At least winter is just about half over. The roads are white with salt powder, black ice pops up when least expected, fields of sand and gravel at every intersection, road shoulders are constrained by snow banks and another 4 inches of snow coming tonight. Too much time on the trainer, thinking about cycling vs actually cycling.

So I stare at my two beauties and am happy to see that the rear tires (both new last spring) show wear on the treads. It was a good year. But the front tires show no wear (as expected). So I wonder if any of you real cyclists out there rotate your tires each winter to even out the wear rates; even out the wear so that when the time comes you change them both for new vs run that front a bit longer "cuz it ain't so bad yet". I've not seen that discussed there at all.

Do you rotate tires? How often?

My tires rotate whenever I'm riding, except when I brake hard enough so they skid.

But all seriousness aside, you asked about tire wear. I don't wear tires but I do wear them out. Which is to say on occasion I have replaced just a rear tire. If for any reason I have pulled both tires off their respective wheels I may choose to put them on the opposite wheel. But I have never done that as a designated task.

I am a summer road rider and rotate my tires.

When the rear tire begins to show slight wearing on the crown/contact point I rotate it up front.

Sheldon Brown's website advises against rotating tires because, as he says, you always want the better tire in front. But if we're just talking about the tread being worn down a bit, no actual damage, I don't see the harm in it. So I have sometimes ignored his advice and switched the front to the rear and vice-versa. But for the front wheel you should never use a tire with any kind of a gash or cut that might lead to a blowout; in the rear it's not so bad. When I no longer trust a tire, I buy a new one for the front wheel and switch the front one to the back.

Agreed!

The lore according to Sheldon makes alot of sense to me on a daily rode bicycle and i basically have been following it on my comute bike.

A tyre lasts me 10,00km or 2 years.
A brand new tyre is installed on front when the rear is replaced, that tyre has had spent a year on the front then one on the back .
I judge a is really worn rear tyre, they way I ride, when it starts to get punctures (or a single one and I feel it is thin) or I see "canvass" when I am topping it off.

On a non-comute bike (a fun bike used on weekends / infrequently - I have a a few like a lot here) - I keep a "good" tyre on the front. If its got some wear - not a big deal - but damage, old and rotting and/or "bald" I personally do not ride on it.

Replacing one at a time means less pain of paying at any particular time, so that and less hassle has meant it's something I've never considered. Also, on narrower tyres anyways, I've found that a front tyre seems to wear in a more rounded fashion and the rear can get a bit squared off, so I imagine the squared off profile with negatively impact handling/steering at the front.

Never.

Too much work.

I replace a tire when it needs replacing. No need for make work.

One advantage of having far too many bikes in the rotation is that I rarely wear out tires. But when I realize it's time to change is when I start getting multiple flats and realize that rear tire (it's almost always the rear, of course) looks like hell.

Never, replace as necessary.
I keep one of each size tire at hand w/ tubes & rim strip to not waste any time.
Winter is a the time to spend on a full overhaul of whichever machine is due to go down to a bare frame and be re-built for Spring.

-Bandera

Um, you do realize what you are doing here, right? You are replacing the front tire when the rear one wears out. Just sayin'.

Woah, dude, you just like totally blue my mind. Oooh, the colors!

You mean you went against Master Brown and are still alive??

I never rotate, just replace rears. Rear wears in a different profile.

They have a pill for that now.

But it won't fix a flat tire. I think I got only 1000 miles, perhaps less, on the rear clincher I had been running on my Masi.

Sadly, I don't seem to ride enough to wear tires to the point of thinking about whether to rotate them. That, and my tires are large for my weight (narrowest are 28mm for a 155 lb rider) so they take even longer to wear out.

The only time I've been presented with this choice so far, I had 4 years or so on the tires (5000+ miles), and was ready for something else.

I'm firmly in the camp that moves the front tire to the rear wheel, and install the new tire on the front.