Road tire life span

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.

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?


--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:52:46 +0000, 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.

I consider that pretty poor. I avoid Continentals since they do seem
prone to sidewall failures. There will be some who say that they have
never had one, and that may be, but damn near all the people I*encounter
on the road with the sidewall blown out have been on Contis.

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).

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I can assure
_`\(,_ | you that mine are all greater. -- A. Einstein
(_)/ (_) |

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:52:46 +0000, 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.

I consider that pretty poor. I avoid Continentals since they do seem
prone to sidewall failures. There will be some who say that they have
never had one, and that may be, but damn near all the people I encounter
on the road with the sidewall blown out have been on Contis.

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).

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I can
assure
_`\(,_ | you that mine are all greater. -- A. Einstein
(_)/ (_) |

When I was commuting I used to wear the rear tire out pretty fast, also
riding Avocet tires. Most of my commute was flat. After about 2,500 miles
the middle of the tire would be pretty square. After 1000 miles, I would
switch the front with the rear. Now that I'm riding a lot of hills and
cornering on the descents, my tires are rounded and have a longer life.
-tom

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....

Dave

"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.

"cheg" writes:

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.

Rear tires, usually about 3,000 miles or so. Front tires, about
20,000 miles or more. Eventually the sidewalls sort of dry rot so
it's a good idea to rotate tires IMHO. I replace the rear tire with
the front one, and put a new tire on the front wheel.

"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.

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

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.

Indeed. I currently have about 7000 km (about 4300 miles) on a pair of
Vittoria Randonneurs, and there's still a fair bit of rubber left even on
the rear; if I don't get another 3000 km I'll be surprised. These tires
are pretty thick to begin with, though. I'm sure they have a slight RR
penalty because of this, but I'd highly recommend them otherwise. I've had
two flats in this time, for what it's worth.

--
Benjamin Lewis

The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The
terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.
-- Albert Einstein

I was on Conti Gatorskins until last month, and was getting about the same
performance on the rear tyre. I haven't had sidewall blowouts, but have had
tearing along the front wheel tread (those L shaped indents) that have been
so bad that the tube sticks out.

I have since gone back to Vittoria - just as good in my opinion, but cheaper
and easier to put on.

Regards

Bow
"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.