This is something I've been fooling around with for the last few months and I thought someone might have some better ideas.

On long tours, tread on my 26 x 1.9s wear out in a few months. I want to extend that time by sticking something on the outside of a new tyre. If I could get a 1000km of wear out of the added tread at the start of a trip I'd be happy. Here's what I've tried:

Old tyre (with the bead cut off) stuck on with contact adhesive - pulls off within a few km.

Old tyre plus Liquid Nails - as above.

Old tyre plus silicon - as above.


Tube (slit about 2.5 cm wide) plus Liquid Nails - 20 kms

Tube plus contact adhesive - 10 kms

Tube plus Superglue - 400kms+

Tube plus Methyl Ethyl Ketone (PVC pipe adhesive) - doesn't stick at all.

Tube plus rubber cement (same as for patches) - no good (doesn't stick well to tyre)

Unless someone has other ideas, I've given up on using an old tyre. They're not flexible enough and soon pull off.

Using a tube and superglue is surprisingly effective. I thought the tube would wear out in a few kms because my experience when I've continued riding with a liner tube sticking through a worn-out tyre (I run a slit puncture-proof tube as a liner between the normal tube and tyre) is that you've only got a few kms left before the liner wears through.

But on the outside a tube seems to wear quite well. I got 400 kms - fully loaded around town - before I pulled the tube off to see how firmly it was attached. The superglue was cracked but still firmly stuck to both tyre and tube. I could see no noticeable wear in the tube and I reckon a tube may last a thousand km of more. The problem is, superglue is a pain to apply.

So, any ideas on how to add tread to a new tyre? The trick is getting something to stick butyl rubber and tyre compound.

You can try a thin film of some of those goo products they sell at the hardware stores. A thin coating of shoe goo may work, but it may also be too stiff when dry.

I'll bet that Plumber's Goop would work - I think it is called Goop - that damn stuff sticks pretty much anything.

How about a different brand of tire? When the tread wears down, are you talking about a bald tire, or are you seeing the weave of the nylon casing? If it is just bald, don't sweat it, since the tread on something as narrow as a bike tire is pretty much cosmetic anyway. As long as you haven't worn through to the casing, the tire should be fine.

Sounds pretty dangerous to me. In an emergency tyres keep you stuck to the road. The last thing you need is for glue to come unstuck.
What type of tyres are you using? a std, durable touring tyre such as Schwalbe Marathon/Conti Top Touring etc?

No offense, but all you're doing is increasing the danger to yourself. Stop being a cheapo and buy a new tire when one wears out. Or buy one preferably with the tread lifespan that you want.

What's wrong with simply carrying a spare tire?

When I go on really long rides, like weekend charity type stuff, I carry a spare tire under my seat bag. It folds up really small, and doesn't even weigh very much.

Ask yourself if you even need the tread to begin with.
Unless you're riding on roads with loose surface (gravel, mud), you're better off without it.

Some tires are made to be harder and they last longer but may have a little less traction. Some tires are made for maximum traction but wear out quickly. Exactly what 26 x 1.9 tire do you have and how many miles do you think you get out of one? You may have a soft compound tire. Maybe all you need is a longer wearing tire.

For example: some racing road tires that I use are always totally shot at 2000 miles. But I love they way they ride. I had one pair that I liked even better but they just barely made it to 800 miles.
I have some Panaracer Kevlar belted touring tires that go
over 5600 miles, but the bead tape starts to come off, there is still plenty of tread left. If I was really cheap I could probably fix the bead tape.

Don't glue anything to the outside of a tire you may get hurt.

omg.

Maybe you should actually read what he means by tread.

The idea alone is scary. But what's really scary is how much effort you put into testing various alternatives. considering that Nashbar sells 26 inch slicks as low as $10 and you could probably get some even cheaper at walmart, I can't see any reason to do this. I'd sure hate to be going downhill when one of these 'pretreads' starts peeling off!