I'm fairly new to bicycling; apologies if this is a standard question but I couldn't figure out how to phrase it to search for it elsewhere.
I ride a KHS Urban-X with Kenda Kwest tires (just what it came with). I've gotten barely any use out of it since owning it, and it's been resting comfortably in the living room through the winter, so I decided today was a great day to get back on.
So I unscrewed the back tire cap, and began to hand-pump air into the tire. All seemed to go well, and the tire held pressure fine, but when I removed the tire pump, the pin appeared to remain pushed down slightly, and air flowed back out of the tire. I looked, and this is what I saw:
Several narrow gashes that appear as if the rubbed was ripped, cut, or separated somehow.
Questions
- Is this a common occurrence? Again, I've ridden on this bike very little and thus filled up the tires even less. We have no animals and no bugs around that I know of that would gnaw or chew on such material.
- Is this fixable, or is my tube completely shot? It would seem to me that the latter is the case.
- Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future? I use a hand pump but am gentle; would a stand-up pump be a better choice?
- Do bike tires come with a standard warranty for cases like this, or do you know of any brands that do? If I have to purchase new tires, I'm going to purchase
- Is there any kind of "off-season" maintenance that I should be performing on my bike that could prevent things like this?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give!