Holes in Gatorskin tyres

[fausto99]

I have no faith in continental tyres at all, 4seasons, gatorskins all have side wall failed, had enough of inferior over priced products see image supplied with this post as proof this tyre has less than 300 miles on it.

Not my experience at all. I've not had a sidewall failure yet on any Continental tyre that i've used. I've had sidewall cuts from flints but no failures as per your picture. Have you checked your rims for damage or sharp sections?

[GranvilleThomas]

I used Gatorskins as my main commuting tyres for a few years and while I found them very stiff and dead feeling and personally found them deadly on road metalwork and white lines when the roads were wet, (which is most of the time in the winter) there was never any question about their durability and puncture resistance, which is what I wanted them for.

They got me over Caerphilly mountain at midnight after work, in the rain and the sleet and the snow without fail and the only puncture I had was when I was on NCN route 4 on the way to work and rode over an upturned broken bottle or jar that I failed to see because the rain was so heavy and made a gash on the edge of the front tyre tread about 3/8th of an inch long and the inner tube was a right off.

I patched the inside with a couple of very large inner tube patches that I had given to me and carried on using the tyre for a long while afterwards without any problems and still have both tyres as spares with life left in them.

I never had any side wall problems with them, unlike the Panaracer Pasela TG tyres that I used before the Gatorskins. Two pairs of those 'failed' on the sidewalls (mis-shaped and bulging) in the same way, personally I think they were effected by ultra violet exposure, pity because they were a nice supple tyre.

I always ran the Gatorskins (26 x 1 1/8) at around 100psi and weighed about 11 stone and carried very little. it would be interesting to know what sort of pressures and weights the people with failures were using

[JohnW]

I'm disappointed with all this.
I gave up using Paselas some years ago, for just this same reason following three rear wheel blow-outs on them
Another member reported (on the Forum) having had a side-wall blowout on a Pasela, on the front, and hospitalized due to the injury.
I converted to Gatorskins, them being well recommended on the Forum.
The photograph wasn't simply in the sidewall, was it? It seemed to me that there was a failure along the line of the wire.
Have the blow-outs been on folding tyres, or steel-wired?

[andrew_s]

see image supplied with this post as proof this tyre has less than 300 miles on it. IMG_20200114_183240.jpg

That sort of split, immediately adjacent and parallel to a bead, is caused by the rim hook cutting through the tyre body.
There should be a fabric strip* glued to the side of the tyre to protect the tyre structure, but occasionally it can be misplaced so the rim hook wears above or below it. If the strip is in place and has worn through, check your rim for roughnesses, which can be caused by hitting a pothole or stone.

* the fabric strip is the source of the loose threads that often happen on Conti tyres.

I've not had the rim hook problem with Gatorskins or GP4S, but did have 4 such splits on one ride with a Vredestein tyre once. I ended up riding the last 9 miles home on a flat tyre after running out of tubes and booting material.

I've also found Paselas to be vulnerable to sidewall damage. They are fine on road, but stony tracks etc aren't good

[JohnW]

I used Gatorskins as my main commuting tyres for a few years and while I found them very stiff and dead feeling and personally found them deadly on road metalwork and white lines when the roads were wet, (which is most of the time in the winter) there was never any question about their durability and puncture resistance, which is what I wanted them for.

They got me over Caerphilly mountain at midnight after work, in the rain and the sleet and the snow without fail and the only puncture I had was when I was on NCN route 4 on the way to work and rode over an upturned broken bottle or jar that I failed to see because the rain was so heavy and made a gash on the edge of the front tyre tread about 3/8th of an inch long and the inner tube was a right off.

I patched the inside with a couple of very large inner tube patches that I had given to me and carried on using the tyre for a long while afterwards without any problems and still have both tyres as spares with life left in them.

I never had any side wall problems with them, unlike the Panaracer Pasela TG tyres that I used before the Gatorskins. Two pairs of those 'failed' on the sidewalls (mis-shaped and bulging) in the same way, personally I think they were effected by ultra violet exposure, pity because they were a nice supple tyre.

I always ran the Gatorskins (26 x 1 1/8) at around 100psi and weighed about 11 stone and carried very little. it would be interesting to know what sort of pressures and weights the people with failures were using

That was all in the past tense Granville - have you stopped cycling?

[JohnW]

...............I contacted the supplier a reputable dealer down in the south west of the country whom supplied these, who told me they had never had any issues with these tyres before!
After reading various forum issues over burst tyres I am somewhat disappointed with the response I got from my supplier, and find their response very disappointing.

I had the same experience from the Pasela importers. They wrote tome that they'd never heard of the problem before.
However, I know someone who'd had two such blowouts before mine, and I knew for a fact that she'd returned them to her supplier (her LBS), who said that he had returned them to the importer.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I’ll add my displeasure with ( pretty much every ) Continental bike tyre, I’ve ever been fooled into using ( by marketing drivel usually). They aren’t durable, the grip afforded by Gatorskins is laughable, and the ones that perform well ( rolling performance and grip ) are about as durable as a stripe of toothpaste, in my experience. Granted I do a lot more miles than most people I know, and do ride in conditions, and on roads, that would be considered ‘testing’, but that said, I’ve had far better results, with just about any other make of tyre.

[TrevA]

I’ll add my displeasure with ( pretty much every ) Continental bike tyre, I’ve ever been fooled into using ( by marketing drivel usually). They aren’t durable, the grip afforded by Gatorskins is laughable, and the ones that perform well ( rolling performance and grip ) are about as durable as a stripe of toothpaste, in my experience. Granted I do a lot more miles than most people I know, and do ride in conditions, and on roads, that would be considered ‘testing’, but that said, I’ve had far better results, with just about any other make of tyre.

