Tire cracks

[James Amano]

The Roll-y Pol-y on the back of my "main" bike needed replacing after a good long life, so I pulled
an Avocet Fasgrip off of my short-run utility bike. I got the Avocet about the same time as the Roly
Poly but it's seen much less mileage. Anyway, in taking the Avocet off, I noticed a fairly large
football-shaped crack, maybe 1" x 1/2" in circumference. When the tire's mounted and inflated it's
close to imperceptible, but in pulling it off and flexing the tire a bit it was obvious. I've looked
through the archives and it seems that the cracks that develop in Avocets are generally not of
concern, but this one seems a bit different in that the crack forms a complete oval. I took some
pictures, link is below:

http://photos.yahoo.com/james_hiroshi

It's not clear in the photos but the casing is visible underneath the lower part of the crack. The
interior casing shows no signs at all of the exterior crack in the rubber.

I've sent Avocet an e-mail but I'd also like to get the opinions of rbt. Is this tire OK to ride?

Thanks, James SF,CA

 

[Robin Hubert]

"James Amano" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The Roll-y Pol-y on the back of my "main" bike needed replacing after a good long life, so I
> pulled an Avocet Fasgrip off of my short-run utility bike. I got the Avocet about the same time as
> the Roly Poly but it's seen much less mileage. Anyway, in taking the Avocet off, I noticed a
> fairly large football-shaped crack, maybe 1" x 1/2" in circumference. When the tire's mounted and
> inflated it's close to imperceptible, but in pulling it off and flexing the tire a bit it was
> obvious. I've looked through the archives and it seems that the cracks that develop in Avocets are
> generally not of concern, but this one seems a bit different in that the crack forms a complete
> oval. I took some pictures, link is below:
>
> http://photos.yahoo.com/james_hiroshi
>
> It's not clear in the photos but the casing is visible underneath the lower part of the crack. The
> interior casing shows no signs at all of the exterior crack in the rubber.
>
> I've sent Avocet an e-mail but I'd also like to get the opinions of rbt. Is this tire OK to ride?

When I had a couple tires do that, Avocet warrantied them. They apparently had been on the
shelf too long.

--
Robin Hubert <[email protected]