Tour Easy: Front Tire Aneurysm

Found this aneurysm on the front tire just before a grocery ride, so I stuffed a spare tire and tube into a pannier before rolling away. As expected, it didn’t blow out, but …

I think this started with a gash in the Kevlar belt that didn’t quite penetrate the cords holding the tire together. As you’ve seen, our tires collect a remarkable number of cuts due to broken glass.

The cords inside the tire seemed fine, although the weave was somewhat distorted. The inner rubber layer wasn’t punctured, despite what it looks like here.

The tube also looked fine, despite riding on a tire liner for at least a year. The tube abrasion failures in the rear tire must be due to something other than just the combination of tube and liner; perhaps the tube flexes just enough to erode at the discontinuities.

This tire went directly to the trash!