Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - soma everwear tires the side wall blows before .....

..... you can skid through it.
the side wall on my everwear blew out from drying and cracking way berfore could skid through it.
to bad it was only a few months old.

I think I've actually heard of this happening before with the everwears. I might be wrong though.

The sidewalls are ****ty.

oops just bought one today

yeah, they suck. not from my own personal experience....but yeah.

Whatever you do, do not buy them!! They suck so bad, my sidewalls fell apart so fast. Funny thing is the 5 mm tread is awesome, not a problem there, but multiple holes all over the sidewalls, not so good.

My dumpstered Bontrager race lite's are so much better.

^^^yeah, that's the experience i observed and learned from.

I like running a hardcase up front and an everwear in back, heavy as hell but I never have to worry about skidding through a tire or a front flat.

It's also nice that you can pump them up as high as 140psi.

Hmm. I had one of the original all black ones for over a year which died from getting a piece of metal in the sidewall. the sidewall looked a little stressed during the autopsy, but no tears besides the fatal one and no other problems. Curious. Are these the new ones with the colored rubber?

might the sidewall damage be related to people not pumping them up to 140? i know for sure humangirl totally didn't.

then again, a lot of people don't even pump to 120.

might the sidewall damage be related to people not pumping them up to 140? i know for sure humangirl totally didn't.

The max PSI is only 110

well, that was the wrong direction to take this thread. oops.

I've got one on my commuter, which is holding up fine. I also ran one on my track bike, but it became too unstable during hard stopping after it went evar-square.

I have them on ever track bike I own.
I keep them pumped to 130psi all the time.
this is the first and only problem I have had.
but I'm gonna keep a close eye on my side walls.

Yeah I don't go over 120 for fear of sidewall blowouts. The recommended PSI is 90, but it says max 140.

it seems they just dry out fast.

What about duct tape for the sidewalls?

The one Everwear I had also blew out on the sidewall. They're a decent tire for skid durability, but seeing as they're around the same price range as Gatorskins, I don't see why not to get Gators when Everwears are a decidedly cheap/overpriced tire for what you're getting. After reading this thread I don't think I'll buy one again.

Whatever you do, do not buy them!! They suck so bad, my sidewalls fell apart so fast. Funny thing is the 5 mm tread is awesome, not a problem there, but multiple holes all over the sidewalls, not so good.

My dumpstered Bontrager race lite's are so much better.

Man I dumpster those like once a week. Why are they always there?

yeah, i've got a bunch of dumpstered bontragers.....selects, race lites, race lite ac...full sets of a couple of those...i dunno, it's fine with me. i know hardcases have skidded through for me relatively quickly before, but those also last a year for me as a front tire, so that might have made the one tire brittle when i put it on back.

I had an Everwear that did this too. I can't say when it would actually have blown out, since I changed it when the sidewall started to split, but it was long before I came close to skidding through it, and that was when I was skidding a lot more than I do now. Has anyone ever had a good experience with any Soma products besides the frames?

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and suggest that sidewall blowouts are actually related to underinflation rather than overinflation. The more underinflated you tires are the more the sidewalls will flex under your weight with each revulution of the wheel, until they are fatigued and begin to tear.

Has anyone ever had a good experience with any Soma products besides the frames?


I have a Soma cog on one of my bikes...it works basically as well as any other cog I've ever owned (EAI, Surly, etc.)

Man I dumpster those like once a week. Why are they always there?

IIRC, they come stock on every single trek road bike nowadays. When people want new tires, they pitch the stockers.

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and suggest that sidewall blowouts are actually related to underinflation rather than overinflation. The more underinflated you tires are the more the sidewalls will flex under your weight with each revulution of the wheel, until they are fatigued and begin to tear.

It might be that I didn't pay careful enough attention to the pressure and let it get too low, but I tried to keep them between 100 and 110, and I only weight ~125 lbs anyway.

The tires are made by Panaracer - it's not like Soma is making them themselves in a garage somewhere.

The tires are made by Panaracer - it's not like Soma is making them themselves in a garage somewhere.

Right, but it's not like Panaracer is the world's greatest tire company, they specialize in low to mid-level stuff. Soma doesn't make anything, they're just a bunch of dudes in SF that buy and occasionally spec stuff from Japan and Taiwan.

People who are seeing sidewalls crack early, where are you storing your bikes?

this is my experience with soma everwears--about one month of
riding. bike was stored inside--sidewalls are fine. . .but

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z149/motelnoir/DSCN0350.jpg

i just got some soma 456 track drops... they're heavy as hell but nice and sturdy and i like their shape. paid too much for them though.

My ex-girlfriend has been running one of these Everwears as her rear wheel for about eight months now. The first one she threw on there experienced some serious structural failure on the sidewall within a couple weeks of riding, and it is now in the dump. It was probably pumped up to between 110 and 115 psi by our friends at Yellow Jersey. Since that one flatted, she has continued using them with no apparently problems.

Personally, I'd rather just go with an Ultra Gator Skin in the rear instead of the Everwear. Feels like less rolling resistance, and allows more all-around protection instead of leaving a big weak zone along the whole sidewall.

i just got some soma 456 track drops... they're heavy as hell but nice and sturdy and i like their shape. paid too much for them though.

i'm eating macaroni.

I had an Everwear that did this too. I can't say when it would actually have blown out, since I changed it when the sidewall started to split, but it was long before I came close to skidding through it, and that was when I was skidding a lot more than I do now. Has anyone ever had a good experience with any Soma products besides the frames?

macaroni is great. i should have quoted this.

i'm eating macaroni.

i like my coffee black with sugar.

I like mine without cream or sugar.

P.S. in before thread closed.

macaroni is great. i should have quoted this.

whoops...thought it was non sequitir hour.

Good threads gone bad.