Swapping out tires and STRAVA

@lordofthemark 145657 wrote:

I have put my tires (the 700×38 Ryders I used to replace the OEM tires) on Strava as equipment, to help manage replacing them, see how many miles I get on them etc. Thanks to MelloYello I will soon be test riding a pair of LITs. Assuming we close the deal, I will likely still be putting the Ryders back on for winter. Searching has revealed no way to revive a retired piece of equipment on Strava. All I can think of is to add a duplicate, and then sum the miles myself. Any other ideas?

Yeah, this is a significant limitation of tracking equipment in Strava. Retiring and re-adding the same tire is the only real solution (then sum the miles yourself, yes). You can always tag your rides on the other tires/wheelset (e.g. “#heavytires”) and then add up the miles (and subtract from your main wheelset), but that is probably only helpful if you are switching back and forth (as I do between CX and road wheelsets on my commuter). I keep thinking that I should use heavier tires in the winter, but after riding the same fact tires last winter with no flats, I’m not planning to change them out. I still want to ride fast in the winter too! (Of course, I do put the studded tires on the other wheelset; since it is pretty important to have that option.)

Yeah, if you only care about tracking the tires, the bike-per-tires model works. But that falls apart when you want to track drivetrain usage etc. too. (I guess you could always open up both “bikes” side by side to sum up usage for other components, but it sounds like it could get pretty messy.)

You can start by tracking via the tire brand/type. When you remove the tire write the miles inside the carcase using a sharpie. if you reuse the tire rename it using the same brand/type but add the clocked miles to the name. “profourSC1200”

@lordofthemark 145657 wrote:

I have put my tires (the 700×38 Ryders I used to replace the OEM tires) on Strava as equipment, to help manage replacing them, see how many miles I get on them etc. Thanks to MelloYello I will soon be test riding a pair of LITs. Assuming we close the deal, I will likely still be putting the Ryders back on for winter. Searching has revealed no way to revive a retired piece of equipment on Strava. All I can think of is to add a duplicate, and then sum the miles myself. Any other ideas?

You can revive retired equipment: add “/edit” to the end of the component URL. e.g.:

http://www.strava.com/components/1234567/edit

Then blank out the “retired” date and hit Save.

I don’t think it will really give you the correct mileage though, you can only have a start and finish date – not sets of dates.

Strava has lots of things like this, they seem to jump around a lot with what features they want to promote, and many don’t get finished properly. I used the component lifetimes for a short time, then gave up. Same with most of their premium features actually (never renewed my free trial).

@Vicegrip 145774 wrote:

I started out logging the tires and stuff but figured out the miles don’t matter all that much. Condition matters and can be measured in real time. The overall ODO for each that Strava maintains for each bike for you when you note the bike used for each ride is handy to me. For the day in and out bike I would write the ODO value and what was replaced on a running sheet in the shop for some things just to chart lifespan. Seems easier that way just a pen and some paper and the master ODO numbers. Now I have an idea of how long chains and front and rear tires last. The answer is “It depends” so I keep the next set of tires and a chain on hand.

Commonly overheard in bike shops:

“How often should I lube my chain?” – “Depends on riding conditions”

“When should I replace my tires?” – “When they’re worn out”

“When should I replace my cables?” – “When they need to be replaced”

These responses may seem like jerkhole replies, but it really is the truth. There’s little point to tracking milage on tires that you’ve never run down to the carcass before (or perhaps never intend to) with some intent to replace them at a specific service interval if you don’t know what that interval is. For example, my last set of tires lasted ~7,000 miles and I could have easily gotten another 1-2k out of them. The tires before those failed at ~3,000 miles. YMMV applies here in a way that is almost comical. I’d rather go ride my bike than futz with strava hacks, but that’s just me.