How long do you expect a tyre to last?

[Glover Fan]

I've just been cleaning up my winter bike on this beautiful day and whilst cleaning the mud off the sidewalls of my tyres I have noticed the sidewall stitching is starting to come apart after 3,000 miles. The tyres in question are 700x23 Continental Gatorskins. The actual tread is in good condition with minimal cuts and no punctures as yet. I don't really want to be forced into tyre purchases on this bike just yet so will persevere.

However, I have been looking online for replacements and I have had heard good things about the Schwalbe Durano Plus. I shall be upgrading to 700x25 for some extra comfort, but I am concerned by user reviews on various sites. Some are saying they last as little as 1,500km and the most I have seen is 2,000 miles!

I have generally always expected about 3,000 miles (5,000km) out of a tyre. Are my expectations too great?

[jogler]

I have just (last weekend) replaced a Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x25 with the same again.The retired tyre* had been on the back of my bike since April 2009,done approx 5000 miles of utility,audaxing,cycle camping & an E2E.
The front tyre,fitted at the same time,is still going strong.
So IME your expectations are very reasonable

* did you see what I did there

[tatanab]

I have noticed the sidewall stitching is starting to come apart after 3,000 miles. The tyres in question are 700x23 Continental Gatorskins.

This is a feature of Continental folding tyres.  I had it on 4 Seasons where loose threads would quickly appear where the buffer over the bead meets the tyre.  Not a problem, I just cut them off.  I've not noticed it on rigid bead Continentals.

[Glover Fan]

These Gatorskins are not folding versions.

[Greenbank]

I have generally always expected about 3,000 miles (5,000km) out of a tyre. Are my expectations too great?

4000-5000km from a Conti GP 4 Seasons (folding) 25mm rear. Lasts somewhere near double that on the front usually.

If I'm rushed for time I just bung a new tyre on the rear when it wears out.

If I've got time I'll move the existing front tyre to the rear and then put the new tyre on the front.

[The French Tandem]

I may be wrong, but Gatorskins feel like they are made from a harder kind of rubber compared to  Schwalbe Durano.
Hence, if you can ride 3000 miles on a Gatorskin, don't expect more than 2000 miles on a Durano.

Although it is fair to compare the durability of Gatorskins and Duranos, two very similar tyres,  Schwalbe Marathons are clearly in another category.
Much thicker and heavier = more miles!

[Glover Fan]

I may be wrong, but Gatorskins feel like they are made from a harder kind of rubber compared to  Schwalbe Durano.
Hence, if you can ride 3000 miles on a Gatorskin, don't expect more than 2000 miles on a Durano.

Although it is fair to compare the durability of Gatorskins and Duranos, two very similar tyres,  Schwalbe Marathons are clearly in another category.
Much thicker and heavier = more miles!

That all makes a lot of sense. The Gatorskins are the worst tyres I have ever used in the wet which would point towards a harder compound.

I would go for the marathon plus, but I am using crud road racers and I don't think I'd have the clearance. I may be pushing it with 25s in general tbh.

[pdm]

My experience...

Wear depends a lot on whether the tyre is on the front or the back.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus: I change them when the blue starts to show...
28 on the front - 16,000km and still going
28 on the rear - 12,000 km
25 on rear - 9600 km
25 on front - 18,000 km

Schwalbe Marathon supreme 32 on front, still going strong at 8500km

Schwalbe Stelvio plus on rear - still going strong at 4000km (equivalent to Schwalbe Durano Plus) I am expecting abt 6000+ km
Stelvio plus on front still going strong at 6000km; I am expecting about 10,000km

I also have 4 Durano plus tyres at around 2500km showing little or no wear as yet.

Panaracer pasella on tandem still going strong at 2500km

I am not light (98kg) and I tend to ride quite hard in all weathers.

[Rhys W]

People's differing experiences of tyres is fascinating. I've found Gatorskins fine in the wet and rarely had any sidewall problems. I've stretched a pair to last two winters, which would be 5,000 miles at a conservative estimate, probably it's 6,000 miles or more. They're pretty grippy when new, but as they age the tread gets harder and shinier and I start to experience slipping on steep hills when I get out of the saddle.

I've found different tyres to wear in different ways - Gatorskins eventually become hard and shiny as opposed to soft and grippy. Vittorias lose their grip as soon as the file tread is worn, even though tread pattern is nothing to do with grip. At the end the tread peels off the carcass and they're binned. Michelin Pro 4/3 stay grippy throughout their useful life, but when the rear becomes squared off it's paper-thin by then. Michelins are the most prone to glass cuts in my experience.

[Tigerbiten]

I ride a recumbent trike pulling a large Carry Freedom trailer, so my wear patterns are slightly different.

