Flats from overheated bike wheels

H0t bl0w outs?  (I had to change the post title today, 4/8, due to hits from adult web sites! Therefore the use of the zeros).  Never heard of them, but I am a relative bike newbie.  My friend Dennis*, from San Jose, emailed me recently.  He had some good advice about tires and flats coming from personal experience.  First of all his vote is "for  23c Continental GP 4000s.... with Continental inner tubes... and cotton rim tape."  He adds, "I've had good luck by keeping them inflated to 120 psi... prevents pinch flats and thorn punctures here in the Santa Clara Valley and San Francisco Bay area.  They work very well climbing and descending the sharp gravely switchbacks of Mt. Hamilton.  Another must is the proper rim tape to prevent rim tape blow outs.  Most new bikes come with some sort of plastic or polymer rim tape, but most real wheel builders and experienced riders (those that have had rim tape blowouts) insist on cotton rim tape."  


His story:
I was riding down one of the greater than 20% grades here in San Jose over 10 years ago, thinking I was a pretty good rider and mechanic when I had a flat going down hill.  I was all set to do a 5 minute quick tire change so flipped the bike upside down on a relatively flat spot, ripped off the back wheel, grabbed the rim and was about to peel the tire off without prybars... next thing I knew... my hands were burning and I flipped the wheel about 20 feet in the air to get rid of the hot ....(did I say hot!!!!) tire and wheel.  I eventually got the tube changed... I couldn't find the thorn or puncture in the tire, but found the hole in the tube and didn't pay too much attention to the location in the tube.  Well I went through my other spare tube about a mile down the same hill then again another mile further down.  Couldn't figure out what was causing the flats.  I was desperate by now since I used my two spare tubes and had to patch one of those.  Finally after sitting by the road and thinking about it, looked at the rim and saw that the rim tape had a hole in the area where it covered the spoke access hole.  From there it was sort of simple to peel off the plastic rim tape and move it so the hole was over a solid part of the rim and not over the spoke access hole.  I made it home on the patched inner tube and the relocated rim tape.

After that,,, my smart bike shop mechanic kid told me... hey dad: "everyone knows you always change to cotton rim tape to prevent h0t bl0w 0uts".

So, I guess I was the only clueless (about using cotton rim tape) bike rider out there.

Glad the story had a good ending!  I thought of Art1 in Arizona with two flats back to back. His were probably pinch flats, but I for one will be checking the inside of my wheel rims from now on after a flat!  Especially on hot days.  

I had to google cotton tape/bike wheels/h0t bl0w outs, etc. and yes, there is a lot to be found about this on the Internet.  You can read more on h0t bl0w 0uts on Bike Forum.


*We will be riding again with Dennis on May 17 in the Carmel to San Simeon Century.