General Cycling Discussion - Continental Gatorskin; possible Sidewall failure?

Hi,

i've been riding Gatorskins for several years now. they've proven great on my fixies in the NYC streets and despite the handful of post made about Gatorskins sidewall failures, i myself have never once experienced that. i ride with my tires nice and firm and i inflate my tires every time i ride, which is every day.

i've recently come across a problem with my newest set purchased on a new bike this past March. as you can see in the photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27948484@N07/6030034825/in/photostream), the sidewall thread or as Continental calls it, "Duraskin" has started to break apart. i've probably ridden close to 2k miles on the tires so far with one tire rotation during that time. i don't think that's much considering the tire treads are still clean and visible and show very little wear.

has anyone else experienced this? should i be concerned?
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Mine do that and they have been shedding long threads of material. They're a couple of seasons old but no way worn out. So far I haven't had a failure.

Up in the 26 by 1.75 inch size , My Conti Travel Contact are fine.. ,
closed up when the big nail went in one side and out the other.

rode them for another year or so.

What does the abraided area feel like when you pump it up to operating pressure?

If you can feel a raised area or a blister, some of the caseing threads have been broken and the tire is due for replacement. If the abraided area feels like the rest of the tire, I'd consider that cosmetic and ride on.

What does the abraided area feel like when you pump it up to operating pressure?

If you can feel a raised area or a blister, some of the caseing threads have been broken and the tire is due for replacement. If the abraided area feels like the rest of the tire, I'd consider that cosmetic and ride on.

the casing seems intact and there's no imperfections in the sidewall even when i over-inflate so i guess that this is purely cosmetic. makes me feel a lot better about it. the last thing i want to do is have to drop $ on a new set of tires right now.

just found it strange that after owning a handful of Gatorskins that this is the first time i've seen something like this. perhaps i should write Conti and tell them about it.

thanks ya'll.

What size are they? I have 5000 miles on a set of 700x28's with no sign of anything like your picture. I agree with Retro's post for determining whether or not it is safe to ride.

Looks like you just rubbed the sidewall on a curb or something. Doesn't look like much to me.