Back tyre:-
If I do a lot of steep hill climbing in the wet, then I suffer a bit from the tyre slipping on the road due to lack of weight on it.
This means that I can wear a tyre out in under 1,000 miles.
But between 3,000 and 4,000 miles is more normal.

Front tyres:-
If I knock the tracking badly out of line, then I can wear a tyre out in under 100 miles, don't ask me how I know this ...... 
If the tracking is slightly off, then they start showing signs of wear after around 1,000 miles.
But if the tracking is spot on, then 8,000 to 10,000 miles is more normal.

Trailer tyres:-
As there's very little load on them, they don't wear out.
The last set where still going strong after 20,000 miles.
I tend to use then as spares, after I've worn one of the tyres on the trike, while on tour.

[Wowbagger]

PDM has it.

I run a Panaracer Pasela on the front of my Thorn (26*1.5). The first one lasted 11,000 miles before the tread started to come away from the tyre. I changed the rim at 10,000 miles, the tyre at 11,000. The second one lasted about the same. I've done almost 27000 miles now and I'm still onto the 3rd tyre.

When I bought the bike , PPs were fitted front and back. THe rear tyre lasted very little time - less than 2000 miles I think. I've now got a Marathon on the back and it lasts much longer.

I weighed my bike with me on it, on the bathroom scales, once. 7 stone on the front, 11 stone on the back.

[Ningishzidda]

Rear tyre wear can be expressed in kWh's and road surface roughness abrasion.

Work it out.

[IbisTouche]

In apring 2011 at the SR serie we made with one of our tandems our old 32 mm Panaracer Tourgard tyres with white sides gave up. The wheelset came from another of our tandems and had original 26 mm Kenda tyres on.  The Panaracers did not last that long and started to have many punctures as time went by. So we decided to try something newer. Pressure was 108 psi.

We tried Schwalbe Supreme 32 mm because they would make it easier for us to bike in the woods in Sweden. They were a great succes. We used them at a higher pressure, 120 psi bacuase I didn´t like the feeling of the tyre floating to the side in a curve!  The autumn 2012 we had our first puncture with the rear wheel. We installed plastic  in-sets into the tyre to prevents more punctures. It worked through the winter where we trained a lot on the tandem, usually doing our 112 km tour from Helsingør around Arresø here in Nordsjælland in Denmark.  We have to pass Tibirke and at this area we punctures first time - here in the end at the winter we punctures there again: this time the side of the tyre had been cut or so. We could ride home with he hole, but after some days the rubber began to come out through the hole, which seemed to grow bigger!!!

With our weight(82+45+17 kg + 8kg= 152 kg) we really don't expect the tyres to last longer than two years. And that is with inserts!
Carsten & Dorte Denmark.

[Kim]

The only tyres I've ever managed to wear out were BSO-quality (lasted about 1000 miles).  Every other tyre I've condemned has suffered catastrophic fairy damage first.   

[Crumbling Nick]

My rear Schwalbe Marathons (not Marathon Plus, but more than one variety, section 32mm or 30mm) have lasted about 10 000 miles. I replace when the tread is thin enough that punctures become a nuisance. Since distance between punctures has been about 4 000 miles, that's a dubious statistic.

Front tyres last about twice as long, maybe more. I rotate front tyres to rear when the rear is replaced (Sheldon's recommendation, though I'm wondering).

I've changed to Gatorskins (28mm) on the Claud Butler. Front was moved to rear after 7 000 miles. I've noticed damage to the diagonal threads on the sidewalls, due to brake misalignment errors . I'm concerned about the carcase integrity and wouldn't tour on it. I check for bulges, but reckon it would be bodgeable in the event of a failure nearer home. It's not going to wear oout soon.

Records only go back to 2000, but will look up the number of tyres replaced due to catastrophic failure rather than wearing thin. It'll take a few days, since we have with us a granddaughter who is struggling to deal with 2 wheels without stabilisers (pedals have been removed)...

[Ningishzidda]

Fit a tyre. Ride on it. When it wears so thin the outer tread starts departing from the casing, replace it.

It will probably get cut before this and need replacing prematurely, so quibbling about milage is just 'penny pinching'; and strangely, this is just what cyclists enjoy talking about.

[andrew_s]

I've found I get about 2,500 to 3,000 miles out of a rear Gatorskin, and about 2.5 times that on the front. In theory, a new tyre goes on the front and the old front is moved to the rear, but that frequently doesn't happen.

However, it does depend quite a lot on weight and power levels. I once put about 2/3 wear into a new rear Gatorskin in 1,000km on an alpine camping tour. I think that was due to the long periods of climbing more than to the extra weight of the camping gear.

