psi or less.

Russ Roth

Building off others, a lot of old steel rims are limited to 60psi, doesn't matter that the tire says, used to see people trying to inflate tires to 90psi cause it says so and wondering why it sounded like a shotgun going off. If you have one of these rims, you install the tire and tube and inflate to 15psi, check that the tire is seated evenly all the way around. There's a line above the bead of the tire that serves as a guide, it needs to be exposed all the way around. At 15psi you can use your fingers or the palm of your hand to pull it out of the rim more or push it back in some. Fill to 30psi and make sure it still looks even. At 30psi you can still hook your fingers around the tire and use the palm of your hand to pull the tire out. If its not coming out no matter how hard you try and was a problem at 15psi you can push the tire away from the rim and spray a little bike or wood polish onto the tire to help make it slippery enough to come out. Inflate to 45psi, with luck the tire has stayed even all the way around, if its slipping out deflate back down, you can't push the tire in at this pressure, if you still have a spot that is hanging up you can use channel locks to pull it out gently, spray polish if needed. If the tire is spot on at this pressure, and it should be, fill to 60 and double check but you should be good to go. Don't go over 60psi.

Jeff Wills

Old Schwinn mechanic here... As above, the tire probably blew off the rim because it wasn't seated properly. The Schwinn Breeze used 26 x 1 3/8 (S-6) tires and smooth-wall steel rims. Since you say you have the Kenda tire you probably have the correct tire for the rim.
(Not all 26 x 1 3/8" tires are created equal. Sheldon explained this: Tire Sizing Systems (sheldonbrown.com )
I would inflate it gradually- first to 20psi then check that the witness line is visible and the same distance above the rim all the way around. If there's a high spot, deflate and double-check to see if the tube is caught under the tire. If there's a low spot, try to pull it out so the witness line is visible. Then inflate to 40psi and check again. Then inflate to 60psi and check again.
I've never used them but the reviews on the Kenda tires are not great. You might have to manipulate them 2 or 3 times before they seat on the rim properly.

Another possibility: are the wheels original to the bike? If someone has replaced the wheel with a non-Schwinn size, the tire will blow off even if it appears to be seated properly. The 26 x 1 3/8 (EA-3) rim's bead seat diameter is 7mm smaller- enough to allow a Schwinn size tire to mount but it will blow off every time.

veganbikes

Everyone kind made a lot of the good points well but it could potentially also be a wrong sized tire. 26X1-3/8 is my most hated size as it is not one size it is many sizes and can cover a few different ISOs and if the tire is not nearly the exact same as the old tire that was supposed to be on it it can cause issues. I wish I could find who decided to use those sizes and beat them with a Campy battle axe. Whenever I see one of those type of bikes I warn the mechanics because a lot of them don't know because they are younger and never have experienced it or don't fully understand the whole ISO stuff and sizing and are just quick with inflation. When I do a tire I like to go real real slow and check the rim a few times as I am bringing it up to pressure and on old rims I don't look at the tire's stated numbers I go by feel and keep that PSI reasonable because it isn't a new rim. Even on my own bikes with new rims I am always pretty slow and cautious I have had enough tires blown in my ear a few by my own hand and plenty more by other mechanics that I don't need to race, I think about it like my whisky slow and steady wins the race. 10 year scotch isn't bad but 15 year is better and if 15 year is better lets go for some 21 year or higher! Why rush it go slow and do it right.

Now if I am inflating tubeless and trying to seat the bead then higher pressure can be handy (though make sure to do a dry run first to make sure it will seat before you blow sealant all over the place)

Jeff Wills

Well... as I pointed out, the Schwinn S-6 rim is larger in diameter than the EA-3 rim. Therefore, installing an EA-3 tire on a Schwinn rim is nearly impossible and would not result in a blow-off like the OP had. Since he didn't mention any struggles mounting the tire I assume the wheel is either the original Schwinn and the tire is difficult to seat or the wheel has been changed to a non-Schwinn item and the tire is incorrect for the rim.

Original Schwinn? Is that how Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden?

flatononeside

no adam and eve were driving a chrysler. he drove them out in his fury.

canopus 

Doh! Broke my own rules for checking original post time...

zandoval 

Yep... But just recently I mounted a new tire and at first ride POP!. It turns out it was a defective tire. The wire was actually showing on the surface of the bead and the bead itself came apart. This is something I could have spotted if I had done a close inspection of the tire when I got it.

Calsun

There are excellent youtube videos on how to remove and replace a tube with a clincher type tire. I used tubular tires most of my life and so gave it little thought. Now with multiple mountain bikes and road bikes that all have clincher tires I needed to refine my technique. Done properly there need for only one tire lever to remove the tire to the point where the tube can be removed and patched or replaced and no lever is needed to reseat the tire on the rim.

I now also use ear protection and then add air to half the intended pressure and then check the bead of the tire. Going to full PSI for the wheel and if no problems then I will not have to worry about a pinch flat and the only issue would be having a spoke getting past the rim tape. I would bet that nearly all the "bad" tubes are the result of poor technique in mounting the tire.

kfried

I assume you've used this pump regularly before and with good results? I recently had a tube explode like a rifle shot while inflating and thought I must have installed incorrectly, as previous comments have noted. Maybe I did. But today I was pumping a new tube following a flat (thorn) and the gauge on a recently bought pump read 0 PSI even though the tire felt more like 80-85. Even after I adjusted the connection to the valve, it was reading 65 PSI. Made me think that the previous tube may have exploded because the gauge was reading incorrectly and I continued to pump to get the gauge to read 85 PSI, taking it beyond the allowable pressure. The other comments are more likely correct, but wanted to add another piece to consider.

Calsun

The pump gauge shows the pressure inside the hose and not the pressure inside the tire. If the tire valve is not completely open the pump gauge is not going to be accurate.

kfried

I did not know that. Thanks!