Marathon tyre problem

[Headgardener]

Hi all. My Dawes Horizion, which is now about two years old, has a bulge in the front tyre which rubs on the mudguard and makes an annoying noise. The tyre is the original that came with the bike and so is the same age. After taking the tyre off of the rim today to see if I could sort the problem out I found that the inner casing is starting to break up in the area of the bulge for about a foot. Does this indicate the need for a new tyre? Many thanks for any advice given. HG.

 

[Herzog]

Replace it. Having a tyre blow out is not fun!

 

[e-rider]

Yes, you will need to replace it, however, this is an unusual problem - was the tyre rubbing on something before you noticed the bulge?

I just bought some schwalbe marathon racer tyres and the online seller claimed they were made in Germany. It turns out they are made in Indonesia and the quality of the tyres looks rather poor IMO.

 

[albion]

It no doubt means you ran it near flat.Marathons are so heavy duty that it is quite easy to do in error after a slow puncture.

 

[Tynan]

2 years is getting on for a tyre surely

 

[Garz]

Agree with tynan.

I am not a mile muncher by any standards but cover some ground (1500+ so far this year) and would not begrudge a tyre requiring replacing around this type of mileage. However two years is time and not a distance measurement so who knows..

 

[Tynan]

rubber has a lifespan surely, spec if it sees a lot of sun and stress?

I have two marathons out in the garden these last five years on worn out and discarded bike, they look mint but I suspect will go nasty if ever used

 

[Headgardener]

Thanks all I was all most decided to replace the tyre but thought I would post here first. I will now go and order a new tyre as the rubbing noise is driving me nuts. Maybe I will go a bit quicker as well .

 

[hotmetal]

Good idea. If it's bulged enough to start rubbing then it will pop very soon. As it's the front tyre this will be rather unpleasant to put it mildly.

Sounds like the sidewall has maybe been damaged. It could be due to hitting an edge with underinflated tyres, but worth checking that your brake blocks are correctly aligned – if they're rubbing on the sidewall you're gonna pop the new tyre soon too.

As for the lifespan of rubber, yes, I've found that old rubber goes hard and cracks/perished after a while. Not within 2 years though. I've got some tyres that I used until recently – the sidewalls were literally crumbling when you rubbed them – but I had no problems and these tyres must have been 10 years old if they were a day! Not that I recommend such mechanical laxitude.

 

[Headgardener]

Well new tyre fitted after a bit of a struggle and now only the hum of rubber on tarmac and the click of the shifter to have to listen to. I will monitor the rear but at the moment it seems OK. Many thanks for you help. HG.

 

[TheBoyBilly]

I got a front tyre puncture on my Brommie on Tuesday. 1st puncture in the 20 months I've had the bike and the Marathon+ tyres still look like new even though they must have done nearly 2000 miles. My mate at work volunteered to mend it while he had his break. I did warn him that they may be a bugger to refit but he did a good job despite ruining two levers, lol. I was going to ask the local Evans store to sort it while I worked but all it cost me in the end was £4.99 for a tube and a £6 taxi fare to work after getting the puncture at 6am in Leicester Square.
Great tyres IMHO

Bill