scotch

I'm riding on two month old Torelli TDF 23s with about four hundred miles on them. I just noticed the rear tire has a couple of these little patches of fraying sidewall thread, and only on the left side for some reason.

Obviously something has made contact with the sidewall but I have no idea what it could be. The brake pads are perfectly on the rim and the tire hasn't rubbed against the seat or chain stay as far as I know. Being pretty ignorant about tires, does anyone have any idea what might cause this type of abrasion? Would you replace the tire? Will also post in the mechanics room.

Thanks a lot.

sirtigersalot

the abbraison isnt going with the wheel direction, like in concentric arcs as if it rubbed on a spinning tire, and they seem to strait to be from road debris or w/e which should cause at least some arc, so i'd say it happened while the bike was sitting, do you lock it up anywhere? like commuting to work, or maybe even got nocked over in your house? i assume the lines where you can see the threads are part of the scratch, since they are at even intervals and at the same point as the thread ridges on th rest of the tire, maybe they are't really from a true abbrasion, hard to tell from pic, if that is true and the only abbraision is that obvious spot and you have threads showing it could be a deffective tire

Sasquatchula

I dunno, is that the non-drive side of the rear? If it is, and my mental imaging is right, it doesn't look like a strike from road debris. It actually looks backwards. So, if you're looking at a forward spinning wheel from the non-drive side, it's moving counter-clockwise, right? If you hit something on the road the abrasion should run from the tread, up the sidewall, towards the front of the bike, not the rear.

Unless, the object had a sharp edge facing your approach?

Like I said, I don't know. Where's CSI when you need 'em? At any rate, when I see the metal threads it's time to replace.