Road tire life span

"Arthur Clune" wrote in message
...
cheg wrote:
: I have been running Conti Ultra Gatorskins on my road bike and lost the
front
: one to a sidewall blowout last week. I noticed that he rear tire is worn
through
: most of the tread pattern after about 1400 miles so I replaced them both. Is
: that a reasonable life span for quality tires? I'm curious how often people
: normally replace tires.

How much do you weight, what width are the tyres and to what pressure do you
inflate them?


155 lbs, 32 mm, 110 psi.

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
news
On the other hand, "tread" wear is not an indication of tire wear for road
bikes. Since the tread does not do anything useful, it is of no
consequence when it is worn off. Tires are worn out when the casing
begins to show through. For me, with my Avocet tires, this happens
somewhere around 3000-4000 miles on the rear, and never on the front
(since I move the front to the rear when the rear is worn out).


Then I'll hang on to the one I took off the rear. It probaby has another couple
of thousand miles in it. The sidewall must have been damaged, I hope so anyway,
but that is the first time I ever exploded a tire with a frame pump. I should
probably get a folding tire to carry on long rides just in case.

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Depends on the tire characteristics, your riding style, road surface
material and climate, just like car tires. Grippier tires will wear earlier
because of the softer compound. Hot climate will certainly wear tires
faster; if you do a lot of hard pedaling or fast club rides, chances are
you're putting more road friction on the tires, and for example, here in S
Florida, many of the road surfaces we ride on have hard coral mixed into the
asphalt, so it can be harder on tires too. You need to look at what you're
doing to your tires.

BTW, 1400 miles is not bad wear for a set of tires, again depending on the
conditions. If you had said 400 miles, I'd have really wondered. I like
Hutchinson Carbon Comp tires. They wear very well, but still have good fast
cornering characteristics (I use em in crits, but I'm only Cat 4, so we're
not cornering at 30+) and pliable enough (even at 140PSI) that on long
rides, I don't start cursing them out.

Hope this helped....


This is in Seattle, certainly not a hot climate by your standards. We have hills
instead :-)

The compound of the Ultra Gatorskins does seem softer than other tires I've
used. I don't ride particularly fast, though. I average about 200 miles a week,
mostly commuting in the 15-17 mph range.

Wow. 600 miles? I used mine for about 300 miles to break them in for the
Cross Florida Race (a 170 miler) this year, in April, and have put on about
another 1000 since then, and no sign of a flat spot developing at all on the
rear wheel....



"Rick Onanian" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:44:09 -0500, Tim McNamara
wrote:
"Dave" writes:
BTW, 1400 miles is not bad wear for a set of tires, again depending
on the conditions. If you had said 400 miles, I'd have really
wondered. I like Hutchinson Carbon Comp tires. They wear very well

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll avoid these if 1400 miles is
"good" wear. Yikes.

I like Carbon Comps, but I'm under no illusion as to their wear. I
wore a rear in 600 miles.
--
Rick Onanian

Point is, many Conti models are not known for long life. The 3000's wear in
about 200 miles or less around here (a buddy of mine rides em...)


"Tim McNamara" wrote in message
...
"Dave" writes:

BTW, 1400 miles is not bad wear for a set of tires, again depending
on the conditions. If you had said 400 miles, I'd have really
wondered. I like Hutchinson Carbon Comp tires. They wear very well

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll avoid these if 1400 miles is
"good" wear. Yikes.

"Russell Seaton" wrote in message
om...
"cheg" wrote in message
news:yoXzc.30825$Hg2.5878@attbi_s04...
I have been running Conti Ultra Gatorskins on my road bike and lost the
front
one to a sidewall blowout last week. I noticed that he rear tire is worn
through
most of the tread pattern after about 1400 miles so I replaced them both. Is
that a reasonable life span for quality tires? I'm curious how often people
normally replace tires.

That is awful mileage. I have used 700Cx23mm Continental Ultra
Gatorskin tires on one set of wheels since August 2001. In that time
they have ridden across North Dakota, North Carolina, Wisconsin,
Colorado, and Kansas. Plus a couple 200km brevets and one or maybe
two 300km brevets. Plus a few training miles. Probably 4,000 total
miles. Give or take. Front looks fine. Rear is squared off a bit
but not too bad. My Gatorskin tires have some extra strong coating on
the sidewalls to reduce cuts significantly. I weigh 200 pounds.

The tires say "Duraskin K" on them but the sidewalls seem very thin and flexible
compared to the Specialized tires I've used in the past.

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Point is, many Conti models are not known for long life. The 3000's wear
in
about 200 miles or less around here (a buddy of mine rides em...)


"Tim McNamara" wrote in message
...
"Dave" writes:

BTW, 1400 miles is not bad wear for a set of tires, again depending
on the conditions. If you had said 400 miles, I'd have really
wondered. I like Hutchinson Carbon Comp tires. They wear very well

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll avoid these if 1400 miles is
"good" wear. Yikes.

cheg wrote:

Then I'll hang on to the one I took off the rear. It probaby has another couple
of thousand miles in it. The sidewall must have been damaged, I hope so anyway,
but that is the first time I ever exploded a tire with a frame pump. I should
probably get a folding tire to carry on long rides just in case.

Stick a dollar bill or a small piece of plastic milk jug in your
saddlebag and wrap some duct tape around your pump body. Those all make
excellent tire boots. The duct tape is my favorite, since it's a
multi-purpose repair material.


JLS
--
James "Be prepared" Scott
www.jls.cx

James Scott wrote:
Stick a dollar bill or a small piece of plastic milk jug in your
saddlebag and wrap some duct tape around your pump body. Those all make
excellent tire boots.

So does a length of an old tyre with the bead cut off, FWIW.
--
David Damerell flcl?

cheg wrote:

I have been running Conti Ultra Gatorskins on my road bike and lost
the front one to a sidewall blowout last week. I noticed that he rear
tire is worn through most of the tread pattern after about 1400 miles
so I replaced them both. Is that a reasonable life span for quality
tires? I'm curious how often people normally replace tires.

A normal life span is at least 2000, and probably closer to 3000 miles, for
modern, road-race-oriented tires. Durability-oriented tires last longer than
that, but may not be as fast or smooth.

Some tires have very thin tread, in the interests of low weight and rolling
resistance. But this kind of gram-shaving is silly -- some of the fastest tires
are also the most durable. Note the RR and durablity results cited for Avocets,
for example.

With all the touble people seem to have with Continentals, I don't understand
why they continue to buy them. I see Contis with frayed sidewalls all the time,
held together with Shoe Goo. Thse people ride the same roads as I do, and I
never have tire trouble.

I've been very happy with the Vittoria Open Corsa CX. They came with my bike,
and I thought they were fragile race tires that I'd wear out or destroy soon.
This has proven not to be the case. I have about 2000 miles on them now, with
just one puncture, no cuts, and the rear is just starting to square off. They
look like they'll go another 500-1000 miles. They're some of the best riding,
fastest tires I've ever used. No problems in the wet either. It's very hilly
around here, with lots of rough pavement, which can be hard on tires. I'd
definately buy the Vittorias again, but only on sale (they're expensive).

My friend uses Hutchinson Carbon Comps, and gets maybe 2000 miles out of them.
But he buys them on sale for under $20 each. Nashbar has had some pretty good
tires on sale lately for as little as $10-15 -- Panaracer, etc. If your tires
will be destroyed by cuts anyway, it probably makes no sense to pay for extra
tread life.

Michelin Carbon are advertised as durable and cut resistant, as well as fast and
comfortable. 3500-4000 miles for $30-35, and widely available. Anyone using
these?

Matt O.