Speaking of flat tires, which is what we do in this thread, my Bianchi has been putting in miles on only the trainer for the last year. Before that it was a commuting workhorse. A few months ago it developed a flat on the rear. Hmm, not a puncture. I just swapped bikes and figured I'd fix it later. Today I had the opportunity.

It turns out to be from a manufacturing flaw in the tube, not the first I've seen. The tire, a 25mm GP4000-II looked like this:



I think maybe I got my money's worth out of this one. These GP's had replaced some 23mm Gatorskins when I flat-spotted the rear. Fortunately I tossed only the worn rear tire, kept the front. So now I have a 25mm GP4000-II on the front and a 23mm Gatorskin on the rear. I figure the performance should be about the same between them, as I was never over-fond of the Gatorskins.

It has been a long time since I had to change a clincher tires. I prefer sewups, even fro commuting. I had forgotten how much of a PITA it can be.