I have been using Nobby Nic’s on my Hope rims and today for the 3rd time in as many months I have torn the tyre at the bead exposing the inner tube! It was a long 4 mile walk back to the car!!

Any suggestions as to why? Is it the rim or the tyre?

It doesn’t looked untrue but I have been running slightly lower preseures. I can’t see anything on the rim that’s causing it!

It’s infuriating me and getting costly in tyres!

if people were regularly tearing NNs at the bead, there’d be more kerfuffle on the airways about it.

Most likely a burr or something on the rim hook.

Did the tears happen on the same rim and the same side each time?

you can normally see if there’s mechanical wear by rubbing because the cloth inside the tyre is exposed (inside or outside the carcass)

Tyre tearing at bead, 3 times = 3 long walks

Then either ‘something’ is damaging your tyre, eg: nick/burr on the rim or you need to start buying tougher tyres.

Also, start putting a tyre boot in your repair kit, this is exactly what they’re for, whether it happens 3 times in a week or once in 3 years, it’ll help you get home.

2.6 by any chance?

amedias – Member

Also, start putting a tyre boot in your repair kit,

Or a gel wrapper or bit of card or a fiver (larger denominations will work if you’re flush)

2.25 width! It’s the same rim and I think the same side each time. On the second occurrence I inspected the rim but couldn’t see anything wrong with it, I will have another look.

Good idea about the tyre boot, I will get one ordered with a replacement tyre!

A piece of flexible plastic about the size of a credit card + w few wraps of duck tape round it = emergency tyre boot to keep in your pack.

Have you run your fingers around the rim (oh err missus) or just looked for something out of the ordinary?

I’d certainly have a feel of it rather than just rely on what I could see.

lower pressures and its entirely possible that its pinch damage. Your tyre deforms and gets munched between the rock/root and rim.. much like a tube dies.
edit: more a tubeless issue. didnt read op properly

A piece of flexible plastic about the size of a credit card

Toothpaste tube works well…

@IHN beat me to it, i have a piece of toothpaste tube with ducttape wrapped around it,

in terms of nobby nic, ribblecycles warranty replaced one of mine earlier this year that was 2 month old, their was hardly any rubber on the sidewall and the weave had opened up just next to the bead 2-3 inches long.

Run a paper towel or toilet paper round the rim, if there are any burrs you should feel it snag and be left with a bit of fluff on the snag.

As above, a tyre boot doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

What tyre pressure and where are you riding?

I had the same issue with some Bontrager XR4 Team Issues when I had tubes.

Sometimes there was grit and dirt down between sidewall and rim as a result of riding on Cannock Chase with low pressures.

I sandpapered the rim, went tubeless and it seems to have stopped.

Has it fully popped up onto the bead all the way round? (i.e. so you can see the marker line just above the bead evenly and all the way round the tyre). If they aren’t fully popped up in one spot then it is thinner sidewall material rubbing against the rim edge and it wears through really quickly. We’ve found some Schwalbes needed soapy water to fully seat all the way round (especially with tubes rather than tubeless).

Has it fully popped up onto the bead all the way round? (i.e. so you can see the marker line just above the bead evenly and all the way round the tyre). If they aren’t fully popped up in one spot then it is thinner sidewall material rubbing against the rim edge and it wears through really quickly. We’ve found some Schwalbes needed soapy water to fully seat all the way round (especially with tubes rather than tubeless).

just what I was going to say – sounds like it’s not popped on fully and is rubbing through.

Your bikes not carried on a bike rack and hanging in front of the exhaust by any chance?

@spooky Bike goes on a fork mounted carrier on the roof.

@neilwheel All 3 have been at Cannock and running around 25psi, I must admit I have been a bit lazy in checking tyre pressures recently and have ridden 5 or 6 times without checking them, I ride once or twice a week so they could of lost a fair bit of pressure.

I will mark the spot it had torn and do the paper towel test tomorrow!

I found the walls of Schwalbe tyres to be very easy to cut betweeen the rim and a rock. Try some tougher tyres.

It is governed by a simple equation. Tyres are fine when:

T+P is more than or equal to G

If T+P is less the G = dead tyre

Key
T = tyre
P = path
G = Gnar, your gnar

I’ve seen this with someone who had the habit of hosing the bike down to clean it, then spraying cassette and rear derailleur with WD40 to displace water. The WD40 dripped on to the tyre and he had two fail in the same way- the sidewall ripped at the top of the rim. Both failures were on the drive side of the rear wheel so we were suspicious of the WD40 but no direct evidence. However, he stopped doing the WD40 trick and hasn’t had another failure in over a year?