PatrickGSR94

Holy crap, my GP4S on the front has over 5K miles on it and never a single flat. I put one of my original stock tires back on the rear after the rear GP4S wore out, wore that original tire out, then put the other original tire on the back. Never any flats on either of those original tires, either.

e0richt

so ur too cheap to spend 14 doollars for a cheap bike computer? i like having one because i dont have to think about it. like the odo in my car.
















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john4789

I track a few things via spreadsheet, including miles. I track miles, bike ridden, break downs, new purchases, atypical maintenance. It is interesting just to look back at things; how many miles last year, how long since a flat, how many miles on a set of tires. That info lets me know how I am doing and what needs replacing on the bikes.

It just adds another level of enjoyment for me to collect - and reflect - on that data.

Hangtownmatt

Seriously? 3400 miles out of Schwalbe Marathon Supremes? I log my miles so I know for a fact I got just under 10,000 miles out of a set of 700X35 Marathon Supremes. I could of gone further but i had a big ride coming up and didn't want to risk it.

I can share with you my experience with these tires. For the first 2,000 miles I kept them inflated to 80 psi front and rear. I had 5 flats in that first 2,000 miles and I was pissed (disappointed to say the least). For an unrelated reason I decided to lower the pressure to 50 psi front and 60 rear. The ride on these tires really improves when they get down in the 40psi range. What I'd like to share is that after lowering the pressure I never had another flat for almost 8,000 miles. I did rotate these tires front to rear approximately every 3,000 miles. (one of the benefits of logging miles :>)) Here's what they looked like when I finally trashed them. I was so impressed that I actually cut them to see what was actually left:

gear64

I just thinks it's fun. It's nice to look back at the end of the year and see the overall miles. I started logging hours of exercise and weight several years ago with open source fitness app. Not much effort to add miles when biking. For years I used a typical cycle computer, but purchased a garmim edge this year to trace routes. It came with two mounts, extra mounts are pretty cheap. Considering one more mount for 3rd bike I ride occasionally. The device just twist locks in the mount. No wires, no sensors... assuming you don't want cardio or cadence.

locolobo13 

About a decade ago I read that keeping a diet & exercise log was a good way to lose weight. I weighed about 205 or so. So I started keeping the data in a spreadsheet. But man you have to be really anal to keep it up. Well, I am anal but would do it for a year then stop for a while. Noticed that each time I stopped I would start gaining weight again.

I wasn't riding back then. Just walking and some stretching. Could tell from the estimated calories burned that I either had to increase burned or cut down on intake if I wanted to be serious. But a physical therapist told me that riding the bike was "contraindicated" for my lower back condition at that time (2005). Long story short in Aug 2008 my pickup broke down. To fix it that day ended up riding about 10 mi in the heat. Not all at once but about 4 separate trips. My back felt fine. Legs were sore the next day but not bad either.

Then I put the estimated calories for the bike riding into my spreadsheet (mileage estimated from Google Earth, time estimated using 12mph). The calorie burn was way over walking the same time would have been! Decided to start riding to work. Lost 30lbs in the next 9 mos!

I would like to say I have been tracking my mileage ever since. For the most part I have. But every once in a while I lose interest. Still it is fun to see miles covered per day, week, month etc. If it's not for you then don't worry about it.

PatrickGSR94

It's usually not a good idea to rotate bike tires, because you want the best tire to always be on front, and the rear tire is almost always more worn that the front. Except of course if you get a new tire, put that on the front and rotate the older front tire to the back.

ughh I just had my road bike's rear tire rupture spontaneously while I had the bike in the work stand last night. It was one of my bike's original tires that had been hanging on a hook for awhile, and I had just put it back on a few weeks ago to replace a tire that was more worn. I think there was a cut in the tire and the tube ruptured through the cords at that cut.

That makes 3 rear tires in the 7,200 miles I've put on the bike.

spare_wheel

Tracking your bowel movements could reveal whether you are developing serious disease (colon cancer, ibs etc). On the other hand, obsessively tracking mileage on a bicycle could point to a mental health issue.

ItsJustMe

Interesting. I also think I get far more flats when I'm fully inflated (100 PSI) than when I'm down a bit (75 or so). In fact even though my flats seem to be all pinch flats (riding 23s on a road bike), I don't think I've gotten one when my pressure is down in that range. I got one when I let it drift all the way down to 60 once, and I've gotten a bunch of them at 90 to 110 PSI.

