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Needed new tyres at the end of October so as a birthday present to myself bought some (what I would call) expensive tyres. All was great until cleaning my bike this morning I noticed a large hole in the sidewall of one of the tyres.
The tyres have been used two or three times a week since I got them on cross country rides with the odd rocky descent - certainly nothing extreme. Am I being optimistic to expect a £40 tyre that is classed as an 'All Mountain' tyre to last only 5 or 6 weeks or is this just bad luck? The last pair of tyres I had lasted two years and cost considerably less.
Just wondered what the general consensus was to see if it's worth contacting the manufacturer.
Cheers
Possibly bad luck, possibly the wrong tyre for the conditions, or a bit of both.
What tyre?
What's are they?
**it happens.
A few years ago I ripped the sidewall of a Racing Ralph on something sharp first ride.
Is there a fault with them? You've not described one.
You have to be realistic. Being called "all mountain" does not mean indestructible - all it takes is hitting one rock.
It's a Rubber Queen 2.2 Black chilli. Have been using Specialized tyres on exactly the same trails for two years and have never let me down.
I was really happy with the performance, I guess I'm just gutted that that's £40 down the drain after just a few weeks. I realise that sh*t happens, just seems to be happening a lot lately 😕
Sounds like really bad luck. I would consider contacting someone about it though, the shop I bought them from would be first
was it a racesport one?
Done it twice to new tyres (2 rides old) in the last month.
I was FUMING..
file under bad luck.
It was indeed a Racesport one. Think I'll just put it down to bad luck but go back to Spesh tyres
Ive done loads like that this year alone....Nobby Nic EVo TR x2 , Rubber Queen UST x 2, most recent Spesh Purgatory 2 Bliss
Takes the pi%%
Maxxis EXO on order - give that a try before going to dual ply
But that Lake District rocks for you
I smashed an XT rear mech one weekend at Cannock Chase and then replaced it with another XT mech and did the same at Wyre Forest the following weekend and gave up buying nice mechs with a Deore replacement that also got mashed in two weeks but being steel was heaved back into useable shape.
These things happen. Good days bad days 
Oh and how torn is the tyre? You can always sew them up and put a repair section behind them and effect a solid lasting fix.
Probably bad luck, maybe you could post a photo so we could all offer our unqualified opinions?
Schwalbe?
It sounds like bad luck to me and durability doesn't increase with price - quite the reverse probably.
Some £10 jobbies off eBay can be as tough as old boots, but weigh considerably more.
Of course it could also be a sign that you need to improve your skills to stop (not) bouncing off sharp rocks.
BillOddie - MemberSchwalbe?
bgd - MemberIt's a Rubber Queen 2.2 Black chilli.
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Of course it could also be a sign that you need to improve your skills to stop (not) bouncing off sharp rocks.
Could be but I've been riding the same rocks for ten years and this is my first damaged sidewall
That is probably at the very limit of what I would consider patching. A really good job might hold.
Amateurs. I exploded a £40 Nobby Nic (and coated my bathroom in wheel jizz) without even riding the thing once.
Bad luck. I have also blown up (as in exploded, rather than inflated!) a couple of brand new tyres, and also managed to rip a brand new Rocket Ron after 6 seconds use.
Are the sidewalls on these tyres particularly delicate as there seem of be threads showing all the way around the tyre?
Needle + thread, then ducktape on the inside.
I do think (I) we are going for lighter tyres than before, and maybe need to accept reduced lifespan...?
This is the reason I tend to buy either what is on sale, or from classifieds that have been 'ridden twice and don't like'...
schwalbe tyres DO NOT like rocks*, end of discussion
*hans dampf is the only exception IMO
racing ralph is a simply stunningly fast, grippy tyre but the sidewalls even in UST form are terrible, wrong tool for the job
been using spesh tyres since and they are brilliant
It happens. I've cut a new tyre after 30 mins of riding.
Having said that, I've also sliced one getting it out of the packet with a stanley knife ( that one really did boil my piss )
Tsk! Lightweights! You need an African tyre specialist:
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BGD - email me. I'll send you an On-One Smorgasbord tyre to try for free. They are made by maxxis and have an "Eckso" sidewall reinforcement.
yea the racesport is really thin on the sidewall. especially the RQ. even the racesport mk2 is much thicker!
It could be worse, could be a £120 quid motorbike 190 rear tyre that lasted 200 miles before getting holed, and wasn't repairable.
Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin.
^^^ That's a great offer from Brant, maybe not all bad then
I got one ride out of a brand new Panaracer Fire XC once, got a tear in it pretty much like that. You're right to be miffed but it's just one of those things.
Cheers Brant, YGM
I've had a couple of Continental tyres (albeit road ones) separate between bead and sidewall - deffo a manufacturing fault. they've been replaced no questions by CRC - they just wanted photos.
worth a punt with wherever you bought them from? might be a known issue.
The RaceSport are only for race day, not for everyday riding. Even then, they are only worth using if you want to risk a ripped tyre for the sake of 200 grams.
I tried running the X-King RaceSport, and the same thing happened. I repaired it, then I ripped it even more on another place, right up the sidewall and across the tread. This was on the back tyre. Front one is still running, but just waiting to knacker it.
Conti protection sidewalls are far better - tubeless ready too!
My NEW Intense tyre from CRC exploded causing £100 of damage.
Do CRC care? No. What a bunch of clowns.
The threads showing are generally a sign that you are running the tyre too soft and rolling it a bit. What pressure were you running? FWIW I have now given up on anything other than EXO/TR for Maxxis, or Protection for Continental (and entirely on Schwalbes as tights have better tear resistance) when running tubeless. I used to think lightweight tyres ruled, then I realised I could build sub 1500g wheels that we tough as hell for little money, and add extra weight to my tyres instead to get both volume, grip and tear resistance. Its been great 🙂
I do think nowadays we are getting tyres that are 2.3/4 that weigh the same as lightweight tyres in the early 90's that were 1.95's. I know materials have improved but there is a limit and the sidewalls just have to be thin.
I've run Specialized Eskar tyres for a while and never had a sidewall rip.
I think I had been running the tyre too soft. I dont have a pressure gauge so have always pumped them up until they're hard. Ironically before the last ride I did on them on tuesday I used my mates track pump to increase the pressure up to 40 psi (Continental recommend 50) and they felt much better.
used to run my 2.2 rubber queen around 25psi.
BGD - email me. I'll send you an On-One Smorgasbord tyre to try for free. They are made by maxxis and have an "Eckso" sidewall reinforcement.
Good work that.
used to run my 2.2 rubber queen around 25psi.
Run about the same with mine - but they're the UST version which have a much stronger carcass. Incredibly hard-wearing for a sticky single-ply tyre. The standard RQs are lighter but have much weaker sidewalls by all accounts. I can't imagine how flimsy a Racesport version would be!
*starts numerous threads about broken bike parts in hope of offers of free stuff from brant*