This isn't a "fix" for the tear in the tire. That tire is done for and is being replaced, because the tube bulges out it. A proper but temporary fix for that would be a tire boot.
This "experiment" really is just to see what would happen. This isn't meant to be an attempt at a "redneck repair" or anything. I would not expect this to be a fix for anything, or solve any problem - no matter how temporary. It's just one of those "let's see what would happen if I did x because I'm just curious" type things.
A couple disclaimers here... I do not mean to ride it for long or very fast in the "test." Doing so would just be asking to get hurt. I'm moving the tire from the front to the rear because, as previously mentioned, I'm getting a new tire and its going on the front and the tire used in this experiment (the one that's inverted) is going on the rear. In
With that said, I already unmounted the tire. The tube actually doesn't look nearly as badly "damaged" as I thought it might. I thought that anything past 30 PSI would surely pop the tube, but no. It held fine, and they're the cheap "standard thickness" Kenda tubes - no thorn-resistant or heavy-duty tubes here. But then again it was pressurized for just over 24 hours.
As for the tire itself, it seemed to be pretty solid on the rim. I even bounced it a few times on the ground (fairly harshly) and it didn't have any issues. As skidder mentioned, it does have that hook. But I have a 1980s Free Spirit Pinnacle road bike (27x1 1/4") that has old steel rims without the hook where the tires are held in place solely by the pressure. Unless you're inflating to ridiculously high pressures, or riding on a trail or doing some serious cornering, I think it shouldn't have a problem. (In my case, 45 is the max pressure.) The main concern would be the damage to the nylon cords (which is the "structure" of the tire) or the lack of traction.
I may delay this experiment until this tire is worn or it gets replaced in the future, because I'm unsure if I'm going to replace it now and make a matching set. If I do delay, I'll definitely report back to this thread when it happens.