So, as part of a trade, I got an old 4 ply 36" Nimbus Nightrider, and it’s got some cracks on the sidewall. (I knew about the cracks - the trade was all good).
I’m not super concerned, especially with it being the 4 ply version, but I was just wondering who has tyres with cracks on the sidewalls and rides them with no concerns, and if anyone’s actually had a failure of a tyre with cracked sidewalls.
I bought a 36" used 2 years ago and it had some cracks in the sidewall of the NR tire. No failures so far. I run at about 50psi (mostly - I’m not always good about checking or pumping it up).
I don’t worry about cracks. One of the Nightrider tires I’m now riding is cracked quite a bit and run it a the max pressure of 65psi. The strength of the tire is the cording and not the rubber coating.
I had a cracked 20”, but it was the dry rotted original tire from ~‘70s and it lasted through my learning phase, some hopping and messing around in the driveway, and a few miles of riding before blowing out, but not out the side, right out the top of the tire I think. So I guess the sidewalls still held up better than the tread.
Cheers all - I wasn’t particularly worried but it’s good to hear others have been riding without issue, and at pressures higher than I’ll likely be pumping this up to.
The inner skin and bead seem perfectly fine and there’s no sign of any threads, which feel like the most important things to check.
I also rode for a few years on a dried out, cracked NR, but I didn’t ride it that much. I was mostly worried about dried out rubber not having traction.