Pushing my luck on Continental Ultra Gatorskins

deejay.

Hi,

Had a visit from the p******e fairies this weekend, just finishing a ride thankfully (though I wasn't thankful for the rain and wind I did it in). I got at the tyre today and it was butchered by a little blade-shaped shard of stone - it went right through the vectran on my Conti Ultra Gatorskin rear tyre. These have been great tyres and with all due respect to Continental and other manufacturers, nothing could have stopped this - it was like a Stanley knife blade!

Now, my question: is the tyre completely shagged now (there are a couple of other cuts,but nothing threatening the vectran) or can I risk it a little longer, or perhaps even repair it? Tyres I've dumped before have been utterly knackered btw. before I dumped them.

Thoughts?

Cheers,

deej

Anonymous

Swap the tyres.
Front to rear .
Less hassle to mend the front .
You could dribble some Superglue into the cuts as well.

deejay.

Hi Nicolo,

Yeah, I wondered about Superglue. As for swapping the tyres, whilst that is an option they were such an a**e to get on in the first place I'm not sure I'd want the hassle, as good a suggestion as that is. I've come to the conclusion that Conti tyres go fine on factory wheels, not so fine on handbuilts - just my experience.

Cheers,

deej

wors

same thing happened to me with the same tyre! tire ran okay after but couldn't pump the tyre up ver hard, air hissed out for a while then stopped, no puncture though. bin the tyre and get a fresh.

aracer

You could probably stick a boot (made of a bit of old tyre) on the inside to reinforce it - or if you're handy with a needle even put a few stitches in. I'd only use a tyre repaired like that for training and utility stuff, but it should be fine.

Monty Dog

Forget superglue - water weakens the bond so it's useless. You'll find a lot of people who share your experience of Gatorskins - they cut far too easily, especially if you live in flint-strewn roads. If you're looking for puncture resistant tyres, there are far better ones out there