Brand new gatorskin BTW:

Gatorskin my ass...

Sorry for your loss.

I don't think so. There is a nail in it.

Well, I pulled it out of course.
I'm asking is it safe to still ride it even with a new tube.

I think the side wall is the killer.

But IF I were gonna chance it I'd put it on the rear only.

Boot the holes, use it on the back

Trainer tire...

Agreed. I'd put a boot on the inside (piece of good duct tape should suffice), put it on the rear wheel, and check it periodically to make sure the cords aren't starting to tear. But the holes from the nail are pretty small so I wouldn't expect it to have any problems.

+1

Gatorskins are survivors. I've had one on my commuter for 4 years already and its disintegrating but just won't die.

I wouldn't worry about it. Put a small boot/patch on the inside of tire. The actual hole caused by the nail is smaller than the nail (since the rubber stretches a bit). The entry/exit point look to be on areas that will rarely see contact with the road, so you should be fine.

Now that I look at it, it looks like the tire didn't even go flat? is that the case?

Merely a flesh wound.

Alright, we'll call it a draw.

i THINK i would throw a tube in it and ride it....

In the rear!

Ill be honest.... that nail is going to leave such a small hole I don't think I would have an issue running it in the front. If it were a customer then it would be a different story.

That'll buff right out.

about a week ago, i had a similar nail problem. bigger nail. two holes in the tube and tire. just patched the tube. it never even occurred to me to think of the tire. it's a very old schwinn 27 x 7/8. still got a lot of tread on it and will give me several more thousand miles i expect.

For a gator, no worries, unless you do high speed descents. I admit to running them until the cord is showing on my in town bike. Other tires or conditions would be very different.

It the tire doesn't bulge when inflated due to severed cords, it's fine.

This happened to me several months back. Ive put about 1000 miles on it since no problem. Rear tire.

+1
If there's no gap on inflation, ride it til it dies.

god I hope you didn't hit the brakes with that nail there... i'd think that would put you over the bars.

some people are so squimish about tyres. I've been riding on one that has been cut all the way through cords and I can actually see the inner tube. I keep saying to myself that I'm going to get a stone in there and puncture the tube, but I've been too lazy to replace. That was 4 months ago and the tyre is still going strong. No puncture.

Boot it and use it. Perfectly good with a boot for pinhole sized defects. (Rips not as good since those can more easily grow and tube can bulge through them.)