"Dan Musicant" wrote:
Every bike I remember owning had 27 x 1.25 inch tires. When my old
Shwinn Continental frame broke almost 5 years ago I bought another used

I thought those Continental frames were nuke proof.

I had a blowout a couple days ago. I was at elevation and noticed some
bumping and saw a z-jag in my back tire and took it REAL slow down the
descent. I got to pretty flat elevation before the tire unexpectedly
blew out with what sounded like a gun shot. I just hopped off the bike,
locked it, and walked the rest of the way and came back and got it with
my car later.

Was there a hole in the tire, or did it just blow off the rim? If it's the
latter, it may not have been seated properly on the rim. How much pressure
did you have in it? Do your rims have a hook bead? Also, your hard braking
on the descent could have heated the rims, causing the pressure to increase.

That tire was not on that bike more than about a month. It was one of
several cheap tires I bought a few years ago and they seem to have all
gotten stiff, somewhat brittle and even crumbly just sitting around.
Does this always happen with bike tires? You can't buy them and store
them without them going bad? Is there something you can do to protect
them, like an application of Armor All?

Keep the tires away from sunlight and ozone. Store them in a plastic bag in
a cool dry place and they'll last for years.

Another question I have is this: The place where I bought my used Miyata
said they could convert it to a 700cc bike to use the now common tire. I
assume that there's a whole lot more available in the 700 size, right?

There are plenty of good 27 x 1-1/4" tires. Try the IRC Road Winners at
about $13.

Art Harris