Road Cycling - Tire Wear?

Hello to all!

First, I must say what a pleasure it's been to find bikeforums.net. It is genuinely encouraging to find such friendly and helpful posts.

I've returned to cycling (road cycling) after a 10 year hiatus, and I was wondering if there are any good general indicators about tire wear. Wear on my MTB tires was pretty obvious, so I'm curious about road tires.

Thanks!

Welcome to BF.

When you can tell that the tire no longer appears rounded (starts looking "flat"), it's time to rotate them.

And by rotate, i think most forum members agree the best way, is to move the front tire to the rear, the rear to the trash, and put a new tire on front. :)

Thanks very much!

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
And by rotate, i think most forum members agree the best way, is to move the front tire to the rear, the rear to the trash, and put a new tire on front. :)
I guess I rotate mine earlier than you do Joe.
I can usually rotate mine 2 or 3 times. Or maybe I'm trying to squeeze too many miles out of my tires. :confused:
Am I being too cheap?

Ron, Good question! I think i can get 2000+ miles per tire, 1000 on the front, and then an additional 1000 on the rear. I only rotate once. I would rather have a blow out on the rear then the front any day. And i still get good milage out of my tires. Do you know how many miles you get out of your tires?

Also, what tires do you use? I use the Michelin Axiel Pro's, and currently have 1100 miles on them, they look like they can last atleast another 1000 miles.

See this thread about rotating tires: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7566

Ron, I feel strongly that a tire with lots of rubber should be on the front, and that it's a mistake to keep rotating tires back to front to try to wear them both out simultaneously.

The front tire is more likely to hit a sharp object and blow out catastropically. Moreover, and even worse, a front blowout is far more likely to result in an uncontrollable crash than a rear blowout.

So as was said above: front to back, back to trash. Put the new tire on the front. If you're obsessive about having your tires match, buy them three or four at a time at a time. (I usually wear out rears three times faster than fronts, but lighter riders probably come closer to a 2:1 ratio.)

RichC

Sometimes that flat patch is cause by a kink in the rim catching the brakes, so the wheel always stops in one position.
You can probably extend the tyre life by rotating the tyre around the rim at intervals (maybe twice a year).

I thought he was referring to the profile of the tire looking squared-off (like a car tire), rather than to a flat place developing in one spot.

Or ami just getting more and more addled from not riding?

RichC

well as for myself I don't rotate them anymore, If I bought a new tire it will be a pair, Like right now I am using a Michellin axial Pro, god knows how many flats I have with it, just thinking of dumping the said tire and will buy a new set maybe a Continental, But I heard there is a New Michellin the Carbon laced tire, , will just wait whats the consumers review on this tire

I, too, rotate front to rear, rear to trash. I don't know about others, but I usually run the rear tire until I start seeing threads on the wear surface of the tire. They usually first appear in little patches here and there.

Also, if you are a little heavier 175+, try using a 700x25 vs 700x23, the wider tires will last a little longer - that's been my experience.

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
Ron, Good question! I think i can get 2000+ miles per tire, 1000 on the front, and then an additional 1000 on the rear. I only rotate once. I would rather have a blow out on the rear then the front any day. And i still get good milage out of my tires. Do you know how many miles you get out of your tires?

Also, what tires do you use? I use the Michelin Axiel Pro's, and currently have 1100 miles on them, they look like they can last at least another 1000 miles.
I rotate about every 500 miles. I get 2000-2500 miles from a set.
I never thought about the blow-out problem. Guess I need to consider this when it's time to rotate.


I had Axial Pros on my Litespeed (less than 300 miles per tire) but averaged a flat a week so took them off. I really like them but the roads here have too much trash for these tires.

I just put on a pair of Conti Grand Prix 3000s. I've had great success with Conti Ultra 2000s on my other bike so thought I'd give the GP 3000s a try.

This is all great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to reply!