bikenh

I believe I've started to run into a problem...it sure looks that way.

I average close to 17,000 miles a year...4 year average. Two of past three years I've ridden over 20,000 miles. I've not had any kind of problems until here recently when things appears to have changed.

I've been using Bontrager T2 700x25c pretty much the past 3-4 years and I typically get around 8-10,000 miles on a tire. The bead always goes before the tread. I've never worn the tread out on a T2. I ride year round outdoors here in New Hampshire, yes I use the same tires summer and winter.

Since the start of this winter the T2s have went to *****. My last set of tires I got 3800 miles off the rear tire and 4100 miles off the front. No where near the 8-10,000 I always use to get. I changed the rear tire back in late January, 2000 miles ago and the bead is already pretty much split on me once again, I'm just waiting for the flat tire...heck I haven't even had a flat tire with the tire yet and the bead is pretty much ready to go on me. Like I said the T2s sure appear to have went to *****. Maybe it's just my imagination but I don't see any reason why the big mileage drop off has occured other than they have more than likely changed their formula for the way the tire is made...or maybe their Chinese manufacturer is ripping them off.

I've always liked the T2s because they don't cost a fortune to buy them but they last a long time and they hold up year round on clean pavement and on snow. Granted I think the snow aspect is knowing how to ride on the snow and not so much so the tire itself. Since I've never used anything but T2s on snow I can't really say for sure.

I'm wandering what kind of tires you guys use and what kind of mileage you typically get with them. I'm not sure how many more T2s I want to buy. I like the $20-25 price tag...when they are lasting a long time. But right now the tire isn't worth the time/money. I don't want to have to be stopping by the bike shop every 1500-2000 miles to replace a darn tire. That's once a month for me. I won't do that. I'm looking for high mileage tires not tires that I can just keep on replacing once a month. I ride locally and also do long road rides, aka fully loaded bike trips each summer. I prefer not to have to mess with having to find a darn bike shop while on a 5200 mile bike trip so I can replace the tire because of crappy manufacturing. I want something reliable...granted with this day and age...reliable...LMAO!! It's all about making the all mighty dollar. Don't sell quality, just sell quantity.

Yeah, I'm a bit fed up. I guess I've had too much bike work I've had to deal with this winter and I'm just ready to ride not to have to be constantly working on the bike. Most of the bike work this winter was a combo of high mileage and ride a big, 52x17, gear all winter here in snowy New Hampshire. Boy did I go through a ton of chains this winter...even went through two chainrings. It's been a long winter.

RR3

Maybe learn how to replace the tire yourself to alleviate the aggravation?

I've never had a bead go bad.

On the other hand, I go for comfort and speed over durability but I only rode 8,000 miles last year and so my experience and preference may not be helpful. 2 front tires and 4 rear ones last. Zero flats. Around $450 in used up tires....a bit of an extragence on tires. 32mm Compass EL with latex tubes and I played around with Challenge P-R, Swalbe one, and Continental 4-seasons and 4000sii. Think I am staying with the Compass extra legere.....at least 2,000 miles on the rear and almost double that on the front. Two chains. Same cassette and same chain rings but I keep them very clean and well lubed always. The comfort of the COmpass with latex tubes is my one luxury in life at the moment.

bikenh

The problem I always have is right where the bead connects to the sidewall of tire. It always cuts through right there, front or rear wheel. What I always notice is the same thing. First I notice the bumpiness of the ride...simply the tire isn't being nice and round anymore do to the 'stitching' coming undone right where the bead connects to the sidewall. Then when I take a look at the tire I see the tire sidewall is 'peeling' from the bead. The rubber on the outside of the sidewall is coming loose from the bead. The next thing I know, typically within a week or so it completely cuts through and I end up with a flat and then a new tire.

I always make sure to watch out for the bead not sitting properly on the rim as it will also cause the same feel, like the wheel is out of round. Until I started using Bontragers I never had the problem. Sometimes I have to soap the bead to get it to sit properly on the rim. Typically new tires I don't have that problem but after I get a flat tire than I'll start to notice the problem. Not always, but on occasion it occurs.

Until I started using Bontragers I never had any trouble with bead going bad on me.

I had enough time off the bike, since the early/mid 90s until I gave up driving back in 2010, that the tires have changed enough over time and with where I'm living right now the LBS carries Bontrager so I switched to Bontrager and started using them.

