I was putting a new tire on my uni.
I pumped it up and all of a sudden, BOOM! It blew up in my face. My ears
rang for a few minutes.
Took the tire back off, and it looked like the rim strip had a hole in
it, and one of the spoke nipples punched through the tube. It blew up
hard enough to bend the rim.
Oops.
John
Wow…
Sounds like you found a good substitute for coffee in the morning!
;)
-AåronHaving a spoke shoot through the rim is a category of rim failure that is
often covered by the rim manufacturer. I would check to see if they will
give you a replacement rim.
David Maxfield Bainbridge Island, WA
Yeah, no doubt. I was really tired and ready to go to bed, and after that
I was up for a couple of more hours. 
My ears were ringing like I had
shot a gun without earplugs in.
Aaron_Lennox wrote:
> Wow…
>
> Sounds like you found a good substitute for coffee in the morning!
>
>
>
> -Aåron
>
> –
> Posted via the Unicyclist Community - http://unicyclist.com/forums
It didn’t shoot through, just the tip of the spoke nipple got exposed
because of a hole in the rim strip. I had also aired a 65psi tire up to
80psi. I’m heavy and the tire compresses quite a bit when I get on the
uni, so I had put a tire that could handle more air, but 65psi still
compresses a lot so I was trying 80. I knew I was running a risk of
blowing up the tube, and I did have a spare. I never thought it would bend
the rim, though.
John
Maxfield D wrote:
> Having a spoke shoot through the rim is a category of rim failure that
> is often covered by the rim manufacturer. I would check to see if they
> will give you a replacement rim.
>
> David Maxfield Bainbridge Island, WA
> It didn’t shoot through, just the tip of the spoke nipple got exposed
> because of a hole in the rim strip. I had also aired a 65psi tire up
> to 80psi. I’m heavy and the tire compresses quite a bit when I get on
> the uni, so I had put a tire that could handle more air, but 65psi
> still compresses a lot so I was trying 80. I knew I was running a risk
> of blowing up the tube, and I did have a spare. I never thought it
> would bend the rim, though.
I had this happen once. I had a racing unicycle with a narrow rim, and I
would crank the tire pressure way up there. But I think my blowout was the
result of bad tire seating or a fold in the tube or something. I detected
something out-of-round in the first mile of a training ride after changing
the tube, but before I could do anything BAM! In my case I think the rim
was okay, but the tire was shot. It did not fit on the rim anymore!
So the spoke may have caused the blowout, but check the inside of the
tire and rim also for sharp things. And obviously put a new rim strip on.
Lastly, check the seating of your tire. The more pressure you put in, the
more important this is. I usually put a little air in, then bounce the
tire around while slowly rotating it, to make sure it’s getting into the
proper position. Before pumping it up hard, spin the wheel and make sure
the seating is even.
Then, in theory, you should be able to go far beyond the 15psi you were
over your tire’s recommended pressure. I ran 90-100psi in skinny tires
rated at 45 for years.
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com www.unicycling.com
No matter what happens in life, somebody will find a way to take it
too seriously
Right on, John. Thanks for the info. I think that might be what happened,
I hastily put the tire on and didn’t have the tube in there straight, and
the tire wasn’t seated. I’m going to take a crash course in rim lacing
this evening, provided my friendly neighborhood bicycle shop gets me a
rim. I figure with the two rims zip-tied together I can do the spokes one
at a time and get it to where it’s some resemblance of correct, and true
it from there. I will then have a snazzy green Miyata seat and black
anodized aluminum rim, along with a slightly wider tire. I will look most
cool sweating my ass off trying to keep up with my compadres on their
Cokers and 24" MUnis. (This is a 20" that I have) I really wanted a blue
seat, but they only had green. I’ll just tell people I got it for a St
Patrick’s day parade and never bothered to change it. (hee hee)
I really do appreciate the info, John. Thanks again.
John
John Foss wrote:
>
> So the spoke may have caused the blowout, but check the inside of the
> tire and rim also for sharp things. And obviously put a new rim strip
> on. Lastly, check the seating of your tire. The more pressure you put
> in, the more important this is. I usually put a little air in, then
> bounce the tire around while slowly rotating it, to make sure it’s
> getting into the proper position. Before pumping it up hard, spin the
> wheel and make sure the seating is even.
>
> Then, in theory, you should be able to go far beyond the 15psi you were
> over your tire’s recommended pressure. I ran 90-100psi in skinny tires
> rated at 45 for years.
>
> John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com www.unicycling.com
>
> No matter what happens in life, somebody will find a way to take it too
> seriously
I just wanted to thank you for posting this message…
After responding to this the other day, I didnt think much of it until today when i went to go for a ride… and found that my tire was a little low of air… … I haven’t put any in yet… lol
;)
-Aåron
So, mulling over my dilemma, I go to the bicycle shop to pick up the seat
post that I ordered. I asked them about rims. They said they could get a
Sun Rhyno Lite for me, black aluminum. I didn’t order it just then, and
went to check another shop to see if they had any in stock. They only had
ones already laced to bicycle hubs. No good for me. I call the first place
back, and they were able to order it and have it a couple of hours later.
I head over and get the rim, and some cool adhesive cloth rim strip
material, and a new spoke wrench. They told me to zip-tie the two rims
together and do the spokes one at a time, and it worked! I was able to get
it laced and trued, and was only an hour late in meeting my riding buddies
for our Friday night ride.
Now I have a snazzy black aluminum rim and green Miyata seat on my
unicycle. It’s most definitely unique. The slightly larger tire (1.95 vs
the old 1.75) and 80 psi of pressure allowed for a well-riding uni.
Ride on, John
Gianni wrote:
> I was putting a new tire on my uni.
>
> I pumped it up and all of a sudden, BOOM! It blew up in my face. My
> ears rang for a few minutes.
>
> Took the tire back off, and it looked like the rim strip had a hole in
> it, and one of the spoke nipples punched through the tube. It blew up
> hard enough to bend the rim.
>
> Oops.
>
> John