tire tread cracks

"cliff" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I have a vittoria rubino pro tire (vulcanized) that has
cracks in the tread. The colored portion of the tire is
seperated from the black center portion of the tread, and
there are cracks in the black center portion. The tire is
about a year old and has seen few miles (probably 200 or
so). Though I describe it as "seperation" the crack is
along the junction of the black and colored portions of
the tread. The tread is not seperated from the casing. How
much of a problem is this in terms of safety? Thanks for
your thoughts.

Funny you should ask. I was just out for a ride and halfway
through, I suddenly noticed a ticking sound coming from my
rear wheel. Upon inspection I found that a 3" X 3/16"
section of tread had separated from the casing and this
"flap" was hitting the brake mount with every wheel
rotation. The tire had not lost air so I carefully rode home
at a leisurely 10 mph. The tire, a Vredestein Volante, had
only been on the bike a few months and had less than 500
miles on it. I had noticed some slight cracking in the tread
but there was no bulging or distension of the tire and the
cracking did not appear to be worsening. I have never seen
this before in a one of my bike tires especially one with so
few miles. In the future, I will be paying much more
attention to any tread cracking.