Well, it's your money, but I'd try to patch it with something like duct tape. Since it is the middle of the tread,it isn't as likely to blow out catastrophically as a cut on the side wall might. But a lot depends on the construction of the tire.

Maybe if you rephrased your question as "How do I fix a tire with a small cut in the middle of the tread?"; and post it on the bike mechanics forum you might get some better advice. People on that forum like to fix things. You could also use the search function, and read about tire cuts. There must be hundreds of threads concerning the subject.

One thing I've observed over the years on these forums is that if you ask a question such as "Should I do A or B?"; you'll get 10 votes for A and 10 votes for B.

Thanks - I know technically how to do it - or at least how I would do it - a small tire patch kit. I've patched enough lawnmower tires, wheelbarrow tires, etc. over the years that way. There are various ways to do it, a lot of people use superglue, some stitch up the cut, etc - lots of youtube videos out there.

I was coming at this mainly from a "is it safe to ride it" perspective. I see what you mean about responses running neck and neck. If it had been 70-30 saying "it's fine to ride it" I wouldn't hesitate. But, as said, not really worth risking it.

Absolutely not particularly if the casing is cut--don't be penny wise and pound foolish!
Not worth the risk!

I've tried the gel pack patch and the dollar patch with no success. I now keep a Park tire patch (or two on the tandem) in my kit.

I will run a booted tire to get home, and that's it.

On the tandem if I see any cut in the tire when we have a flat, I toss it.

I have become very risk averse as I've aged because it takes so long to heal.

To get home, sure. Sometimes I am 25-30 miles from my starting point, I really wouldn't want to walk that far.

Yes -- to get home! ;o)

Joe

You can do repairs that will probably last as until the tire fails for other causes and will leave the casing just as strong as before. Dacron sailcloth glued in with contractor's contact cement. Make the patch big. (For larger cuts I go bead to bead and 1 1/2" beyond the cut in both directions. You cannot feel the patch material while riding so there is no drawback to going big.)

If you have a sailmaker in the area, ask for a scrap of old fashioned dinghy jib-weight dacron.

I use this method to save the $75 Vittora Open Paves, those wonderfully grippy, fast rolling tires that do so well for Portland winters but pick up everything.

Edit: Dollar bills (I've used 4 for big cuts) and ingenuity will get most cuts home. You can wrap them bead to bead for more strength.

Ben

Duct tape is a bad idea, the glue eats into inner tubes.


Putting Shoe Goo into the hole and then covering the inside of the cut with a 2" strip of Velox rim tape works great.

I had that same 1/4" cut, with maybe 3/16 on the inside, to my 36mm Marathon Plus, 3 years ago. I put on a Park patch, which are mostly useless. I put likely another 2,000 miles on it. I tried 3 times to get something to sticky in the outside crack. I think it is still somewhere in the half worn out pile or on the demoted 2nd bike. I have had ZERO doubts about it blowing up. Using it on a tour is another matter. With a thinner tire I would have tried a proper bike patch, but wouldn't expect as much reliability obviously.

It is hard to say how many flats I've had. Maybe a thousand. Hmmm... at least a few hundred.

And... SURVIVED.

I know I blew the bead off of a trailer tire, but that hardly counts. Quite a few rapidly deflating flats, but I don't remember any other blowouts. I did roll a poorly glued sewup once a long time ago, but I don't think I went down.

I guess it is hard to get too uptight about it (although I hate glass and like flat resistant tires).

I've booted tires before. A boot is kind of like an instant patch: if it gets me home it's done its job.