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Pushing Your Luck On Your Morning Commute Vintage Style

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Pushing Your Luck On Your Morning Commute Vintage Style

Old 07-23-19, 09:25 AM
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SamSpade1941 
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Pushing Your Luck On Your Morning Commute Vintage Style


I’ve been riding my Grand Jubile to work every morning for the last several days while I wait for some parts so I can do a minor overhaul on my daily driver the Surly LHT.

The Grand Jubile went through mild overhaul / restoration with lot of new parts and what I consider to be some upgrades .

One of these upgrades was a set of wheels with Phil Hubs and a set of visually very nice looking Specialized Expedition tires .

I cant help but think that even though these tires look fine they are indeed 35 years old ... and I’ve been putting miles on them like crazy for the last couple of weeks ...

the question in my mind now is when will they give up the ghost ? Or can I pull a Kramer and keep driving on empty regardless of what my better judgement tells me..
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Old 07-23-19, 09:49 AM
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Originally Posted by SamSpade1941

I’ve been riding my Grand Jubile to work every morning for the last several days while I wait for some parts so I can do a minor overhaul on my daily driver the Surly LHT.

The Grand Jubile went through mild overhaul / restoration with lot of new parts and what I consider to be some upgrades .

One of these upgrades was a set of wheels with Phil Hubs and a set of visually very nice looking Specialized Expedition tires .

I cant help but think that even though these tires look fine they are indeed 35 years old ... and I’ve been putting miles on them like crazy for the last couple of weeks ...

the question in my mind now is when will they give up the ghost ? Or can I pull a Kramer and keep driving on empty regardless of what my better judgement tells me..
In my exp, vintage tires will let u down.
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Old 07-23-19, 09:57 AM
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one more mile ...
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Old 07-23-19, 10:08 AM
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
one more mile ...
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Old 07-23-19, 10:21 AM
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I sure wouldn't ride them on any perilous descents.
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Old 07-23-19, 10:51 AM
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After two rather dramatic old tire failures, I have decided to not run old tires, even NOS ones, on my riders. One must consider the possibility of injury should something fail on a bike. A broken shifter cable, no big deal, from a could get hurt point of view. A flat tire could cause a crash, damaging the bike and the rider. That, alone, screams road worth and safe to use tires.

These NOS rubber hoops failed very early in their time of use. The NOS sidewalls had deteriorated but did not appear to be in bad shape at all. But they were and darn near dumped me when the rear one went "bang"!
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Old 07-23-19, 11:10 AM
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Tires are relatively cheap. ‘Nuff said.
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Old 07-23-19, 11:15 AM
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You probably shouldn't ride on them, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't, because sometimes I do foolish things. How bad would a failure be for you? Sometimes tires live for years without UV or humidity, so they are not damaged by time. The problem is, you never really know.
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Old 07-23-19, 11:16 AM
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+1, I've not had good experience with vintage tires. This bad experience includes a set of vintage specialized touring tires, which split at the casing and caused a side blowout, despite failry low mileage on the tires.

Also, is the bead fully set on that front tire? Looks like it might be creeping up above the rim edge. Could just be a dirt line across the casing, but thought I'd mention it just in case.
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Old 07-23-19, 12:03 PM
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Originally Posted by gaucho777
+1, I've not had good experience with vintage tires. This bad experience includes a set of vintage specialized touring tires, which split at the casing and caused a side blowout, despite failry low mileage on the tires.

Also, is the bead fully set on that front tire? Looks like it might be creeping up above the rim edge. Could just be a dirt line across the casing, but thought I'd mention it just in case.
Dirt on the casing ...
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Old 07-23-19, 05:24 PM
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“ I’m not a tire dr but I play one on the internet...”

i’ve done the same when funds were- are low but smarts call for daily inspections before each roll.
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Old 07-23-19, 06:16 PM
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Originally Posted by 3speedslow
“ I’m not a tire dr but I play one on the internet...”

i’ve done the same when funds were- are low but smarts call for daily inspections before each roll.
Which is what I’ve been doing daily ... my commute is flat with a very small climb on the way home . I don’t ride fast as I’m usually traveling with a messenger bag . 10 to 15mph is the max
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Old 07-23-19, 06:33 PM
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That's a good looking bike and worthy of regular riding. I'd get new tires just because I like new tires. I've had the casing split while I was riding on two different Conti GP 4 Seasons tires -- not vintage tires, just new tires with a few thousand miles in rough conditions. The air goes out in a hurry. I guess I was lucky that both times it was the rear tire. You could probably keep the bike under control even with a front blowout at the speeds you're talking about. Probably. How's your dental insurance?
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Old 07-23-19, 07:11 PM
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At least replace the front tire, for safety reasons.
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Old 07-23-19, 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by John E
At least replace the front tire, for safety reasons.
This weekend I am putting a set of Vittoria Randonneurs on it that I purchased a while back. Kinda wish I had some more skinwalls or tan wall tires to put on it but oh well.
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Old 07-23-19, 08:57 PM
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Vintage rubbers are not to be trusted. Interpret that as you will.
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Old 07-23-19, 09:00 PM
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Through four years of college I used the same (original) front tire on my campus cruiser, which was about 20 years old at that time. Stored it outside and rode it daily in winter. It never even went flat. Either they don't make 'em like they used to, or I used up all my tire luck on that one bike.
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Old 07-26-19, 09:58 AM
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Well the old Specialized Expedition tires did not make it to the weekend . Failure occurred this morning on the rear tire . Fortunately it was less than a 1/4 from the house. I ended up having to go back , get the car and drive to work.

i managed to get 200 miles out of those tires before they died ...
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Old 07-26-19, 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by SamSpade1941
Well the old Specialized Expedition tires did not make it to the weekend . Failure occurred this morning on the rear tire . Fortunately it was less than a 1/4 from the house. I ended up having to go back , get the car and drive to work.

i managed to get 200 miles out of those tires before they died ...



Well, you almost made it.
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Old 07-26-19, 10:49 AM
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Old crusty skin walls are fragile and dangerous but sure do have a nice ride. I’m picking up a pair of Paselas today for my 1983 Schwinn Voyageur, black sidewalls. I rode the bike on some other tires for a few months, wore them out, and threw the skinwalls
on for fun a few weeks ago to see how long they’d last, but I haven’t been commuting on them, been using my other bike. I was excited to learn my preferred LBS recently started stocking Paselas in 27 x 1 1-8 and 1 1-4 for $25/pc, competitive with online prices after shipping.
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Old 07-26-19, 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by scarlson
Through four years of college I used the same (original) front tire on my campus cruiser, which was about 20 years old at that time. Stored it outside and rode it daily in winter. It never even went flat. Either they don't make 'em like they used to, or I used up all my tire luck on that one bike.
Now that's funny right there. 😁 After riding in Arizona awhile now, I try pretty hard to keep my tires & tubes fresh. The biggest problem, is a lack of towns & bike shops. 🤔😉
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Old 07-26-19, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by gugie
Well, you almost made it.
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Old 07-26-19, 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by ksryder
Vintage rubbers are not to be trusted. Interpret that as you will.
@ksryder

I just got this... dating was sooo long ago!

well played my friend.
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Old 07-26-19, 08:55 PM
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So I was removing the tires from the rims a little bit ago and while there was no external signs of dry rot, there was plenty internally, in fact the rear tire almost came off without me helping it as did the front. The rim tape came off the rims with the tubes.... So all things considered im glad I did not have a blow out on the front...
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