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Last Monday at The Potawatomi Trail my front tire had started going flat, and it took a new tube to fix it. Further investigation today showed that the problem was a small split (as seen above), right along one of the seams or for-packaging fold points in the tube. Cutting open the tube (picture) showed that this was the only visible part of a rather large split forming in the tube.
I’d first thought that perhaps this was a pinch flat, but those won’t cause long slits running parallel to the wheel / bead. So, I figure that this is a lingering seam from when the tube was made, or possibly some damage from when it was folded for packing. Ah well. I’ve since replaced both tubes on that bike with brand-new Presta valves, so hopefully that will sidestep any future problems.