Banzai

I've got about 1,500 mi or so on my set of Specialized All Condition Armadillos. (700x25s) Anyhow, I was doing a bit of work, when I happened to look closely at the sidewall, and see what looks like a frayed split forming along the side, just above the rim, running a bit greater than 1/4 of the circumference. I may be mistaken, but that's what it looks like.
So I checked the front tire too. Same...not as pronounced, but it looks like one is starting there.
Max pressure is 125 psi, but I always inflate to 120 before every ride. Ok, there have been a few times I didn't check pressure and inflate before going to work in the morning, but don't tell me you've never hit the snooze button before. I am typically diligent about that though.

Is this normal for this tire? Has anyone else had this issue? How many miles should I expect to get from my Armadillos before they go "tango uniform"?

trackandtrials

When I first got my armadillos, I got a flat about 1/2 mile from the train station. I didn't want to miss the train, so I rode the 1/2 mile on a totally flat tire. When I replaced the tube, I had the same split you describe. Now, ~1000 miles later, I haven't had any problems with the tires. I expect to wear the tread out before the sidewall fails.

I'd say not to worry about them - just ride till you see thread.

markhr

if the tyres - are underinflated/run on flat/hit the rim the sidewalls tend to split. Disadvantage of a really stiff tyre but, IMHO, far out-weighed by the puncture resistance

cyclezealot

I have a set of Armadillos on my race bike.. one of the set, appears the glue securing the tread to the sidewall might be loosening. HOw new are your tires. ? Think the tire mentioned, might have hanged on the garage wall half a year as a spare. However, this has happened in the past to fairly new Armadillos.

joejack951

I have the same appearance of tread seperation on the sidewalls on my 700x25 Armadillos with 4500 miles on them (still no flats). They've been on the bike about 1.5 years (not sure when the seperation started though) and I haven't flatted once during that period. I keep telling myself that I'll replace them when I finally flat but I think I might do it sooner as I'm tired of looking at my completely unrounded rear tire. They'll be replaced with same exact set of tires.

Banzai

Not too old. Of course, who knows how long they were on the shelf? I'm not too worried yet. Where the split looks like it's starting to form is on the sidewall very near the rim, not really near the tread. It's a fine enough line that I never noticed it until an accidental up close look. Maybe it won't ever really progress beyond that...but I figured maybe some of the high-mileage commuters on this board would know about such a problem, if there is one.

cyclezealot

INstead of worrying about flat. Several of us seem to notice this split. Any worried that it might catstrophically seperate on a fast descent. ? My guess, it is like a glue is loosening causing the tread to not adhere to the tire?

vrkelley

My lbs said that it's a sign that the tires need replacing. But the mileage seems pretty low. I usually get that after about 4Kmiles.

brokenrobot

I quit using armadillos after the wire bead on two of them cut through the sidewalls - which looked exactly like you describe. Be careful; you might not be far from a sidewall blowout - that was the end of mine!

slvoid

How old is the tire? Not in your possession but how long has it been sitting at the LBS?
Batches of armadillos from a few years ago had that problem.

cyclezealot

slvoid. a disappointment. like to think they are relaible. the question of how long they sit on the shop wall.. Well, is that why they seem to have sales on them all the time? afraid they might split. ?
Seems this problem has been getting pretty common. maybe this has happened to me three times now , over the years.

PatrickMcCabe

Sorry to interject, but I have had my armadilos for 2 years (3000 miles) and no sign
of "Spliting". Now I am not sure about bicycle tires, but mototrcycle or cars get a kinda
dry rot. would this be the same for bicycle tires? I definatly felt the tires hardening, but
they were so tough I wanted my moneys worth. The 3000 miles was on Chicago streets
and NO flats....