Can you give examples? I’m a long time user of Gators and overall I’m pretty happy with them, but they are not the grippiest tyre around. It would be interesting to hear of similar priced alternatives. I have used Rubinho Pros, but they are not as readily available as Gators.

[GranvilleThomas]

I used Gatorskins as my main commuting tyres for a few years and while I found them very stiff and dead feeling and personally found them deadly on road metalwork and white lines when the roads were wet, (which is most of the time in the winter) there was never any question about their durability and puncture resistance, which is what I wanted them for.

They got me over Caerphilly mountain at midnight after work, in the rain and the sleet and the snow without fail and the only puncture I had was when I was on NCN route 4 on the way to work and rode over an upturned broken bottle or jar that I failed to see because the rain was so heavy and made a gash on the edge of the front tyre tread about 3/8th of an inch long and the inner tube was a right off.

I patched the inside with a couple of very large inner tube patches that I had given to me and carried on using the tyre for a long while afterwards without any problems and still have both tyres as spares with life left in them.

I never had any side wall problems with them, unlike the Panaracer Pasela TG tyres that I used before the Gatorskins. Two pairs of those 'failed' on the sidewalls (mis-shaped and bulging) in the same way, personally I think they were effected by ultra violet exposure, pity because they were a nice supple tyre.

I always ran the Gatorskins (26 x 1 1/8) at around 100psi and weighed about 11 stone and carried very little. it would be interesting to know what sort of pressures and weights the people with failures were using

That was all in the past tense Granville - have you stopped cycling?

Well, not entirely but my winter commuting, due to peripheral neuropathy has slowly ground to a halt unfortunately. Getting on and off the bike at all times is agony and the pain in my hands has me worried that at times I will be unable to operate the brakes effectively.

This is why I no longer use the Gatorskins and have fitted some old 1 1/4 Hutchinson Top Slick folding tyres,(forgot I had them) lovely and supple and don't shake the fillings out of my teeth when I manage to make it out - but not much good for winter commuting!

Also I no longer have the same job that requires me to risk life and limb to get home because there are no late trains due to engineering work or the guard simply wont let me on because the train is full.

Consequently I do not have to endure passengers in cars with wound down windows screaming at me as they pass very close as I am pedalling up the mountain, I assume trying to make me fall off.

Or the drunks in the town centre when going down the other side running after me, shouting abuse and asking me to stop for a fight!

By the way did you know that Geraint Thomas used to live not far from here and used to regularly ride this route? Maybe this is one of the reasons that he managed to win the Tour de France, cycling away from all the Nutters in the Welsh Valleys, possibly gave him that extra turn of speed?

I don't think I will ever give up cycling completely, (at least I hope not) having never owned a car, it's in my blood I think.
The ideal way to die (comes to us all in the end) for me, would be of natural causes whilst riding my bike, either in the Brecon Beacons or Snowdonia, but not from a blown out side-wall hopefully.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I’ll add my displeasure with ( pretty much every ) Continental bike tyre, I’ve ever been fooled into using ( by marketing drivel usually). They aren’t durable, the grip afforded by Gatorskins is laughable, and the ones that perform well ( rolling performance and grip ) are about as durable as a stripe of toothpaste, in my experience. Granted I do a lot more miles than most people I know, and do ride in conditions, and on roads, that would be considered ‘testing’, but that said, I’ve had far better results, with just about any other make of tyre.

Can you give examples? I’m a long time user of Gators and overall I’m pretty happy with them, but they are not the grippiest tyre around. It would be interesting to hear of similar priced alternatives. I have used Rubinho Pros, but they are not as readily available as Gators.

Michelin pro 4 endurance are very good, if you don’t mind the ‘dead’ feel, Schwalbe Durano plus take some beating from the durability angle. Vitoria open Paves are also very good in my experience. At the more ‘budget’ end of the scale I’ve had good results with the BTwin resist 5 tyres, but I don’t think they make them anymore.

[bgnukem]

I used Gatorskin 28s on my summer bike for a while but gave up as they punctured way too easily.

Have been using Pasela TG / PTs for about 25 years now with no issues, they seem to survive winter riding on filthy lanes strewn with all sorts of debris pretty well - I've had very few flats.

True, the sidewalls are thin, but they survived quite a lot of gravel roads in New Zealand when I was living over there for 3 1/2 years.

[dim]

I’ll add my displeasure with ( pretty much every ) Continental bike tyre, I’ve ever been fooled into using ( by marketing drivel usually). They aren’t durable, the grip afforded by Gatorskins is laughable, and the ones that perform well ( rolling performance and grip ) are about as durable as a stripe of toothpaste, in my experience. Granted I do a lot more miles than most people I know, and do ride in conditions, and on roads, that would be considered ‘testing’, but that said, I’ve had far better results, with just about any other make of tyre.

thats a bit harsh ...

I've used Continental tyres for a few years now but also use others

I did not enjoy the Gator's (I prefered Durano Plus) .... GP4000 were ok but I did have 2 sidewall issues, but at the time I used them, they were as good as it got .... 4 seasons were very good and I will use them again in the future (Hoping that Continental make them in a tubeless version )

my current favourite tyres are Continetal GP5000 .... I have the tubeless version on both my bikes .... 25mm on my Trek and 32mm on my touring bike ... I used the clincher version in 32mm on my touring bike before I got tubeless wheels and got close to 5000 Km before my first puncture (on really crappy roads through potholes and broken glass through the city) .... on other tyres, I was lucky to get 3000Km before multiple punctures