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Edit: Issue resolved. Panaracer is replacing the tire.

So, I took my favorite CX bike and have been using it as a dedicated road bike for the last 8000 miles. Deep section carbon rims, 700x25c GrandPrix5000 tires, 11-28 cassette, etc... After a while I thought to myself that since I already have a dedicated road racing bike in the stable doing duplicate duty, I'd re-convert my favorite bike back to it's roots for CX/gravel use. I did the usual gearing & tire changes. XT/XTR Shadowplus derailleur, Jtek Shiftmate8, to make the derailleur & shifters compatible, new chain, new 700x38c Gravelkings. I'm a competent mechanic and the changes were simple enough out of the parts bin & basic know-how from years of experience messing with bikes.

What I hadn't anticipated was the Gravelkings would self destruct so rapidly and so easily. This should be a standard tubeless set up with 90ml of Stans sealant on a tubeless compatible 32 hole Velocity A23 rims. I weigh 190 pounds and these tires have never been over 50 psi. So that takes over inflation out of the picture.

Here is a picture after a 45 miler over Meadow and Stampede passes yesterday (in Washington State) whereby I had to stop every 20 minutes to top up the pressure because they were leaking down.

700x38c Panaracer Gravelking by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

You can push on each "bubble" and area near each "wrinkle" and feel the tread layer contact the casing. Clearly they have become dis-bonded from each other and the sidewalls have become porous. What is happening here that a tire self-destructs in 300 miles?

zen_

I think you have a defective tire. I have had a large puncture on a GravelKing SK cause the casing to unravel with lumps, and I've also noticed that towards the end of their life, the casing also gets a lot more porous (which is over 3,000 miles, not 300). Below is a picture of a pair I pulled off at 4,000 miles, and you can see the wrinkles in the left tire casing.

Moe Zhoost

+1 for being defective. I have ~2,500 miles on my set of GK-SKs and they are still looking and riding great.

fietsbob

'Self destructing' would be not riding on them , but you did..

unterhausen

I like GK slicks, but I don't get many miles out of them. I have gotten a lot of miles out of my GK SK. I never run the slicks tubeless, I have never bought one that was supposed to be run tubeless AFAIK.

Troul 

thats sad. the Vittoria Zaffiro Pro IV [30] I'm running has proven to me how well they hold up & handle craptastic terrain. haven't pushed the Pirelli Cinturato Velo [32] as hard yet, but it'll need to top the Vitts by a lot considering the Pirelli was near double the price iirc.

pdlamb

If they're not too old, you might want to document the issues and email Panaracer customer service. I had a new Pasela that developed a bubble within a few hundred miles. I emailed the picture of the bubble to Panaracer and they sent me a new tire (which arrived after the original blew out ). I installed the replacement immediately, just to make sure, and it's been doing.

Now I ride with tubes. So even though I know tubeless is supposed to be OK with lower pressures, let me ask. Are you sure 50 psi is enough pressure to keep from buckling the sidewalls on the gravel you're riding? I'd expect snakebite flats if you had tubes that low. Even though you can't puncture the non-existent tube, are you sure you're not compressing the sidewall between larger rocks and the rim, and damaging the sidewall of the tire that way?

DrIsotope

I had an SK just blow the bead off while JRA-- literally. Left a tear in the sidewall about 8" long. I sent a single photo to Panaracer and they replaced the tire without issue.

Koyote

OP: +1 for sending Panaracer CS a photo and explanation. Maybe they'll send you a new tire. But if I had that experience, or DrIsotope 's experience, I wouldn't ever run those tires again.

trailangel

I stopped buying Panasonic tires 5 years ago. I only buy from top 3 bike tire makers, and I don't consider Panaracer one of them.

mack_turtle

I had a 32mm Gravelking SK bead fail on me. I sent Panaracer a video clip of the tire blowing off the rim at 20 psi and they sent me a brand new tire a few days later.

base2 

Ok. Per @DrIsotope I'll send a photo to Panaracer.
Is there a special super secret email address that cuts through the clutter or is it just through https://www.panaracer.com/contact/

I really don't think that 50psi was too low. I know that when it was leaking down I was getting sealant ooze at the bead, but that was after the fact. I only had 1 single pinch & that is what alerted me to the situation. That's when the top-up every 20 minutes thing started & I never let it get very soft again. I can't imagine that I'd want to go much higher than 50psi either. The ride was rough enough as it was. Maybe the terrain and embedded rocks in compacted crush was just more than the tire was/is suited for. If that's the case, then I'll take the free tire, reserve the bike for light duty use only & do a drop bar conversion on my hardtail to better suit the terrain.

Thank's guys,
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Gresp15C

Let's see: Kenda, Vee Rubber, and Cheng Shin?

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Attention All: Problem solved! The good folks at Panaracer were very responsive and the issue is done. New tires are on their way!
Thank you for the suggestion to contact them directly. I couldn't be more pleased with how quickly and completely this issue was addressed.
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