E-Bike User Group
Fraying Tires May Bind Your Cassette
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C. Hurwitz
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2/4/2023 6:08 PM
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When cleaning my bike recently I noticed some rubberized threads hanging off my Hard Shell Gatorskin Tires. When I pulled on them it was as if a sweater was coming unraveled. I clipped them and did a little research finding that this fraying is the fishnet casing that's on the outside of the sidewall and is mostly a cosmetic feature of Gatorskins. Be assured this does not affect the integrity of the tire but it was certainly alarming to me when I first observed it.
I didn't think too much more about this until I was returning from a ride and suddenly my e-bike began making a ratcheting noise as if pedaling backwards and when coasting I found that the chain was rotating forward as if I were pedaling. Grant at Trek was somewhat stumped but took the cassette off and found a handful of these threads wrapped around the gears which bound them up causing them to rotate as I coasted.
I don't know that this is unique to e-bikes but it certainly caught my attention and thought I would bring it to yours. Understand I have used Gatorskins on my e-bike for two years and never observed this fraying issue before so I don't know that it is a frequent occurrence but be aware that it can happen so when cleaning your bike pay attention to the tires and if fraying is observed check your cassette.
Hope this helps some of you as it did me.
Norm Hurwitz
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