God, if you've managed to break one of those things, I'd hate to be your eardrums.

What? I can't hear you. ;-) Seriously, though, after teaching drumlines for so long, I'm glad my hearing's still in good shape and I'll try to keep it that way.

Putting a stick through a Kevlar head is pretty rare. I've seen it happen, but haven't done it myself. Usually the plastic coating wears out first or the head "pulls out" from the hoop due to tension.

...and when that happens, I'll keep a head so I can try it as a tire boot.

GP4000S are great tires. I can see trying to get maximum mileage out of them but not when safety or a major inconvenience is involved - having a flat away from home where a tire can't be patched is an example. The tires are $35 or so. Buy a new one and a backup for good measure.

Is there a good "How-To" boot a tire? Some jerk came through my neighborhood and slashed close to 30 bike tires, several were mine. What I did was I cut the sidewall out of an old tire, sanded it, applied some rubber glue (like shoe-goo) to the patch and the slice, pushed on the patch and seems to be holding. Used electrical tape to smooth the patch over more. I over-pumped the tires and also hit bumps and what not with them, patch doesn't seem to be moving, which was my biggest concern. Would anyone suggest drilling holes at the ends of the slice to prevent further tearing? There is a slight bump every time the patch hits the road, but not big deal for me as they are bikes i'm selling and yes, I will disclose that the tire was patched.
- Aaron

Question (OH GOD): After you boot a tyre, can't one just use some vulcanizing compound to seal the hole back up? Or do tyre rubber not work that way?

M.

Bummer about your tires, but you should really think about this.

SkyDog75, good idea. I just hope the skin is not too thick to cause an annoying thud thud thud... I am going to give my drummer friend a call. But in the meantime I like the Tyvek tip. I carry a piece of old tube. Works in an emergency to get home but man is it annoying.

I super glue a piece of 1/32 reinforced gasket material inside the tire. I cover it with duct tape because the glue stiffens the gasket material and will fret through the tube. The last tire I had to do this to lasted another 3500 miles.
I run my repaired tires on the rear even though I have never had a failure do to the boot.

I don't see a reason for all the discussion of improvised tire boots.
This works great!

Park Tool Co. » TB-2 : Emergency Tire Boot : Tube & Tire

A week ago I hit a small rock at 35mph, and ripped a sidewall wide open.
I wasn't even sure a boot would be able to hold it together, but it worked like a champ.