CbadRider

I did some clean up. Please keep in mind the Intelligence clause when posting:


Intelligence
We’re a community with quality standards and expect our members will make a sincere effort to contribute their thoughts on interesting subjects in a meaningful and respectful manner. Posting messages and otherwise interacting on BikeForums is completely optional; many members often prefer to just read what others have to say. But if you do post, we expect that you’ll be respectful of the time of others by posting meaningfully.


If you don't want to contribute meaningfully to a thread, please exercise a little self-control and just don't post.

spare_wheel

i have very few flats but i attribute this more to where i ride than the particular brand or type of tire.

deeth82

Like I-L-T-B, I go more for puncture resistance and comfort, although it took me a long time (and several tire sets) to find the "sweet spot" just for me. My favorite tires so far are PanaRacer RiBMo's in 28mm. Just cushion-y enough, and they roll fast enough too. I've got several sets (mix of 25mm and 28mm) on several bikes, with a few hundred miles on each of them; with no flats to show so far! As a sidenote, I use Avenir thorn-resistant tubes in conjunction with these (I'm lazy enough not to want to fix flats, but yet somehow find the energy to pedal harder in order to fight the added rolling resistance...go figure) and it should also be noted that I live in a more rural-suburban area, so the road conditions (and debris) may not be as atrocious here as in other riders' experiences.

After reading this thread, I'm curious to try some Schwalbe Marathon's. Hopefully I won't need new tires for quite some time!

Dwayne

My Schwalbe Big Apples 26x2.15" after 6,700 miles of commuting. I should probably rotate the front and the rear.

Edit: Only one flat in that time, picked up a metal splinter in my garage after a project.

AusTexMurf

Nice pics, thanks for posting.

Current tires on my commuter rigs:
About 3500 miles on my 2.15 Big Apples, 2 flats. Maybe around 1/2 life left. Lots of loads and trailers on this rig. My front looks more worn than Dwayne's.
3600 +/- miles on 700x37 Continental Travel Contacts. Lots of life left. They looked bald when new. Great tires. Zero Flats on this set.

4000+ miles on 700X32 Panaracer Urban Max.......maybe 3 flats. Life left in tires. Lots in front.

I do have a set of old design Continental Contact Safety @ 26x1.75 with 9500 +/- miles. Great tires. Only one flat that I can recall. Still roll well, do not flat. Life left.

jrickards

Not only am I amazed at the distances that some have gotten out of their tires, I'm also amazed that high mileage sometimes goes along with low flat rate.

jrickards

You mean you can ride without rotating your tires? Shouldn't your tire life be even longer?

Dwayne

I meant to do it when I cleaned and repacked the hub bearings at 6K miles, but forgot to. I figure if I rotate them now, the pair should last to 11K miles easily.

pdlamb

Panaracer Pasela: 300-2400 miles depending on whether the tread delaminated.
Vittoria Randonneurs: 500-2,000 (wire in sidewall broke on one)
Continental Contact: 7,000 until I lost patience trying to get it off the rim to fix a flat. Didn't work well with a screwdriver hole in the sidewall after that.
Specialized Armadillo Nimbus: 4,000+

Mostly I expect to get about 2k miles with a flexible sidewall, easy-rolling 700Cx32 before I'm through the tread, or far enough through that the tire starts picking up puncture-causing trash.

I-Like-To-Bike

Not really, over the long run the number of tires to be replaced would be the same; exception being if the tread wears out in different patterns on the front and rear wheels. In addition, the less mucking around with maintenance the better. I usually change a tire at the same time when I replace a chain, once a year at 5000 miles. Other wise i don't even think about tires.

I-Like-To-Bike

That certainly makes a difference. When I used to ride daily on the glass lined streets of Philadelphia in the 70's, a flat every week was common. I also was using cheap ($3) Pep Boys brand tires. Hadn't discovered the secret of good tires until I moved to Germany in the 80's.

jrickards

OK, I think you people are not getting my silly joke.

Dwayne

I thought it was an inside joke on some "should I rotate my tires" discussion that ended up with ten pages and over the top arguments like most threads here.

But NOW I got it