At 100 PSI I keep thinking that I have a flat tire because the tires are so firm it feels almost exactly like I'm riding on the rim - I can feel every pebble I hit.

alan s 

I'm going to start tracking how far I walk each day so I can determine when my shoes wear out.

RubeRad

You have fun with that. And while you're at it you can mock people who use pedometers to determine how much they walk each day.

I-Like-To-Bike

Apple Watch wearers are another good target for similar mockery.

PatrickGSR94

Health on iPhone tracks walking, but it appears it's thrown off sharply by cycling, as it's showing much higher numbers on days I ride. And of course the phone sits on my desk most of the day so it doesn't track any walking through the office.

MikeRides

I track miles via a spreadsheet. It takes less than 5 seconds to input numbers and the spreadsheet adds them up for me so I can keep track of total distance I've ridden on the bike. At first it kept me accountable for my fitness goals but I shamelessly haven't kept up with any of them. I'm not quite as anal as some on this forum, I don't have the need to log every ride on MMR/Strava or the like.

kickstart

Its rather interesting that there are some who are just as obsessive about not tracking their milage as those who do.

Andy_K 

Hey now, you can't make fun of people with an Apple Watch!

Andy_K 

Maybe I just had a string of bad luck. Like I said, the tread was still good, they just started getting flats more often than I wanted to tolerate. I still have the tires. Maybe I'll put them back on a bike a see how they do some time.

Can I ask how much you weigh? I'm about 200 pounds, and I think these tires feel sluggish below about 70 psi.

Andy_K 

I know that's the orthodox position, but I don't entirely buy it. I find that tires become puncture prone well before their tread is at an unsafe level. Since the rear tire is more susceptible to punctures, I think it is reasonable to rotate the tire with thicker tread to the back once in a while. For instance, if I've got a pair of tires, both with acceptable tread, and the rear starts getting frequent punctures I can either throw away that tire (which still has decent tread) or I can rotate it to the front and use it for another 1000 miles or so.

I-Like-To-Bike

Datz right! Practicality and value? Who needs dat manure?

Elegant design; repeat over and over until the eyes get misty and belief in all things Apple is imprinted on the brain.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah well, I had a tire on the back of my road bike just flat-out rupture while it was in the bike stand last night. I was glad that didn't happen out on the road, and even more glad it wasn't on the front of the bike.

I will never put a tire with more miles than the rear tire, on the front end of a bike.

Hangtownmatt

Keep in mind that at 10,000 miles these tires were on for two plus years. If I remember correctly my weight fluctuated over those years between 185 and 175 lbs.

Hangtownmatt

I know many people subscribe to that practice and I will not argue but .... and I hope I don't jinx myself , will continue to rotate. So far I've never had a problem. I do, however, use common sense and routinely inspect my tires. I suppose the reason I rotate is I enjoy a new matched set of tires. The practice of front to back to trash results in a mixed bag when you want to try something new. Not that there's anything wrong with that

wphamilton

I do track, or log my commutes, because Georgia has a Commute Options/Clean Air website which has random drawings for $25 gift cards. I've won 6 or 7 of those. But it's not really useful information for me since I know that the commuting mileage from a year back to now is always about the same. I only know approximately what my other mileage is.

I change tires, chains, cassettes cables and bar tape when they wear out.

chephy

I use an Excel spreadsheet and gmap-pedometer to track my mileage. I don't do anything practical with this info like tracking component wear, though My reasons are:

1) I like numbers; it's fun to look at them and compare them.

2) I like that time in the end of the day when I sit down to log my mileage. I enjoy retracing my steps on the map; helps me remember the ride itself and the places I went on my bike. A nice little daily summary/reflection.

3) Even if I have a terribly unproductive day, I still get to feel as though I managed to accomplish SOMETHING.

4) I do think logging motivates me to ride more. And it also helps me get through unpleasant rides. If I'm hurting for some reason, or the weather is miserable, or the traffic is nasty, or I get lost and end up taking an unnecessary detour I think "Well, at least I get to log all this distance", and it makes the situation a bit more bearable.

e0richt

this is the benefit for me at least.