What the??? My tire blew out!

Am I wrong to assume this is the tire and not user error?

When it comes to tires, it is the only area of maintenance I consider myself good at. About 700 miles ago I put some Maxxis Detonators on my bike and was thoroughly impressed with the feel plus they are supposed to be flat resistant.

Yesterday, 31 miles into a 80 mile ride my tire blew out! We booted the tire, aired it back up and road 4 miles back to the nearest town. My parents came to get us as the tire was not going to make it. The aired up tire had bulges on the top and bottom in an S-pattern. My husband's tire now looks exactly the same. I could believe one tire was maybe put on improperly and the bead didn't seat right but not two. We are using the recommended PSI of 120. The only thing I can think of that wouldn't be completely the tire is it has been in the 90's here, maybe we should use a lower PSI? I don't see why though.

Maxxis said they will take about 2 weeks to review a warranty claim, so now I have to go buy TWO replacement tires. You can bet those will not be Maxxis. I have put 1,500+ on all my tires prior to this and put about 3,000 on my last Gatorskins.

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sounds like a defect to me.....

The Maxxis Courchevels seem to be doing that too.....

Weeellll, first of all 120 PSI is the max pressure, not the recommended pressure. Two very different things.

www.maxxis.com/shop_...e=royal&product_ids=

Also going to ask if you've checked your pressure with a dedicated air pressure gauge. One of our floor pumps was 10 PSI too high. Yeow.

I tell ya, we had one of those Ford Explorers that had all the tire problems? You know, back in the 90s? Well, we never could get a good tire for that vehicle after the initial Firestone disaster. The tire issues kept spreading and spreading to different manufacturers.

I think it's very possible that your tires are defective and there are probably more out there. I'm very skeptical of tire quality in general these days.

Karen

I had a blowout yesterday. The tire was pretty new, only about 300 miles on it, so maybe 2-3 weeks old.

It wasn't a defective tire. There is a lot of gravel on the road, spillover from gravel driveways and gravel side roads, and maybe trucks carrying gravel. I am out in the hills coming down on the descents, and my tires hit the large pieces of gravel, just a few of them, but the rocks break and come up and cut right through the sidewall.

Yesterday I was lucky in that the blowout happened only three miles from my house. I put a new tube in and put the wheel back on so I could push the bike. I live on top of a small mountain so I had a steep three mile climb home, walking and pushing the bike up the mountain.

It is the second time my sidewalls have been cut that way. Earlier this month I was on a long ride into the Cascades with Suzie. We had a steep continuous eight mile descent coming down out of the mountains. About every half mile there was a road sign that proclaimed "Caution Loose Gravel on Road." Yes, it was an asphalt road, but there was really a lot of loose gravel over the entire surface, and I really had to ride my brakes to keep my speed down to 25-30 because of the danger due to the gravel. I got my sidewall cut, but didn't get a flat. That is why the blowout tire was so new.

Darcy

WOW! that's a bummer to have two tires do that! Although things certainly do happen , it's hard to imagine that two tires would do the same thing... so it will be interesting to see what Maxxis does. Personally, I run Maxxis tires and have had no problems... in fact have been riding them for two years( Corchevals..several pair by this time). I also have several customers that are running them as well, and have seen no problems, so I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.Regardless, hopefully you will get some answers soon.

Keep us posted!

Hmmm, this is interesting. I hit gravel, chunks of rock, sticks, cruddy pavement, etc. on my rides all the time. I've got about 1,800 miles on the Bontrager Selects that came on my Trek 1000. Should I be replacing these tires? They still look good to me, but I don't know anything! And I'd rather not have a blowout (knock on wood)!