You are reading a single comment by @Weslito and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Weslito
Steven,
I've bought two sets of the TGs now and have encountered two rips like you describe.
Ride it, and just keep an eye on what happens. One of my rips wasn't really a problem. It just stayed as a lump on the sidewall.
The other one gradually got bigger and bigger until I gave into the fear of a high-speed blow out and replaced it, but it took a good month of commuting before that point, so it's not fast.
Sheldon Brown says a tire should be replaced if "the tire's fabric has been damaged, so that the tire has a lumpy, irregular appearance somewhere, or the tube bulges through the tire."
But then goes onto say that "gumwall tires sometimes get unsightly blistering on the sidewalls from ozone damage. (This is frequently caused by storing the bike near a furnace--the powerful electric motors in typical furnaces can put a fair amount of ozone into the air.) This blistering is ugly, but doesn't actually compromise the safety/reliability of the tire in the least."
I don't quite know whether that applies in this case. I would either get a refund, or ride them and see if it gets worse. Put the suspect tire on the rear wheel and you should be alright.