Tire sidewall cracking

Yeah, that will let the tube out the side when the cord fails,
or the abrasion of the tube from the weakness will put a hole
in the tube.

I had a run of failing beads recently, mostly resulting in strange
and frequent punctures in the tube that turned out to be under
those parts of the bead. A couple of times the tube exploded out
the side when I was inflating the tire (``hmm, must have let the
tube sneak under the bead'' I thought, but no, it was just out-and-out
the bead opening up) and once riding, when a thump thump thump was
a goodly piece of intact inflated tube hitting the stays after it
worked its way out of the opening.

--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Quoted message said:

These road bike tires 700c25's have about 2,000 miles on them and both the
front and rear tires have long zipperlike separations on the sidewalls
with long and short cracks like shown.
At first I thought that something was rubbing against the sidewalls, but I
cannot find anything that did though. It almost looks like the rubber on
the sidewalls is too thin there.

Cracks like those may occur from riding at too-low air pressure, which
increases the forces on the sidewalls, particularly where they meet the rim.
We've seen a number of failures caused by this, as some of our customers are
on the inflate-monthly plan and think that if it feels firm when they
squeeze it, it's OK.

I've noticed they are also more prevalent on bikes ridden in the rain (which
the condition of your rim indicates may have been the case).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"Earl Bollinger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does this look like the tire's sidewalls are about to fail to you?
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c163/earlwb/my%20other%20bikes/c541739a.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c163/earlwb/my%20other%20bikes/dab7ade5.jpg

These road bike tires 700c25's have about 2,000 miles on them and both the
front and rear tires have long zipperlike separations on the sidewalls
with long and short cracks like shown.
At first I thought that something was rubbing against the sidewalls, but I
cannot find anything that did though. It almost looks like the rubber on
the sidewalls is too thin there.

Anyway, i had replaced the tires with new ones as I was going on a long
organized ride this last Saturday, and I didn't want to be one of those
having a flat tire a few miles down the road after the start. But I
thought it might be something to discuss anyway. I sort of hate to not get
my money's worth off of something after I buy it.

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Cracks like those may occur from riding at too-low air pressure, which
increases the forces on the sidewalls, particularly where they meet the rim.
We've seen a number of failures caused by this, as some of our customers are
on the inflate-monthly plan and think that if it feels firm when they
squeeze it, it's OK.

Agreed, but some brands/models seem to handle this
sort of abuse without losing any sidewall
integrity, while others split apart at first opportunity.

It is surprising, but, looking at the picture, the
tire in question does not seem to be a Continental.

I agree with the OP that he probably didn't get his
money's worth on this tire, and I think next time he
should try a different brand.

Robert

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Cracks like those may occur from riding at too-low air pressure, which
increases the forces on the sidewalls, particularly where they meet the
rim.
We've seen a number of failures caused by this, as some of our customers
are
on the inflate-monthly plan and think that if it feels firm when they
squeeze it, it's OK.

Agreed, but some brands/models seem to handle this
sort of abuse without losing any sidewall
integrity, while others split apart at first opportunity.

It is surprising, but, looking at the picture, the
tire in question does not seem to be a Continental.

I agree with the OP that he probably didn't get his
money's worth on this tire, and I think next time he
should try a different brand.

Robert

Thanks all,
Yes I do tend to be an all weather kind of rider.
As long as there isn't lightning about, and there isn't ice on the roads, I
am likely to be riding. But if it is raining before I start I usually wimp
out.
I usually check the tire pressure almost daily. The tires had a max rating
of 120 psi, and I usually ran 110 in the rear and 100 in the front.
I have had tube valves go bad on me from checking too much, but what the
heck.
The tires in question are OEM Maxxis Detonators of which there doesn't
appear to be a matching tire model type in their lineup.
I am currently running a nice pair of Vredesteins. I thought I'd treat
myself to the good stuff for a while. 🙂
But they might wear down a lot faster with that soft grippy rubber compound
on them.
The Texas roads aren't noted for being nice on tires of any kind though.

yeah, don't ride it, and don't buy those tyres again.

I had a mid-price Schwalbe Stelvio do this to me recently, so I'll never buy one again.

