RT

I had a cut the exact same size and shape on my Contis. They are a supple tire, but nowhere near as durable as some others. I subbed a heavier Specialized Nimbus on my crosser(I am not a racer) and my confidence on certain debris-ridden Colo Spgs roads is much higher now.

As far as repairing that, it may work, but I prefer riding with confidence instead of a catastrophic failure 20 miles from home.

tero

I have the same exact cut as well. I've ridden the tire a few hundred miles since with zero problems, and no flats in that area either. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Sourpuss Magee

I've never had good luck with Continentals.

squamish5

troll...................

Fox Farm

I had the same reaction when I saw THREE pages on this.

Nachoman

I'd boot it and a drop of superglue in the hole and keep a close eye on it.

RiPHRaPH

Same thing happened with us here. Went back to the best deal on tires in all the world. Performance has Vredstein's. If you can handle the blue color, at their prices they wear the best of all.

Plus One to the comment below. Soft.

dshack

I just finished a east to west cross country bike trip (~4K miles). I had one GP4000S make it the whole way, another that died in Colorado. My buddy had both of his get major slashes in the same day in NC...$#$ happens.

nixternal

Cheapest I could find right now. I get them for $40/ea through my LBS as a team rider. I have 3 gashes bigger than that one on my front from this weekend alone. Pissed me off!

DGozinya

Hey, cut him some slack...If he did buy it at REI, he's going to get $7.50 back next spring. So the tire is now down to $67.50

Seattle Forrest

If you really, truly feel like the tire shouldn't have torn like that (any tire would have), REI has a more generous return policy than any warranty. You could take them back for a refund/replacement ... you'd just have to say (with a straight face) "I'm not satisfied that this tire got a hole in it when I ran over a piece of glass."

The tire is still useable. Another one will get cut the same way if you ride over another piece of broken glass. Your best bet is to use the tire until it's worn.

It's nice to get stuff immediately when you need it. But now that you have a serviceable pair of tires that should last a while, keep your eyes open for a deal, so that when the time comes, you won't be stuck going to a big box store or ordering online and waiting. ( Unless you live in Seattle, REI isn't a local bike store. )

Ultraslide

Sorry about your luck. My experience with the Conti GP4000S has been stellar. 3000+ miles on the road, in races and on the trainer with the same pair. This tire has held up well even though 1/3 of my riding is in the city. I'm a fan.

One question for the more experienced. Mine have started to square off. Is this due to improper pressure or just how the tire wears? I run mine 118 back, 115 front and I weigh 155.

Seattle Forrest

But how do you mount them on your bike???

achoo

Wide rims.

rangerdavid

noisebeam

I got 4400mi from my most recently replaced 23 GP4000S on the rear, wore to threads in a patch. Not a single flat during it's entire lifetime. Front has 7200mi on it, but probably needs replacement not from wear, but sun damage.

4400mi is not bad considering I got only about 500mi more with Gatorskins which ride much worse than the GP4kS

pdedes

that eventually happens, but for your weight, you are overinflating. you'll experience a better ride and performance with perhaps 105/110. psimet's formula would have you put even less in.

Ultraslide

That's about where I was running previously but it seemed like I was losing pressure too fast and a nice roll would turn to mush. What is an acceptable pressure loss for a 2 hour ride on normal to chip seal roads? Maybe I am running cheap tubes? In any case ... I started running 118/115 and it's a bit stiff to start but smooths out very nicely after an hour or so.

shadoman

2 HOURS ????

noisebeam

Loosing pressure after an hour? Perhaps that is just your body numbing out.

Ultraslide

So you're saying I should have no pressure loss at all? or immeasurable amounts? I'll double check on my ride tomorrow morning and report back as I've never actually measured it but I can sure feel the front end smooth out and roll over things even on a hour long ride. Maybe it's all in my head ...

Seattle Forrest

Do you know which tubes you're running? I put more air in my GPs than I've ever had to before, for exactly the same reason. Except it's my back wheel that would start to feel mushy, not my front.

Ultraslide

Don't know. In the two years I've had this bike I've never had a flat and took the stock tires off once to replace with the Contis I currently use. I'll check that as well as the pressure loss.

noisebeam

It is mostly tube dependent of course, but with conti race light tubes I loose ~10psi in 3 days in the hot (105+ day, 85+ night) summer months and in the colder winter (sub 70s in day, 50s at night) may loose 1-2 psi over a week. Both cases are with daily riding. This has been a very consistent seasonal pattern for many years.

dstrong 

Unfortunately, I only saw this screw after it impaled my tire, missing my rim by a mm.



Booted it, got home, threw away the tire...it was done.