MilesDealer

I blew out a couple of tires a few months ago before I realized that my brake pads were rubbing on the tires. The damage was just above the bead. As the pads wore down I would tighten up the brake cables without realizing that this was changing how the pad addressed the rim; basically raising the pads.

unterhausen

that sure sounds like brake rub to me. I don't think I have ever had a tire go bad on the sidewall, other than those stupid tires Continental used to make with barely any sidewall

bikenh

Problem is I don't have a rear brake hooked up on the bike. I haven't for several years now. Riding here in the northeast winters without fenders destroys brake arms in one winter. I rarely ever used the rear brake anyways so when it took the dump on me back a couple of winters ago I didn't replace it and just unhooked it. Now since I have switched over to fixed gear riding I don't even have a rear brake arm on the bike at all. It's not brake rub. It appears the stitching they use to hook the bead to the sidewall comes unstitched and then it lets the whole process begin. I was just taking a look at it this morning before I left and in a couple of tires I have around the house they are both the same way. In some case you can flat out see the 'string' that is used to stitch the bead to the sidewall. It looks like a rather crappy way of connecting the bead to the sidewall.

antimonysarah

Is it possible there's a rim issue involved? That's never where tires go for me. If there was something slightly weird about your rims that's gotten worse, maybe the tires are still the same as they ever were?

bikenh

I've been on several different rims over the period of time since I started having the problem. Like I said it occurs both front and rear. Funny thing is today I rode to the bike shop to pick up a new tire, yeah I stayed with the T2. I rode home and as I was getting home something was giving me a rather off feeling. I got home, 18 miles from the LBS, and after spending a few minutes at the house I went to leave and started down the road and something felt even more odd. I stopped and found I had a partially flat tire on the brand new tire...on the front wheel. I didn't find anything in the tire but it wasn't a piunch flat as there was a small hole in the tube not far from the valve stem on the back side of the tube, not the valve stem side. Talk about giving you a bad feeling before you even get started.

Even the new tire, where the bead meets the sidewall you can see the string/cord that is used to stitch the bead to the sidewall. Even on the new tire. Why I don't know. I think it's bad design. I haven't taken a look at other tires to see how much of the bead/sidewall connection material you can see.

Questioning the validity of the tires is why I asked the question about what other people are using for tires and what kind of mileage are they getting from them.

unterhausen

I think those are the tires I've been using for the last 2 years, and I've had no problems

Carbonfiberboy 

That's what you get when you ride big mileage. Stuff wears out. I've never worn a tire out: they always get a tire-ending cut long before they're worn very far. Road maintenance here is poor. Try a different brand, that's all. I'm always changing tire brands because tires are always changing and I'm looking for that just-right tire.

Hard to find a good $25 tire any more. Maxxis Re-Fuse are about $37 and get good reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Maxxis-Re-Fuse...dp/B000BXX8IC/

I have a high-mileage friend who builds his own cassettes with just the single cogs he buys separately. Then he racks the worn cogs, rings, and worn chains that go with them, because the worn chain will still work with its worn cogs and rings. Then he can run a worn set until it's really gone, then throw it away and run the next most worn set, etc.

bikemig 

+ 1. More durable tires will cost more than $25 a tire.

bikenh

Yeah, it's like what I heard stated a number of years ago. The tire companies, car tire, can make tires that can get 100,000 miles...now probably even more. At the same time I noticed that they had dropped their tire warranties from 50K miles down to 20-30K miles. Also from the same person I heard the statement being said that why would they want to make tires that can get 100K miles...it will put them out of business.

What's the difference between a $25 tire and a $50 tire. Their is no difference in true reality. Okay, maybe kevlar versus steel bead and the rubber formulation may be a bit different, but the true cost to the manufacture is pretty much the same. The difference between a $25 tire and $50 tire is the dumb fools that are stupid enough to pay them $50 for a product that is quite frankly no different than the $25 product...at least from the manufacturers cost perspective. Sure you get bragging rights because you spent more for your tire but a tire is a tire. The difference in how it holds the road is simply a matter of different formulation in rubber. The cost of the rubber is still the same to the manufacturer. Rubber is rubber. You're talking pennies in difference between the two tires in manufacturing cost. If people weren't stupid enough to give them the big dollars for being brain washed into believing the tires are really worth that much more money, than the companies wouldn't get away with charging more money for their tires. Human beings are so stupid.

bikemig 

Human beings may or may not be dumb but I know when I rode a lot of miles, I rode the cheapest tires that I thought were good quality. You're going to go through tires so it didn't make sense to me to overpay for tires.

Still some tires are pretty famous for lasting a long time like Schwalbe tires.

bikenh

I agree it doesn't make sense to overpay. Hence why I was asking the question. You're the first response that has given even a decent place to look. I have limited internet access so I can't spend all day surfing trying to do the research...again hence why I asked.

