Out riding Saturday at my halfway point I do a little check over the bike and notice a chunk of glass wedged in the rear tire. The tire never flatted but the gash is a little over 3/16 long. There is just a slight bulge in the tire when inflated. Should I replace the tire it’s only got about 850 miles on it?

superglue and go.

you'll be fine....i've ridden with allot worse than that!

Patch it!

I've got well over 20 cuts like that in my commuting tires (Conti GatorSkins - picked a bunch of glass out yesterday......). You'll be just fine as long as the threads of the tires aren't damaged.

You're fine. It looks like it was just through the tread. You can superglue or not; probably doesn't matter for a hole that size anyway. If you ride much, you'll pick up a lot of small cuts like that. If you replaced the tire each time it happened, you'd be out a small fortune pretty quickly.

It actually cut all the way through the tire, here is the inside. Kind of surprised it didn’t put a hole in the tube. I just put a super patch on it.

then, superglue and a dollar bill for reassurance.

Should I apply the superglue to the inside or outside of tire?

Bin the tyre. If it goes when it's raining, you'll regret it for hours, nay, days.

outside.

I agree that if there is a bulge and the cut went all the way through, patch it from the inside. Don't, however, use normal patches, as rubber is meant to stretch and be pliable. Cut a short piece of cloth rim tape (2-3 dollars for a roll, and get the wider stuff) maybe 1 1/2" long, and use it instead of a patch, using all the same procedure for patching. The cloth is meant to take pressure without stretching/bulging, and will do a much better job of mimicking your tire's threads than a normal patch would.

Beyond that, I wouldn't worry about it, keep riding it and if you're still concerned, putting that tire on the rear may give you a bit more peace of mind.

I've booted a couple tires in this way and haven't had any problems at all. You should notice that the bulge is all but gone when you re-inflate after booting the tire.

Good luck.

-Jeremy

Thanks

i'll take a contrary position. I don't like getting flats when I ride. I'll pay$40 for a new tire to avoid flats.

My recommendation is to buy a new tire.

joel

Ah, if the cut went all the way through the casing, you may want to boot it. I'll still make the argument that you needn't do anything with it. The cut is so small that you are in no danger of pinch flats, which is really the only reason that you boot in the first place.

+1. But let the air out first. Apply adhesive and hold the separation closed. Then wait a minute and pump up. The gel versions does not run down the side on your fingers. Then your are stuck to your tire. Touch to ride.

I put a small cut in Continental on the third mile after installing it. Since they run around $50, I was a tad upset. I put a Park Tools Boot in there and rode trouble free for a bit over 3000 miles before I saw threads and had another blow out.

What evidence is there the superglue works? I've religiously applied that technique for some 6 months last year and found that over a relatively short time of riding, each of those glued up cuts reopened. If you really want a filler in there, then contact adhesive probably works better. I don't bother now.

Forgot I had tire boot in saddle bag, booted and glued, no bulge or crack. Thanks

that dime looks suspicious. i'd remove that.

Shoe Goo, ftw.

The super glue did great on the cut on the tire I was posting about, but when I tried it with another tire that is covered with cuts none that penetrate the casing though. Though the superglue didn't seem to like that paticular tire? Do you use same method with the shoe goo?

If that was my tire, I would still ride it. I had a tire that looked way worse than that, and still squeezed another 1000km out of it, without getting a flat.

The Shoe Goo is very flexible and resistant to abrasion. All I do is a quick cleaning of the area and put a nice coat over top of the cut, then let it set. It stinks like hell--chemical stink, so you may need to do this with ventilation.

I haven't used it for cuts bigger than 2 mm, though. I'm sure that it would work with a boot glued on to the inside.

I've ridden on tires riddled with such features. No problem.