[Si_Co]

I've had to replace my Bontrager hardcase tyres about every 5000 miles, this time I've fitted a gatorskin since Trek will no longer supply hardcases to the LBS, be interesting to see if there's any difference.

[Simon Masterson]

I've had my current set of Gatorskins (27 x 1/4") on since May. I would think I've done 3000 miles on them in that time: first my commute went from 18 miles each way to about 2, then I had a dispute with the housing association that owned the flat we used to live in that took from about July to November (if I recall) to fix, meaning that I did very little cycling during the best time of year for it, and after that I had another commute of 2 miles each way to do.

All weak excuses aside, they are looking a bit worn, but I am hoping to get a good few more miles out of them. No visitations, incidentally; even disregarding the fact that they're the lightest option I've found in 27", I'm more than happy buying these again.

[mattc]

Fit a tyre. Ride on it. When it wears so thin the outer tread starts departing from the casing, replace it.

It will probably get cut before this and need replacing prematurely, so quibbling about milage is just 'penny pinching'; and strangely, this is just what cyclists enjoy talking about.

A few pennies saved on tyres might allow me a few more audax entry fees, or a few extra cafe stops! Or I might avoid a tyre dying in the wilderness at 3am someday, cos I can afford to replace tyres before that happens.

If you don't like that sort of thing, fair enough ...

[Ningishzidda]

Fit a tyre. Ride on it. When it wears so thin the outer tread starts departing from the casing, replace it.

It will probably get cut before this and need replacing prematurely, so quibbling about milage is just 'penny pinching'; and strangely, this is just what cyclists enjoy talking about.

A few pennies saved on tyres might allow me a few more audax entry fees, or a few extra cafe stops! Or I might avoid a tyre dying in the wilderness at 3am someday, cos I can afford to replace tyres before that happens.

If you don't like that sort of thing, fair enough ...

 

Audax dichotomy.

Do I watch my Garmin and stay on course, or watch for coins in the gutter to help me buy a new tyre.

[marcusjb]

Fit a tyre. Ride on it. When it wears so thin the outer tread starts departing from the casing, replace it.

It will probably get cut before this and need replacing prematurely, so quibbling about milage is just 'penny pinching'; and strangely, this is just what cyclists enjoy talking about.

A few pennies saved on tyres might allow me a few more audax entry fees, or a few extra cafe stops! Or I might avoid a tyre dying in the wilderness at 3am someday, cos I can afford to replace tyres before that happens.

If you don't like that sort of thing, fair enough ...

A worn carcass giving up in the middle of Welsh mountains at 3am is going to cost a heck of a lot more than replacing tyres in a timely manner for sure - taxis/trains and all the other faff of a DNF .

Plus a worn carcass giving up has some life-threatening implications. 

I look out for special offers on the tyres I like to use and will stock up with a couple of pairs when I see them going cheap.

Anyway - as for mileage - not 100% sure yet (this year is the first year I have ever done detailed logging of kit) - but I'd estimate around 8-10000km out of a Conti 4-Season on the audax bike (and about half that on the fixed commuter). 

[PAC]

Anyway - as for mileage - not 100% sure yet (this year is the first year I have ever done detailed logging of kit) - but I'd estimate around 8-10000km out of a Conti 4-Season on the audax bike (and about half that on the fixed commuter).
[/quote]
That's about the distance I get out of the rear one on mine.  The front will go double that, but depends on conditions it's been used in...if flinty wet conditions expect a lot less.  I like the GP4S tyres, although I do notice the rubber starts to degrade in the depths of the tread after about 8k, exposing the carcass.  I don't think this is a problem, because it's not the rubber that keeps the structural integrity, but the carcass instead.

[Greenbank]

Anyway - as for mileage - not 100% sure yet (this year is the first year I have ever done detailed logging of kit) - but I'd estimate around 8-10000km out of a Conti 4-Season on the audax bike (and about half that on the fixed commuter).

That's about the distance I get out of the rear one on mine.  The front will go double that, but depends on conditions it's been used in...if flinty wet conditions expect a lot less.  I like the GP4S tyres, although I do notice the rubber starts to degrade in the depths of the tread after about 8k, exposing the carcass.  I don't think this is a problem, because it's not the rubber that keeps the structural integrity, but the carcass instead.
[/quote]

Rear tyre (GP 4 Season) looked fine at the start of a 200km Audax. When I got home it looked like this:-

http://www.greenbank.org/misc/reartyre1.jpg

Had a similar thing on LEL (a strip of carcass about 8" long showing). Changed the tyre at Dalkeith as a I had a spare in my bag drop.

[PAC]

Doing skiddies.... . That looks like it's done a huge mileage...rear still has some tread pattern up to about 10,000km, which is generally when I change it.