Is it unusual for a bike tire to explode?
edit: I took it to a second shop and they fixed the brakes and didn't say anything about the brake pads or the tires. My brakes work extremely well now just from the adjustment and no new brake pads that the other place also insisted I needed. I have taken so many bikes in similar shape to have them repaired throughout my life and never did they tell me I should get new tires. The first place kept my bike for 3 days and didn't call or text to tell me they were refusing to fix my brakes. Very unprofessional and I don't trust them.
original: I have never heard of this happening. My tires are bald but they don't look like they are falling apart. The bike shop refused to fix my brakes because they said I had to replace the tires and inner tubes first because my bike was so unsafe with those tires. I have been riding old bikes with older tires my whole life so this doesn't seem right. It seems to me the brakes are a much more urgent thing to repair but they refused unless I buy 2 new tires and 2 new inner tubes. Were they just trying to upsell me? I bought the bike for $60 so not really worth it to me to put new tires on it. For now I'm riding with dangerous brakes because they wanted to keep me "safe".