Just a quickie - has anyone had issues with front tyre blow outs at speed for no apparent reason?

Riding to work last night in the middle lane on the M20 at a steady 80 mph and the steering suddenly went lock to lock. I thought i'd hit diesel but after a bit I realised the front tube had let go.

With little control the momentum and camber of the road meant I wasn't filled in by all the foreign lorries and it drifted across lane one, the hard shoulder, gully and onto the grass. Thankfully there was a break in the barrier or I might be minus a knee cap.

Came to a halt covered in mud but sunny side up. Must've put a foot down at 70+ because i've bruised my toes!

Got a new HD tube and slime fitted today so hopefully won't happen again.

Friction wouldn't cause a failure would it? I didn't hit anything and the mechanic said there wasn't anything sticking in the tyre. The tube had "burst". The tyre was correctly inflated.

Discuss.....

Well palyed !

Bringing a bike to a safe halt from that speed is no easy task... or maybe it's just a great bike as well ??


I've not heard of anyone having a front end deflation on the roads like this. Maybe a tear in the rim tape? or a pinch from the tyre being fitted (but didn't puncture at the time) previously, some grit between the tube and tyre that's gradually wore through or it could be, as you say, over heating??

A word of caution about the HD tube, it has thicker walls, and therefore will generate more heat at speed, and is probably more inclined to suffer at speed. Personally, I'd have stuck with the normal tube.

Well done for staying alive, many others wouldn't have done so well. Buy a lottery ticket!

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

I agree with GULG: well done, and try to buy a quality medium-weight tube rather than hd unless you're thinking of some tough off-road stuff.

That is no mean feat pulling up from a high-speed front-end blowout. Impressive work.

i guess you may get a clue from the old tube if you have it
sounds like at tear or valve failure

scary ... not your day to die

I had a rear tyre blow in a similar fashion and it was believed due to the tyre fitting machine having caused damage to the inner edge of the rim. This imperfection gradually wore through the tube. The damage was above the area covered by the rim tape.

It happened almost 2,000 miles after having the tyres changed.

I used a file to smooth the rim again, apparently seemed to fix it.

Check your wheel rims are smooth on the inside!

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If you were using HD tube, that may be the reason yes.
Too thick (HD) tube is not for serious road use. Too much friction means too much heat and that means too much pressure also in the tire.

For road riding just use original wall thickness of the tube.
For offroad (also for on road if not too much distances at one time) use you can use HD tires.

Wise words and there is a reason for sure why it blew, but could well be a manufacturing fault or similar that you'll never find.

Good work keeping it up as they say!

I would (like GULG says) be really cautious of the HD tube & Slime. You're adding a huge amount of weight to a 21" wheel that could cause all sorts of trouble that gets worse with speed. Personally I would use a std tube.

If you believe in statistics, this shouldn't happen again unless of course there is something lurking on the rim..

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Good skills. I picked up a front puncture on my old DR600 at around 40-50mph somewhere between Ebbw Vale and Risca and only noticed when slowing down to exit the motorway and the front end got in a mess. Took it steady back to work in Newport and then on the ride home to Ponty before fixing the flat. It was ok if you kept your weight back and stayed at around 45 as the centrepetal force meant the front lifted off the tyre.


Oh and I ran a tube with slime in for 15,000 miles with no issues.

Cheers. I did s**t my pants a bit. More luck than skill to be honest.

I've used HD tubes on the road for 20 years and never had a problem. Certainly I can only remember having the front go down once before on the road and that was slow enough to control the pull over/stop. This time it went flat instantly.

I spoke to the fitter personally as I was interested in what had happened. Nothing sticking in the tyre/tube, no obvious wear, valve was fine. Rim tape was like new (the bike's only got 800 miles on it) and I hadn't pinched it by hitting anything (that i'm aware of).

Reckon it was a tube manufacture fault. Can't be anything else.

Falling off at 80 on the motorway and falling off on soft ground in the boonies is a world apart. I've t-boned a pedestrian at 50 before and that wasn't very pleasant - getting filled in by a Polish HGV would have made my day very bad indeed! Lottery ticket it is.....

The bike or the tyre was only 800 miles old?
You don't clean the rims with parafin do you? it leeches thru the spoke holes and rots the tube locally, you may never see it afterwards because it will have blown away the damaged section
Rob