North Coast Joe

So, after trying and running inexpensive Indonesian tires when I rebuilt his bike, I decided to upgrade to a name brand. Bought a couple of Michelin World Tour 590's and have been extremely pleased until this event. Probably have 1000 or so miles on them.

Out riding one morning, I got a flat on the rear tire. It was still dark, and I was less than a mile from home, so decided to walk the bike to my garage instead of changing the tube on somebody's front yard. I'm wondering if this caused my problems.

When I started the repair, I found that the puncture was a slit in both tire and tube approx. 1/4" long. With the new tube installed, I found the tire needed a boot, as the inflated tube was opening the cut in the tire and becoming exposed. Booted it and rode for about 20 miles before the "thump, thump, thump" started. Getting off to take a look, I found the tire now distorted; bulging on both sides in different places, the tread no longer straight and a bulge on the tread AWAY from the initial puncture. New tire time.

Did my walking the bike home break the tire casing to the point of distortion, or did the slit sever
strands in the tire which gave way during riding? Thanks in advance for responding.

The photos may help: the first is the booted puncture, the others various bulges around the tire. They look worse in person, hard to capture in a photo.

[ ATTACH=CONFIG]345676[/ATTACH]

10 Wheels

1,000 miles is good...Wait till you get one at 100 miles.

Andrew R Stewart 

Looks to me like a classic case of cut cords. the slit size, 1/4", is enough to cut many of the structure of the tire. The casing, when cut enough, will no longer resist the pressure of the tube. In time more cords can fail and the initial small bulge can expand and grow to a large distortion. The usual fix is to replace the tire, booting is best thought of as a short term/get back on the ride solution. Then when home replace the tire. Andy.

fietsbob

Road hazards happen . tire gets the casing cut, by something you cannot avoid, and you buy a new tire.

.. if you can Post a picture , you can buy a tire.

cny-bikeman

Walking the bike would not cause that damage. Replace the tire and don't worry about this one.

howeeee

no the walking the bike home didnt do it,,the slit was most likely the original reason for the flat

tcs

Michelins are indeed name brand but the World Tour isn't terribly high up on the tire totem pole. Other available 590s include:

Bell Sports Streetster (folding)
Bontrager T1
Bontrager AW1
Continental City Ride II
Innova Cloud Nine
IRC City POPS
Kenda Cross (knobby)
Kenda K40 Street
Panaracer Col de Vie
Panaracer ST Daily Commuting
Rubena Flash V66
Schwalbe Delta Cruiser (available in cream color)
Schwalbe Marathon
Schwalbe Marathon Plus
Specialized TriSport
Vittoria Randonneur
Vredestein Active Tour
Vredestein Perfect Tour
Vredestein Dynamic Tour

FBinNY 

+1 to walking the bike not being a problem. Usually the only negative result from walking a bike with a flat a long distance is woodpeckering of the tube if the cause of the puncture is still in the tire. This causes multiple punctures in addition to the original and can make the tube unpatchable.

Long walks flat can also cause small nicks and dents in the rim. This is more common of the pavement is rough or there are lots of potholes.

In all likelihood your original flat was caused by a piece of glass, but can also be from something like the head of a carpet tack or roofing nail. These lay flat on the road, with the large flat heads upright like little razors.

The reason that you have 2 bulges not lined up on the tire, is that a bicycle tire has 2 ply construction, with the plies running at opposite 45° angles. So when the cord is cut through you'll get a bulge there and one or two on the opposite side abgled up or down from the cut.

IMO a well done boot can be ridden for hundreds of miles or until the tire wears out. But when you see bulging like this, it means the repair wasn't done that well, and the tire should be replaced at the first opportunity, unless you like walking.

zonatandem

What was your boot material?
We carry a piece of Tyvek which works pretty well for a cut that size.
Or, use a folded up dollar bill (yes, they are fairly tough) as boot material.

North Coast Joe

I used a couple of pieces of duct tape to hold a 3x folded dollar bill in the correct position over the cut. Do I understand correctly that a properly cemented tire segment as a boot may work much better and perhaps avoid the broken belts?

Thanks for all the thought in the replies! My main worry was that the walk home ruined the tire and didn't want to repeat THAT mistake....I have so many other stupid mistakes to get around to! FB, Andrew, Howee & CNY eased my mind...TCS added new items to the Christmas list....thanks, folks

FBinNY 

For a temporary fix to get you home, just about anything will do. I've used currency, a piece cut from a rag, and cardboard. However over time a boot that isn't glued to the tire properly will slip (or. actually the tire does) and you'll get the classic bulge.

So it really depends on whether you simply want to keep the tube from blowing out through the cut, or you want to make the tire "like new". I only bother with serious effort at a good boot if the tire is very new and worth saving, or if I'm on a multi-day tour and have to make it last more than a day or two.