Graphene tyre cracking

[A1anP]

Hi,

The front tyre on my road bike is (or rather was up to recently) one of the new Vittoria Rubino Pro G+ graphene tyres. The rear one is a standard Rubino Pro, both 25mm and both put on at the same time, last September. The bike has been stored mostly in the shed over winter (i.e. cold, damp, etc) but after starting to use it this year, I noticed cracking all the way round the tyre...



The cracking is either side of the contact section, with no cracking on the sidewall, and it runs all the way round the tyre. The non-graphene tyre looks perfect. I've only done 660 miles on the tyres since putting them on.

I have tried to get in touch with Vittoria but no reply as yet. I bought the tyre from a Vittoria stand at a race event so I have no real comeback if they won't reply to my email! I'm not really sure what to make of this, whether I've mistreated the tyre in some way, or maybe it was just an unfortunate manufacturing defect. So I'm tempted to just steer clear of graphene products in the future. Which is a shame, as the non-graphene version seems to have been discontinued.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Alan

[Audax67]

Young technology is my guess.

[Brucey]

That is unfortunate! All tyres are 'laid up' using strips of rubber that are then cooked with the carcass parts in a mould.

My suspicion is that this tyre was laid up by using a strip of the fancy graphene rubber in the middle of the tread, and more normal rubber each side of it. It looks to me as if the bond between the two different types of rubber wasn't properly consolidated for some reason, perhaps either because

a) not hot enough for long enough in the mould, or
b) it can't be, e.g. the two rubbers are incompatible with one another for some reason.

Ideal storage conditions for rubber are cool, dry, dark. A typical UK shed might be a bit too damp vs the ideal but even so that kind of damage ought not occur in just a few weeks.

cheers

[fastpedaller]

When my Vittoria tyres cracked after a short time I was told I'd "stored them incorrectly" ! Firstly I hadn't "stored" them (if that refers to keeping them folded, not on a bike), they were fitted to the bike within 2 days of receipt. I was told it is due to having them in the garage where it may (shock horror) go down to freezing point. Other tyres hadn't sufferred the same fate (before, during or since) . I won't be buying Vittoria tyres again, however cheap the deal (although I suspect your graphene ones were very pricey)

[A1anP]

Thanks for the explanation Brucey, it certainly makes sense. There did seem to be a bit of an obvious ridge between the centre strip and the side wall rubber before the splitting started.

@fastpedaller - I remember your post, which is why I am expecting to be told (if I ever get a reply from Vittoria) that I was at fault for keeping my bike in a shed in Britain. I don't remember how much the tyres cost exactly, but it was about £10 more than I would have paid on Wiggle for the non-graphene version. I actually bought a pair, but didn't realise till I got home that I had a 25 and a 23 rather than two 25s. As I'm running 25s, that made the tyre doubly expensive! The unused tyre (kept inside) seems fine. I was going to ebay it, but now I probably won't.

I'm not anti-Vittoria, as I've been very happy with Rubino Pros on my road bike and Voyager Hypers on my hybrid. Both are discontinued though, so when stocks run out, I will need to find alternatives that can stand up to the punishment of the Scottish weather and road conditions.

[billlo]

Exactly the same has happened with my Rubino Pro Grapheme tyres which came as standard last summer on my Wilier bike. Not done much mileage so far, and bike has been kept in garage over winter which is no more nor less damp than most garages. Won't get this type again as it hasn't happened with tyres on other bikes and don't intend keeping them indoors!

[Cyril Haearn]

Perhaps Brucey would care to start a thread about tyre manufacture, in particular about how it has changed and developed

I would certainly like to read it, +1 in advance

[JohnW]

Perhaps Brucey would care to start a thread about tyre manufacture, in particular about how it has changed and developed

I would certainly like to read it, +1 in advance

+1 to that - the OP's photograph looks worrying. The cracking-up rubber is not the weave-structure of the tyre is it? - but the photo still looks dodgy.

I remember the splits in the sidewalls, which were actually tears in the fabric, some years ago which caught me in worrying moments three times, and had put at least one other forum correspondent in hospital. These were in Panaracer Paselas.

[mig]

any correlation between the cracking on this sort of tyre and the 'on sale' nature of the graphene tyre in the other thread?

[Brucey]

any correlation between the cracking on this sort of tyre and the 'on sale' nature of the graphene tyre in the other thread?

it happens.... but having said that the persistently 'on sale' vittoria hypers have not been shown to be 'little perishers'..

cheers.

[Rab the piper]

I have had 2 sets of these tyres with exactly the same problem from 2 different LBS. Both exchanged without quibble. The first set lasted 2 weeks, the second 2 months and less than 200 miles. Makes you wonder if vittoria know about this problem as both LBS no longer stock them. One said they had had a few returns. I am now running gator skins.

[bgnukem]

Had a Rubino Pro 26" on the front of my commuter for a while, but couldn't get it to seat on the wheel properly without a large 'high spot' on one side which made the wheel feel oval.

The tread also started perishing at an early stage and it ended up in the bin pretty quickly.....

[Furgus]

Update to this thread: I have Vittoria Rubino Pro Graphene 2.0 (700x25c) on my bike, one of the tyres shows cracking all the way round the circumference, much like the pics shown earlier in this thread. The other one is seemingly ok. They have done about 1000 miles, and kept fully inflated (I use about 85psi), out of the sun, in an unheated garage. This bike was second-hand, and came with the previous Vittoria version of the tyre.....both front and rear had to be thrown out due to cracking, even though they didn't look worn.
Its a shame because I like the tyre, good wet grip, rolls well, and only one puncture along miles of wet, flinty, brambly lanes this last winter.
I think I have to look for alternatives next time though.

UPDATE 9th April: On closer inspection, both tyres are cracked and getting worse quickly. Looks like faulty manufacture to me. Perhaps Panaracer or Continental may be the way to go.

[Cyclothesist]

I can recommend Schwalbe One, the Durano replacement. I use these on my summer bike. They roll well, are fairly light with good p******* resistance (don't want to tempt the p-fairy) and good wet weather grip. I buy them when on sale and keep them in my unheated garage, sometimes for over a year without issue.

[Valbrona]

On Vittoria's switch to graphene, I switched to Challenge. Like how Vittoria used to be.