Got a cut in my front tire in one of my machines a few weeks ago. Only got a chance to check it tonight, and found a pair of 1-1/2" laterall cuts in the tube at the tread center.

On inspection, I found no foreign objects that had poked through the tyre, but found that the Mr. Tuffy tire liner had cracked in two at that very spot. I pulled out the liner, and realized that it had similarly formed cracks, and additional ones forming down 70% of its length. There is no question that the flats were a result of the cracks in the Mr. Tuffy liner.

Incedentally, the tyres in question are 700X25C.

My question is just how frequent Mr. Tuffy may fail in this fashion (previous forum posts seem to indicate this as being highly unusual, if not undocumented), and if it is actually worth it to shell out the money for another pair. Personally, I have never used Mr. Tuffys except for this particular bike (was equipped with 'em when I changed the tires - the liners were in fine shape then) - all my other machines run with the bare tube in a cheap Nashbar/Chen Shing 700X25C, or a Kenda skinwall 700X25C, and I have yet to have a problem since - until I used the liners (go figure, eh?).

Take care,

-Kurt