Barnaby

Hypothetical-Lets say that some lame idiot did not account for how the wider profile of the new Larsen cyclocross tire would interact with the canti brake pads, when he replace the 20's with the 35c's; and as a result wore a hole in the sidewall, so that the tube balloons out of the hole. Can this be patched from the inside or outside, or should the idiot scrap the tire? Let's try and pretend that the idiot wasn't me. Thanks!

Psychic Pimp

You're better off replacing the tire.

mike

The idiot has to replace the tire. Sidewall damage is hard to fix in the first place. A long groove in the sidewall is too much to expect to fix.

Tell the idiot that he is not the first to do this so he has company among a growing ship of fools.

Michel Gagnon

A puncture in the sidewall might be repaired with either a tire boot (for sale at some bike stores) or with tyvec (such as a Fed-Ex envelope), but this is considered a good on-the-road repair and, in 90% of the cases, the tire should be replaced fairly soon.

However, the brake-pad-induced flat is a lengthy cut all along the tire, and while it has ruptured in one spot or probably in one 1-ft-long zone, all the tire is weakened at around the same space. In those cases, I doubt that a Tyvec patch or a tire boot would even last long enough to ride to your LBS.

IOW, replace the tire.

P.S. Been there, done that, with cyclocross tires and centrepull brakes that couldn't be set low enough for fat tires. The solution was to file the top part of the brake pads... something I forgot to do with new pads.

Regards,

SamDaBikinMan

The sidewall will continue to tear so repair is futile.

What an idiot! Geez!