Raedeke

I bought a pair of GatorSkins last year and probably have about 1,000 miles on them.
After my recent accent of Trail Ridge Road I noticed that I have worn a nice flat spot on my rear tire.
It's as if I took the tire and ran a sanding block on the tire as I rode. The front looks great - it's got some wear, but it's still got some life.


Should I rotate them or simply buy a new tire for the back?

allgoo19

This is only my opinion. I would ride it till the rear tire wears out, throw away the rear tire, move the front tire you have been using to rear wheel, install the brand new tire on the front wheel for better steering and braking. Rear tire doesn't give you a lot of braking power, it always skids and that makes spotty wear on the tread. I rely more on front brake.

Raedeke

Have found small cracks and places where glass or rocks have lodged themselves into the rear tire.

Have not had a flat since I bought the tires and although riding the rear as is, is certainly an option, I'd be really asking for some well spent time on the side of the road...

borg

Interesting theory above. I have always gone with rotating the tires....and I try to do it before the flat spot occurs, which can be pretty difficult.

I think it really depends on how bad the tire is, as well as what you are doing with it. If you are racing, I would take less risk with tires with a flat spot. I tend to try to get the most out of a pair of tires, so I keep rotating them until one dies and then replace the pair.

Raedeke

Wouldn't have thought I needed to actually rotate them - but when I saw what had happened to the tire and realized the kind of weight the rear wheel had on it, it all made perfect sense.

Will probably buy a new tire and start the rotation process and see if I can get a little longer life out of them...

No racing here.... just trying to knock off mountain passes one by one and ride some supported rides throughout the summer...

jeff williams

Also steering****** a new front , rear can be balding, good time to reverse the rotation direction (run it backwards) for traction. Really IMO, rear sudden flats not a prob, a sudden front tire rip or flat is very dangerous, you lose the ability to steer well.

I agree with Allgoo, and if I ran the same tread front\rear I would do and have done just that.

Also 'skidding' your rear tire wrecks it and you should be using rear to slow/ stabilize....the front is the stop power, you ain't gonna drag your front far.

Michel Gagnon

I agree with Allgoo19. A really worn tire is more subject to punctures and a flat to the front tire is always more problematic than one to the rear tire. If you want a second opinion, https://sheldonbrown.com has an interesting discussion on the subject.

Back to the Original Poster.
It's normal to wear out the rear tire twice faster than the front tire. Weight distribution is approximately 60/40 or 65/35 in favour of the rear tire, and the driving force also causes some wear on the rear tire.
On the other hand, if your rear tire has ONE bald spot, there are two possible causes that need correction:

1. You brake too much with the rear wheel. Normal braking should be done with the front brake. On ice, sand, mud... where you can't brake too hard anyway, it's something like 2/3 front brake, 1/3 rear brake.

2. If you feel your braking isn't constant, there might be an uneven spot in your rim.

Nessism

I usually buy three tires at at time; two for the rear and one for front. When the first rear wears out I replace it with the spare. By the time the second rear is done, the front is looking fairly ragged and time for the dumpster as well.

The front to back deal is more trouble than it's worth in my opinion. So you install a new tire in the front and put the 1/2 worn out tire on the rear. The old front won't last long on the rear so now you have a fairly new front with no rear.

Why not just install the new tire on the rear in the first place?

Just one data point.

Ed

Raiyn

Another vote for Front to back with a new front rotation.

Raedeke

Looks like I'm buying a new tire at any rate...
Will see how bad the front looks against the new one and make the decision based on that.

Seems I have time these days - Not much riding going on here in Denver... it's as if we moved to Seattle... No complaints with the drought we've had, but I'm getting eager to get back on the road...

Cheers -

tbick

Does it make any difference on the direction of rotation of the tire if you rotate from the front to the back?

Raedeke

I would think that you'd keep the same rotation direction.
At least with the GatorSkins - the tread on the tire is specific to the direction.
But that's just MHO... I'm certain that unlike an old radial tire - the speed at which bike tires rotate is so limited that it really wouldn't matter if you changed the direction.

But then again I could be really wrong...