Should I expect from a set of road tires? My rear is squared off and I seem to be getting an lot of flats on my front (a run of bad luck?). I searched the forum and saw people throwing out numbers like 6k miles...I asked at my LBS and he said 800-1000 miles (yes, I realize he may just be trying to sell me tires). He also said I could expect my front to last half again as long. Any thoughts?

Ride 'em till the tread cracks. That's what Pcad does.

I thought treads on road tires were irrelevant? I have lots of tiny cuts in them (gotta love New England roads) and the rear I have a hole that is noticeable but not large. I have already ordered new tires (a set of Conti Ultra Race) but if I can get more wear out of the ones that came with my ride all the better.

Its hard to say how many miles you can get because I've noticed different tires having different lifespans.

The rear tires do seem to wear out faster

Sometimes I have a run of flats due to a sliver of metal or glass that is in the tire rubber. Sometimes you can run your thumb over it and not feel it because it is small and deep in the tire. Then you air it up and ride and it can give you a slow leak. That kind of stuff is really hard to find and sometimes just replacing the tire is the quickest solution.

I replace rear tires when a hole appears in the rubber and I can see threads. That's basically a tire that has seen its day. I keep those tire around though for winter time and put them on my wheel I use for the trainer so I don't have to chew up good tires. Plus, if you flat in your living room, you only have to walk as far as the kitchen to grab a beer, so its a low risk thing.

I also keep tires around that aren't completely useless in case I have a tire completely go to hell and the LBS is closed for the rest of the weekend.

That's at least how I justify keeping a pile of old tires around

1. some brands/models of tires last much longer than others
2. rider weight and road conditions also have a big effect on tire life
3. lots of front tire flats indicates a problem with your wheel or tire (e.g., piece of glass stuck in the rubber)
4. rear tire usually wears out twice as fast as the front
5. when the rear tire starts to get squared off, it is about half worn out

pcad means rubber.

knobbly "treads" is only relevant on road bikes insofar as you should avoid it.

Squared off tires might still have life left. If you can see threads though, it's definitely time to change. Today.

I just killed my rear tire, a Kenda Kontender after only 600 miles. I'm a big rider and I rode about 200 of those miles on fire roads, but I was still surprised when it went.

People talk about getting lots of flats as an indicator of a dead tire, in my experience, it meant 5 flats in 100 miles (on my last patch job the sidewall crumbled).

I'm now waiting on Fortezza SE's from Performance Bike.

wonder if the poster would drive his car tires with no threads and missing rubber in them. Just to put it in perspective.

I typically get between 1500-2500 miles from a set of tires. If I get less than 2000 I'm disappointed, but it's a common enough occurence that I just chalk it up to bad roads, or poor QC on that particular batch of tires.

I never change my front & rear individually, I just replace both tires when it's time for new rubber.

800-1000! wow, thats less then 10 rides for some of the people on this forum........unless your wheels are out of true or your using very soft compound tires or you have bad roads and are overweight, you should get WAY more then that.

Are you pumping them up to correct pressure? I suppose under inflation will cause premature wear.

I do ride on baddish roads (Massachusetts) is notorious for them, I am overweight but not huge (200#), it doesn't seem they are out of true but I'm no expert. Tomorrow I'm going to take off the front tire (the main culprit, I've had 3 flats in the last 200mi's) and check the inside for any debris, I'll also check the rim tape to make sure it's doing it's job. As I said, the rear is squared off but I don't think any threads are showing but I'll give it a good once over. Thanks for the advice guys.

So what did you find? Ususally in Woostah it's glass. Once I couldn't find the shard by touch but by inspecting the inside of the tire in full sunlight for 15 minutes I finally spotted the glint of the culprit.

Btw, exact position of the holes in your tubes would be a major clue about the cause of your flats.

When in doubt I change 'em. Not worth trying to squeeze out an extra few miles.

My experience

Veloflex - 800-1000 miles
Vredestein - 3000 miles
Continental - 2500 miles
Vittoria Zaffiro - 4000 miles

I tend to wear out rear tires in about 2000 miles. Unfortunately, I'd say there's close to an even chance any given tire will be damaged by a road hazard before it wears out.

I didn't find anything inside the tire or rim, I'm guessing just a run of bad luck and maybe running under pressure I'll be more vigilant about that. On a brighter note my T2 bike rack came in the mail yesterday...sweeeeeeet...

I did get my new tires in the mail as well but I'm going to hold off and see if these will last the season. I have no idea of their general quality though since they were stock on the bike I would assume they aren't great.

Maxxis Re-Fuse FWIW.

2514 km

Incorrect, that would be the rear.

Consider tire rotation if that's a concern to you.

Re-read OP...odd english I know but what I was saying is that I would expect the front to last 1.5x the rear. And as far as rotation I had heard that was a big no no.

I was getting 1500-2000 until I switched to Armadillos. I got ~7,000 out of the rear. The front's at ~10,000 and going strong.

I would hope before this happens.

I'm more than capable of falling over without anything being wrong with my tire.

lol I don't think that guy even has an excuse for that fall, it was just the first shot that game up on google.

I encourage you to question everything you hear.