Earl Bollinger said:

Thanks all,
Yes I do tend to be an all weather kind of rider.
As long as there isn't lightning about, and there isn't ice on the roads, I
am likely to be riding. But if it is raining before I start I usually wimp
out.
I usually check the tire pressure almost daily. The tires had a max rating
of 120 psi, and I usually ran 110 in the rear and 100 in the front.
I have had tube valves go bad on me from checking too much, but what the
heck.
The tires in question are OEM Maxxis Detonators of which there doesn't
appear to be a matching tire model type in their lineup.
I am currently running a nice pair of Vredesteins. I thought I'd treat
myself to the good stuff for a while. 🙂
But they might wear down a lot faster with that soft grippy rubber compound
on them.
The Texas roads aren't noted for being nice on tires of any kind though.

I was just thinking that in the time it took you to run the 2000 miles,
we have not had hardly any rain here in N Tx.

"Ron Hardin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had a run of failing beads recently, mostly resulting in strange
and frequent punctures in the tube that turned out to be under
those parts of the bead. A couple of times the tube exploded out
the side when I was inflating the tire (``hmm, must have let the
tube sneak under the bead'' I thought, but no, it was just out-and-out
the bead opening up) and once riding, when a thump thump thump was
a goodly piece of intact inflated tube hitting the stays after it
worked its way out of the opening.

I've just had the same thing happen on a near new Michelin Carbon. Bead has
come apart, tube was out and thumping the stays. Shame it burst just as I'd
got off to take a look.

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Earl Bollinger said:

Thanks all,
Yes I do tend to be an all weather kind of rider.
As long as there isn't lightning about, and there isn't ice on the roads,
I am likely to be riding. But if it is raining before I start I usually
wimp out.
I usually check the tire pressure almost daily. The tires had a max
rating of 120 psi, and I usually ran 110 in the rear and 100 in the
front.
I have had tube valves go bad on me from checking too much, but what the
heck.
The tires in question are OEM Maxxis Detonators of which there doesn't
appear to be a matching tire model type in their lineup.
I am currently running a nice pair of Vredesteins. I thought I'd treat
myself to the good stuff for a while. 🙂
But they might wear down a lot faster with that soft grippy rubber
compound on them.
The Texas roads aren't noted for being nice on tires of any kind though.

I was just thinking that in the time it took you to run the 2000 miles, we
have not had hardly any rain here in N Tx.

Yup that is so true. It could be the drought dried out the tires too. But at
around 6am in the morning I am amazed at how many automatic water sprinkling
systems are still working, even though there was supposed to be a ban on
watering. Especially for what i thought was the municipal systems, but I
could be wrong.
But you are right I only got caught once out in the rain, it was the ones
that flooded Dallas proper, but not too bad where I was though.
I suspect it was riding in the winter when the temperatures dipped down to
around freezing was probably what really screwed up the tires.
I was looking at my commuter bike which uses 700c32's, Specialized
Armadillos, and I have close to 4,000 miles on the rear tire, maybe 1200 on
the front tire. I noticed that at about where the thicker top rubber meets
the sidewalls, that there is a crack in the rubber running almost completely
around both the tires.
Now in this case the commuter bike gets used a whole lot more in comparison
to my road bike, rain or shine, freezing or hot.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c163/earlwb/my%20other%20bikes/?action=view&current=72cd1e2a.jpg
But in this case there isn't any fraying or threads coming out, so it looks
like a spectacular rubber crack of some sort.
But this is a different sort of crack over what I am used to seeing. But at
least the inner plies are still intact.
I am about due to replace the rear tire as it is getting pretty flat on the
center part.and is probably getting pretty thin. the tires have done pretty
good though, I picked out six tiny bits of stainless steel wire fragments
from steel belted radial tires. A couple of weeks ago, some jerk scattered 1
inch ling briad head nails all over the right lane where bikes would ride on
the road, and I wound up riding through the mess, but no flats the tires
kept the nails out.
Anyway, I'll probably have to replace these tires too real soon, as they are
both all beat to [censored], gouged, nicked, cut, etc.
it is hard to miss stuff early in the morning or at night when it is dark.

Earl, is your bike outside all the time?

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Earl, is your bike outside all the time?

yeah pretty much so, on the covered back porch.