I come from MTB riding, so I'm not fully in the picture about everything road bike related. I noticed that my front tyre started to get those tiny cracks, as it would be brittle. The tyre is 10 months old and has seen about 3000km.
The tyre wear indicators are well visible, so I wonder if I can still run it, or if those cracks are another signal to change the tyre.
If so, is there something to prevent this, like applying silicone spray?
I sometimes ride short gravel sections with this bike, could this be a reason for the cracks forming?
by falzrole
8 Comments
looks like UV damage.
That’s been stored in such a way as to allow the rubber to perish. The tread may be fine but the cracks say the tyre is done.
Steht das Rad normalerweise viel in der Sonne?
Totally get where you’re coming from — coming from MTB, road tire wear can be a bit weird at first.
Looking at your tire (GP 5000? — nice choice!), those little cracks are pretty normal after 3000 km and 10 months. It’s just the rubber drying out a bit from sun, flexing, and maybe the occasional gravel stretch. It doesn’t mean the tire’s unsafe right away, especially if the wear dots are still visible and there’s no thread or fabric showing.
That said, if you’re doing fast descents or riding in the wet, I’d play it safe and swap it soon. If you’re just cruising around, you can stretch a bit more life out of it — just keep an eye on it.
And no, don’t bother with silicone spray — it can mess with grip more than help. Best prevention: store your bike out of the sun and don’t overinflate.
Pretty normal and harmless.
Tyres degrade with age there is nothing anyone can do about it. If you expose tyres to UV they degrade faster than they would without that exposure
I know you say the tyre is 10 months old but it isn’t all you can say is how long you have had it you have no way of knowing how long it has sat in a warehouse before you bought it and all the time it is sat waiting to be sold it is degrading.
That tyre is shot as soon as it degrades to the point it cracks all you can do is replace it.
Keep an eye out for cracks in the side walls
Gp500 tubeless ready… I had the same thing happen to mine, 7 other bikes in household and just these tires. I rode them like that untilrubber started flaking off