I will add what is the difference between Schwalbe and what I'm using in the true cost of the tire? The difference is the willingness of what are willing the pay for the advertising the company does. All tires could be pretty much the same price, irregardlesss of anything else, okay maybe mountain bike tire would cost more since they are bigger, aka have more rubber but otherwise the cost should be the same. Your not paying for the tire your paying for the marketing campaign.

bikemig 

Chain reaction in the UK has very good prices for schwalbe tires. They tend to be durable, flat resistant and a bit heavier.

ronfinch

My experience is that quite a few companies whose products I have previously bought regularly have gone from making products to making money in the last ten or so years. Fundamental difference and really more important (at least in the long term) than brand of tyre. Who knows whether a company has changed production methods or whatever since this or that recommendation? Having said that, I would say that fairly recently I had some continental gatorskin tyres that basically would have lasted forever as far as I could tell, but the ride wasn't great for me personally - think the toughness/rigidity basically gave the tyre a flatspot kind of by design. I have some vittoria rubino pros now which are cheap, and feel very good in comparison - not durable though so don't buy them for that.

ythe1300

The longest Life I even got out of a set of tires was ~4500 miles and they where the cheap Vittoria Zaffiros that came on my Clubman. I think they cost about $17 on nashbar. I would 100% ride them again. I'm kind of fat too (~210 when I was on those) so keep that in mind.

Link to the newer version.
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Produc...30_-1___204729\


Disclaimer no idea how these would work in whatever "Snow" is, but if it's anything like rain they do well.

RR3

No difference between a $25 and $50 tire other than one is faster and more comfortable. 320 tpi cotton casings and hand applied rubber doesn't cost more? Seriously?

OP: You asked what kind of tires we use and what kind of mileage we get. You got responses.

Frankly, your claim and expectation of 10,000 miles on a tire is hard to fathom. 4,000 miles was the best I ever got and those were Specialized Expedition tires from many years ago and I was only 168 lbs then (6'3')

Try the Schwalbe Marathon line.

I hear the new 2015 Continental Gatorskin duramax whatever last a long time. I wouldn;t put them on my bike but lots of folks swear by them

Or buy the Nashbar tires on sale for like 15 bucks and learn to change a tire yourself. GL.

bikenh

To put it simply, pretty much everything is free, when you really stop and think about it. Man kind has put a price on its head. Rubber grows on trees. Trees grow naturally. Rubber is free. Cotton grow in the ground...it also grows naturally...it's also free. Steel is found in the ground all over the world...it's free. Take a look at what you spend on items you buy and ask yourself how much does this really cost. I'll give you hint, it's natural...it's free. It's mankind that puts a price on it....not nature.

I've been keeping a spreadsheet for the past several years now and part of the spreadsheet I put down when I put on new tires, new chains, new bottom brackets, etc. It shows how many miles I ride on any given tire/chain/BB etc. I typically had been getting 8-10K miles on a tire, depending on front vs rear wheel. If I was riding fully loaded than the rear wheel would naturally drop down in miles thanks to the extra weight causing faster wear and tear. Now I'm not getting anywhere close to that kind of mileage anymore on them. If the darn companies want to change the formulation of the tire than they should also change the tire 'name' instead of trying to call a different tire by the same name.

George

I see specialized has there tires on sale. I have two sets in storage now and I wonder how long they would last in storage?

Carbonfiberboy 

It's good to see that there is still someone who likes to donate their labor. I never liked the forced labor donation thing all that much.

Some things change because people think they're improving them. So like pneumatic tires were thought to be a useful innovation even though they got flats when the solid rubber tires never did. So maybe that's the way to go.

shelbyfv

20,000 miles a year, New Hampshire winters, pushing a 52X17!!! You da MAN!!

guidoStow

Try Continental GP4

bikenh

When you don't own a car and live by yourself, you find a way of getting around. When you do it often enough...you get in shape. When you don't believe in supporting this commie regime in Washington you learn to live on less not more, so you don't have to work/pay taxes to help support the regime, so you have tons of free time. As a result you have to do something with your free time...and I ride the bike.

Let's see on average over the past five years my expenses have been one half the poverty level or less. I don't own a TV, dont' have internet access at my house(no reason to stay home), use a tracfone($19.88 once every three months), during the summer months(non-heating months) I only use 3-4kW of electricity per month. Yeah, I live on the cheap. You can have your prized possession(man I can't live without my cell phone, cable TV, etc), I'll have my free time. Too much to do in life to waste time on that other garbage. Just remember, you're I can't live without it device people use to live just fine without it, in some cases as recently as within the past 10 years. You've been brainwashed. Get rid of the TV and you'll quickly come realize how little you really need and as a side benefit you will have more free time to ride the bike and get yourself in shape.

chriskmurray

For what it is worth, I have found the Panaracer Pasela to be very durable and affordable. I don't track mileage so I can't say for sure how long it lasts but I have never owned a pair of tires that has made it to 10k miles but I am heavy and climb a lot.