Early last May, after 17 years in storage, I aired up the Continential Sprinters (sew-ups) on my early 1980s vintage Ciocc "Mod San Cristobal" and discovered to my delight that they still held air. Since then I've been riding my rollers about twice a week and taking my Ciocc on short round-the-subdivision road trips. I soon noticed a brown powdery residue apparently radiating from beneath my Mavic GP-4s. As time passed, the residue became more prominent. Within the past week, I've noticed signs of bulging and casing failure.
I'm not suprised to see this sort of thing happen after 17 years and I've already decided to replace the tires. I'm just curious about the actual cause/nature of my tires' mysterious malady. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Steve Whitting
Prairieville, Louisiana USA
http://ciocc-cat.angelfire.com/