Guess it was bound to happen. I over inflated my tire because the gas station’s gauge did not work, so I had to guess. Then as I started to ride off few feet…
PPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!! X 100
It must of sounded like a cannon! It was LOUD! Fortunately, I did not UPD. Upon examination, only the tube bursted, the tire was okay. The fact that I had a 29" tube in my Coker probably contributed. 
How was your first tire blowout like? (I bet it was not as LOUD as mine) 
Ooops! 
As a kid, I once filled a bicycle tyre at a petrol station compressor. It went off bang as I was still putting more air in. I had a mile and a half’s walk home - after an initial quarter mile sprint to get away from the scene of the “crime”.
My first uni was Pashley 20. I took it to show a friend who was a very keen bicyclist. He encouraged me to put some more air in the tyre and we used his track pump. We pumped it up rock hard. I rode the uni for a bit then left it outside whilst we went in for a cup of tea. I left it in the sun, and a few minutes later, “Bang!”.
On my first ride on the 28, I was spinning along a rough gravel and ballast path when the inner tube blew out. The uni stopped dead and I continued for some distance with my legs spinning in the air like Bugs Bunny before he realises he’s run over the edge of a cliff. It turned out that the tube was too long and had been put in with a Z fold!
On the same uni, a few months later, the valve suddenly ripped away from the inner tube as I was riding around the Water Sports Centre. That wasn’t so noisy, but it was a 3 mile walk back to the car.
I dread to think what could happen in the case of a high speed Coker blow out. Glad you’re not hurt, anyway.
i learned a lesson by leaving my BLACK 20" unicycle out in the mid day sun, and it was at max pressure too. right when i picked it up and touched it to the ground the tube blew up. it sounded like a gun shot, but not loud enough to hurt my ears. it wasn’t a huge deal, except getting a tire off a rim with screwdrivers is HARD.lol
One time I was at my friends house and we decided to go to the BMX track. His tube was low so he pumped it up before we left. We were getting close to the track and then, “bang!” Turns out his tire was so bald to the little bit of riding we did put a whole through the tire and blew tube. Man, it sound like a shotgun.
Happened to me too.
On my first unicycle, the day I bought it.
Pumped it up, don´t think it was over inflated or anything, Went in for dinner. and BOOOOOOM!
blah blah blah, its happened to me many times…not on a uni but on a bicycleta…wheel go BOOM! pants go brown,
Been there, had that happen
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35625
That’s an earlier thread I wrote about an exploding 29"er. I doubt the first one was as loud as your Coker, but when it happened again in the bike shop, it prolly was – sound was magnified off the walls of the small shop, and my ear was right next to the wheel as the guy pumped it up. Most likely I’ll never experience a sound like that again (I’m lucky I still experience hearinig in that ear!).
Glad your ok!
In Jr. High, I had an expensive (for the times) Schwinn 10-speed with 90 psi tires. My friend had a Sears Free Spirit 10-speed with the el cheapo 45 psi tires. He couldn’t afford new tires so instead he did the next best thing and asked the LBS for high pressure inner tubes. I guess the LBS guy humored him and sold him the tubes.
I was there when my buddy pumped his 45 psi rated tires on stock steel rims up to 90 psi…
Those air lines aren’t much good at pumping up relatively small volume tyres like bike or uni tyres.
I’m pretty sure it’s actually illegal to use a garage line for bike tyres (at least in the UK).
Ive never had one completely blow, i get a phewwwww a lot and flat in seconds, but never a blow, my 18in blew on my brother once because the tire wore through, but thats about it…how do you manage to blow out a tire on a uni though…
Because he tried to stretch a tiny tube around a big wheel
Haha, ok, i was more refering to the others that have also…is it only from overinflating or are tubes poping for other reasons, like why are they going boom, instead of phew…
I was pumping up a bike tube. In the basement, bike on a workstand.
Nothing out of the ordinary, new tube, old tire and rim, but no harm done, (passed the dragging fingers along surface to find points test)
and it just exploded as described (with the added ear pain of being in a small closed room)
It’s also happened on a bad landing on a bike, front tire exploded, and sent me crashing down.
I think it ‘just happens’ sometimes.
Blowouts that go POW! are caused by the tire bead lifting or slipping out of the rim and allowing the tube to very rapidly attempt to escape from a small confined opening between the rim and the bead of the tire. The tube can’t do that and bursts rapidly and loudly.
On a standard Coker rim the tire can fairly easily slip off the rim if it is not evenly seated all the way around. The Airfoil rim is a much tighter fit and makes it more difficult for the bead to completely pop off the rim.
When installing the tire it is important to make sure the bead is set evenly all the way around the rim otherwise you do risk a blowout.
Another cause is getting a fold of tube between the tire bead and the rim while the tire is being installed. When you pump it up it will force the tire bead to slip out of the rim and then POW!
Using a high volume high pressure air compressor pump (like at a service station) is also a good way to get way too much pressure in the tire and blow it right off the rim. Bike shops that use an air compressor have a special regulator to control the pressure and air volume. It is not a good idea to use a service station air pump to inflate a bicycle or unicycle tire.
On a Muni ride a couple of years ago leow was using a light weight latex inner tube that went off like a shotgun while hopping, the tear in the tube was quite impressive.
Actually I haven’t had a puncture on a unicycle yet, I must be lucky (I shouldn’t have said that should I, doh!).
If the tube makes a loud POW then the tube exploded outside of the tire. You won’t get a loud POW from a normal flat or from a flat where the tube stays inside the tire.
Re: POW! (my first Coker tire blowup)
“leadpan” <leadpan@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote in
message news:leadpan.1tzuks@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> Guess it was bound to happen. I over inflated my tire because the gas
> station’s gauge did not work, so I had to guess. Then as I started to
> ride off few feet…
>
> PPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!! X 100
>
It’s a REALLY impressive noise when one blows in the confines of a
Gymnasium.
Nao
Re: Re: POW! (my first Coker tire blowup)
Yes, I’m a vegetarian too.:o