531phile 

yes, bicycle tires get mad dry rot, just look at any continental tire after a year or so. Their side walls rot like hell. I hate continental tires. they suck for this reason.

brokenrobot

Yeah, dry rot happens. But what I've seen with the armadillos isn't dry rot... They use a bead with a sharp edge (flat wire instead of round wire) and that edge literally cuts through the threads of the sidewall.

vrkelley

I'm getting about the same mileage...it would seem that a tire should last longer than 3-4K

pricklycommute

I think I ended up getting about 2,500 - 3,000 miles out of those same tires (can't remember exactly when I put them on). Well atleast the rear one, that is. The front one has been moved to the rear and is still going.

I ended up tossing the rear tire after I felt a "bump" with every wheel revolution. I looked down at the tire, and there was about a 3-inch strip with no tread at all! The fabric beneath the rubber has worn through about at inch long, and the inner part of the tire was showing (the last material between the road and the tube). I am glad I looked, I was just about to head down a hill at 30 mph!

Gibbygoo

My Armadillos are splitting at the seam on the side. I bought them about 1.5 years ago and put maybe 100 miles on these on my old mountain bike that I use for a commuter/beater. They probably sat for years before I bought them. Anyway...I'm researching tires.

supcom

I have had problems with tread separation on multiple sets of Amadillos. It seems to be the weak link on them. I have abandoned the Armadillos in favor of Conti UltraGatorskins for this reason. The UltraGatroskins are not quite as flatproof as the Armadillos but are lighter and do not have tread separation problems.

Butch

Tires have several enemies, but watch ozone and UV. This slowly hardens the outer surface of the exposed rubber (and most plastic). I know several antique car owners that coat their tires with an acrylic coating to prevent this. I have an old trailer that I built out of the front axle of a 1959 Dodge pickup and I used two of the tires from the truck for the trailer. These are very old tires, tube type, 6.00 by 16 inch and are so old that they do not even have a wear bar in the tread. I coated these tires with an elastomeric roof coating (black) about nine years ago. Various brands are Snow Roof, Snow Seal, Kool Seal, etc. Finding a color is a bit of a trick, but these (white colors) may be tinted with univeral colorants such as those used in latex paint. Just think you could have pink and chartruese tires (sorry, bad joke).

vrkelley

Haven't seen these tire sold. What's the mileage between flats for a schwalbe? Are they any lighter that the armadillos?

TRUMPHENT

I just pulled the trigger on a Marathon 2006.
https://schwalbetires.com/node/131

840 g 26 x 2.00

Banzai

I've also been looking very carefully to see if maybe my brake is "skimming" there just a bit. It doesn't seem to be, but maybe it somehow does sometimes on harder stops with weight than with stops suspended from my repair stand...I don't know if that's possible.

Oh well. The "condition", if you can call it that, is still very faint, and I only noticed when I was re attaching my brake and happened to be VERY close to the tire.

Hopefully these things will get me through a century in about 20 days.

Dusk

Hey you Armadillo users. I have friends that won’t ride anything else. They don’t push the bikes that hard. They are retired and average about 4000 –5000 miles a year. My concern is the grip. My friends bought Sevens and gave one of their old bikes to my backyard neighbor. When riding with my backyard neighbor almost the save weight and power I find that I my Mich pro races will hold much better. For example on one flat counter I’m leading and I have no problem. Behind me on the same line I hear a bit of a slide and )!@*%*!@% But they stay up. The lack of grip I and my neighbor find more of an issue.

Are they just a commuter tire and mileage training tire? Do you ever push them when corning?

Help

Cheers,
Dusk

Banzai

I don't think I push them terribly hard, but then again I'm a commuter with some distance rides thrown in for fun. I'm not racing, and I don't think they're designed to race.

Some people also complain about the weight of the tire. To that I say; FFS! I'm commuting on it with panniers loaded with 10 pounds of junk. Does the weight of my tire really matter that much to me? Not really. If a lighter tire would save me 3-5 whole minutes everyday...well...a flat would cost me at LEAST 15, longer if it's dark. I'll tack on a couple of extra minutes with my "heavy" tire, and have the security of not getting flats. (Or at least extremely rarely. Still, none yet since I've started using these!)