Just thought I’d share. I love riding this old Schwinn DBR. Cochina has been my rider lately, and my wife and I ride daily. Well I made the mistake of airing up the rear tire above the max 30 lbs. Why I thought it was okay to air the tire higher, I don’t know; wasn’t smart of me and knowing it’s an old tire too. The front tire I left at 30 lbs. No long ago, a friend of mine noticed the side wall of the tire tearing near the bead of the tire. Even though I had another used set of tires available I didn’t want to give up on the very used Carlisle Lightning Dart look on Cochina; I like the look of darts so much. So I did what I used to do when mountain biking. I got my wife’s heavy duty needle, a super long string of flat wide floss and stitched up the side wall tear. The old rubber was no longer pliable so did the best I could. Not my best stitch job either due to the checking side wall, but did the trick. Then soaked up the stitched area with rubber cement both inside and out. I then took a very old throwaway US Royal Chain tire, cut 7” length area of the side wall and rubber cement in place between the inner tube and the inner side wall. I have since swapped the tires, placing the stitched up tire to the front. To my surprise, these old Carlisle tires are still holding on.
I’m sure some of you or most of you are probably thinking, “What is this guy thinking? Just replace the damn tires.” Yeah, that’s what everyone is saying. And since I don’t have any spare BW Lightning Darts, what do I have to lose. So until I find another BW Carlisle darts, or until these old tires give way, these stitched up old rubber will stay on Cochina for now.
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First noticed the tear
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Close up of the tear
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Throwaway old chain tires, so cut away piece of side wall
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My stitched up tire
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I know, it's not a pretty look, but it's working for now