I got a flat on my bike just a few minutes into my ride. I ride about 40-45 miles a week. I’m not a competitive rider, but I prefer riding a bike outdoors to any other form of cardio exercise. I average 15 MPH, so not blinding fast but not dogging it either–need to keep that heart rate up.
I don’t carry a spare tube or pump, so I turned around and walked back home in 15 minutes. This was only the third flat I’ve had on the road in many years. I had spare tubes at home, and started changing the tire. The tire had been flattened out by using it on a trainer over the winter, and had some dings it in, so I decided to take the opportunity to swap in a new tire. I drove over to a local bike shop, checked out what they had, and the tech there recommended a Continental Grand Prix 5000, which they sell for $80. I had expected to pay about half of that. You can buy some car tires for not much more than that. I thought that was pretty pricey but in the heat of the moment I just wanted to get a tire and get back on the road, so I put down my plastic and headed out.
I got home, and took the tire out of the box. It was bound with a zip tie, and bundled with an instruction sheet in four or five languages. After I took the old tire and tube off, I noticed that the factory rim tape left a few spoke holes partly uncovered. That seemed odd, but I thought that might be a contributing factor to the flat. I ran to REI and bought some rim tape off the rack. I removed the old one, which turned out to not be tape at all but molded plastic. The new tape was too wide. So I went back to REI with the wheel. They checked out the wheel and said they don’t stock tape in that width as a retail item but they sold me a roll out of the shop. Props to REI for their level of customer service. In the meantime I noticed that their price on the Continental Grand Prix 5000 was only $64, although they didn’t have my size in stock. At this point I was feeling dubious about the first shop. It’s a regional chain with about six stores, not a mom & pop corner shop.
I got home and retaped the wheel, mounted the tire and tube, and pumped it up. I rolled out and into the street, reached my turnaround point at about 6 miles, and headed back home. Another mile or two later, the tire blew rather impressively with a sharp “pop.” Not only did the tube blow, the tire had a big gash in it right in the center of the contact area where the tube had blown. It looks like it had actually worn through to the cords. In 7 miles. I am guessing the wear gave the tube a place to pop through.
My wife picked me up and I went back to the shop with the wheel in one hand and the tire box in the other. I told them this was a brand new tire, which was supposed to be puncture-resistant, and lasted only about 7 miles. The tech looked at the tire and said, “This isn’t a new tire.” I said sure it is, I just bought it from you four hours ago. He asked me who sold it to me, and when I pointed him out he said, “Hey, did you sell this guy a tire?” “Yeah.” Then he asked me if I had a receipt. “You didn’t give me one. You emailed it to me.” They verified I had indeed bought a tire there, but he insisted, “That tire is not from this package. This is an old tire. You didn’t buy this tire here. It’s got at least 100 miles on it. This is an unbranded tire.” I looked at it, and it was true that it didn’t have branding on it, and there was extensive wear all over the circumference, not just the blown spot. I said, “Look, I see what you’re saying but I’m not lying to you. I’m telling you I bought this tire here, and it came out of this box.” He offered to let me talk to his manager. The conversation went down a similar path. He said I must have mixed it up with another tire. I said I had exactly one tire, and that’s the one I put on. They were not budging.
As I was driving home with my ratty tire, I started to question my own sanity. I went back in mind and retraced all my steps to figure out how the wrong tire could have gotten on the wheel. Someone else packed an old tire in the box and did a return? No, I remembered opening a brand new tire with original packaging around it. Got my wheel mixed up with someone else’s at REI? No, the wheel was factory stock on the bike and has the same markings as the front wheel. And I didn’t take the tire in anyway. I was wracking my brain, wondering how Hercule Poirot would solve this.
So I removed the tire, and saw the inside of the tire colorfully marked as Continental Grand Prix 5000. Except it was actually the outside of the tire. I had mounted the tire inside out. Pro tip: The inside side of the tire does not wear well.
I went back to the store again to show the manager what had happened. I didn’t expect them to give me a new tire–after all, it was my own fault–but they did not offer any kind of goodwill gesture. I figured they could at least knock ten bucks off another tire to keep me as a customer (I’ve spent hundreds of dollars there just in the past two years on service and gear). I also said I took umbrage at being called a liar. The manager did say he would speak to someone about that but there was no statement that came close to being an apology. So I left that store for the last time, with my blown tire in hand. Two days later, Amazon delivered two of the same tires for $100, free shipping. Within a half hour of the package landing on my front porch I was back on the road. I now have 12 trouble-free miles on my new tire.
The metal backing plate was making contact with the rotor.