Bike Servicing, Glass in Tyres?

sdavies13

Having now commuted 330+ miles decided was time to do a service on my bike.

Had various loose bolts which have now tightened (and ordered some medium strength thread lock). One load bearing bolt for the pannier rack was completely missing, the other side was loose.

However upon inspection my tyres (Continental Gatorskin Ultras) had a number of slashes/splits in them, however the front one had several pieces of glass embedded in it. Have removed the glass but any suggestions on how far I should ride on the tyres and when to replace?

330+ miles isn't a lot so guessing I have a fair few more miles to get out of them but any suggestions on this appreciated.

Cheers.

armyknife

Have you considered applying some paint to further protect you wheels, it's a well know effect that purple rims attract glass.

sickparrot

If they're only small gashes, 5 mm or so, your tyres will last for years to come, both my commuter bikes have done 3,500 + miles on their original tyres, and they are both full of holes and slits. In all my 25 years of cycling, I have only ever had tyres fail due to worn sidewalls, which occurs over time if they're not pumped up rock hard.

AndyBSG

If the damage looks extensive rather than cosmetic then the first thing to do is check the inside of the tyres.

Inside there will be a protective puncture strip that sits between the tyre and the inner tube so just look under that and make sure any holes or splits aren't too large.

Tyres will get plenty of nicks and scrapes and if they're half decent they'll be fine which is why you check the inside of the tyre and not the outside, to make sure it's just cosmetic damage.

As a rule of thumb, I just do a quick visual check of my tyres for bits of stone or glass roughly every 5 hours of riding and a check of the inner tyre whenever I find a particularly large tear or split on the outer tyre(try not to take the tyre off and check it unless you think it really needs it because taking them on and off a lot weakens the beading).

When removing stuff, just squeeze the tyre slightly to open the gash up and try to pull the item out or if it's in really firmly 'flick' it out with a flat screwdriver... You don't want to be delving too deeply or the screwdriver itself may cause a puncture!

You should also check tyre pressure regularly and this is done by squeezing the side walls of the tyres, not by pushing down on the top of it.

The higher the pressure the better as it will make them run faster and reduce the risk of punctures(if you're doing a lot of 'real' off road racing you may want the pressure lower for comfort and control).

As for how often should you replace tyres, that all depends on the tyres but as a rule of thumb you're looking at anywhere from a couple of thousand miles, depending on usage.

If you don't use the bike often you may need to replace them sooner because the tyres themselves will degrade over time, they'll dry out and become brittle for example.

If you have slick tyres they sometimes have 'wear markers' just like car tyres and you'll see little 'potholes' spaced regularly around the tyre, when they wear away and the tyre is flat all the way round it's time to replace them. If you have tyres with a tread on them then you just replace them when the tread has nearly worn away.

In reality, you'll probably be replacing tyres due to the tyre itself degrading or tyre damage from glass, stones, etc long before the actual tyre itself wears away unless you're averaging over 50 miles a week on it.

jmcdyre

Those tyres are excellent and will last a long time. I've picked big chunks of glass out of mine before and there's a few visible gashes in them but they are tough!!

Redvee

jmcdyre wrote: »

Those tyres are excellent and will last a long time. I've picked big chunks of glass out of mine before and there's a few visible gashes in them but they are tough!!

I've ran Gatorskins for the last 3 years with no problems, I check the tyres once a month for glass etc and any cuts or slashes that look bad to me will get filled with superglue.

Nebulous2

Checking tyres regularly and picking foreign objects out before they can work through definitely makes a difference.

Richard53

Funny how pannier frames and the like seem to shake loose more than any other part. Here's a plan:

Get a tube of blue Loctite (the red is high strength and more than you need). Every time you disassemble a screw fastener, clean the thread and put a tiny drop of Loctite on before you screw it back up. This will keep everything tight no matter how many potholes you hit. The only exceptions to this are screws/bolts which already have vibration-proof elements such as spire washers and spring washers, and those with built-in anti-vibration such as Nyloc nuts, and also anything that you loosen or adjust regularly, such as seat post fasteners.

Advice on cleaning and inspecting tyres given above is all good.