How long should a (rear) bike tire last?

[DismalScientist]

I expect new bikes to be sold with generic tires. Since most of your riding is for commuting, I would look at getting tires advertised as “commuting,” “city,” or “touring,” which typically have some puncture resistance (i.e. Kevlar belt). These will be heavier, but will last longer. Personally, I buy Panaracer Paeselas, since they tend to allow higher pressures. More tires these days offer reflective sidewalls, which is a cheap safety feature. Internet pricing generally beats the LBS.

I expect to get 5000 miles out of a rear tire and more for the front.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Assuming the stock tires were probably not fantastic quality (they rarely are), then 2000 miles seems reasonable. Manufacturers generally spec lower quality tires to keep MSRPs down, so IMO stock tires should be treated as freebies…just use ’em until they give out and then upgrade.

Aside from tire choice, one of the biggest things you can do to increase tread life is run at the proper tire pressure. If you’re running too high or too low tire pressure, that will wear the tires faster.

[vvill]

High quality tires may only last 2000 miles. There’s a tradeoff of sorts between wear/puncture-resistance and weight/suppleness. For commuting, I’d lean towards longer wearing, tougher, heavier and slightly less comfortable (for the equivalent tire size).

[hozn]

Yeah, I don’t expect much more than 2,000 miles from a rear tire (e.g. GP4000S).

As vvill notes, the tires that ride nicely don’t last as long (soft rubber vs hard rubber, to put it simply). That is ok with me, as tires are one of the few upgrades that really make a huge difference. I am conscious daily (every time I get on my bike) of how awesome my 28mm Schwalbe One tubeless tires on my commuter feel. I was really skeptical of road tubeless (second foray), but Schwalbe did it right. So they aren’t cheap ($55) and probably will only last 2500 miles, but that is worth it to me.

A more durable option than what you were running might, as the name suggests, be the Schwalbe Durano. That is my winter tire (though I may just keep the Ones on this winter until they wear out).

[consularrider]

My $14 Nashbar Prima Plus tires last about 4000 miles on the rear (at 8000 on the front right now). The Continental Ultra Race that came stock on the bike lasted just under 2000 miles but weighed 60 grams less. These were 700×25 tires on a road bike. On my hybrid (700×35) I got around 5000 miles out of two different Michelin models (Pilot Sport and Pilot Tracker City). They weigh over twice a much as the road tires. My Vittoria Randonneur Cross (26X1.75) on my old mountain bike have 5500 miles and show little sign of wear, but again are heavy. I alternate wheels on my gravel bike. The stock WTB Freedom Ryder (700×35) have 2500 miles and look good for more. The Schwalbe Marathon Touring Type – Greenguard (700×28) have 3600 miles and are going strong. Both of these are heavy too.

[dkel]

Front and rear tires wear differently as well: the center of the rear tire will tend to level off (since its the drive wheel), while the front tire’s edges (?—not sure quite how to describe that) will wear faster (since it is the steering wheel). I swap mine front to back periodically to get more even wear out of them. I don’t get the impression many people do that, though.

[americancyclo]

3500 miles on my Clement Strada tires right now and they could probably be replaced soon.
5600 miles on the previous Continental GP 4000 s tire.

3600 miles on the Schwalbe Marathon tires on my beater/kid hauler.

[Sunyata]

@dkel 124415 wrote:

Front and rear tires wear differently as well: the center of the rear tire will tend to level off (since its the drive wheel), while the front tire’s edges (?—not sure quite how to describe that) will wear faster (since it is the steering wheel). I swap mine front to back periodically to get more even wear out of them. I don’t get the impression many people do that, though.

On my road bike, I will wear the rear tire out after about 3,000 miles or so, then swap the front tire to the rear and put on a new front tire. This has worked well for me and I will probably do that with my commuter bike when the time comes. Granted, I have close to 5,000 miles on that bike and the rear tire looks pretty darn good for being ridden on crappy roads, gravel, crush and run, and even some rooty/rocky single track. I will definitely replace it with the same tires when the time comes (Kenda Kouriers).

Now, since I run different tires on the front than I do on the rear of my mountain bikes, that is a completely different story. And those tires do not last as long, either. I generally replace the rear tire every 1,000 miles or so and the front every 1,500.

[DrP]

@dkel 124415 wrote:

Front and rear tires wear differently as well: the center of the rear tire will tend to level off (since its the drive wheel), while the front tire’s edges (?—not sure quite how to describe that) will wear faster (since it is the steering wheel). I swap mine front to back periodically to get more even wear out of them. I don’t get the impression many people do that, though.

Actually, I just did that in hopes of getting more out of those tires. It will be harder to judge how much longer since I also got a new bike that I am likely to ride more often.

I also got something closer to 10,000 miles out of the original tires on that bike – only when I acquired a large piece of glass in one did I realize that they needed replacing. Whereas the replacements are likely to be significantly less. Hybrid with mostly street and paved trail riding, although some unpaved trail, all of which would make me think that they should wear out quick. Maybe they just made things better years ago . And oddly, they spent the first 4.5 yrs in SoCal where my car tires would dry out before they wore out.

[hozn]

I will add that there is a pretty big time window when a tire is eligible for replacement but hasn’t reached a critical point. I replace mine when they start flatting if the tire has sidewall gashes and/or numerous cuts in the tread; I could probably nurse another thousand miles out of it, but I prefer not flatting. (So Strava says that is usually around 2500 miles on a *rear* GP4000S for me. Fronts last longer, probably 1.5x-2x as long for me.)

Edit: I guess Strava says I actually get 2500 miles on the rear GP4000s. But that lifetime was for a 25mm tire, which probably makes a measurable difference too.

[jabberwocky]

It depends on the type of tire. I tend to get around 2k out of standard 23mm road tires (GP4000s, Pro3s, etc). I used to get 4k out of Panaracer Paselas on my old fixie. High end road tires are designed for light weight, low rolling resistance and grippiness. Not necessarily long life.

[mstone]

@dkel 124415 wrote:

Front and rear tires wear differently as well: the center of the rear tire will tend to level off (since its the drive wheel), while the front tire’s edges (?—not sure quite how to describe that) will wear faster (since it is the steering wheel). I swap mine front to back periodically to get more even wear out of them. I don’t get the impression many people do that, though.

There’s a school of thought that says never do that because of the risk of blowout on the front, and that the right thing to do is just rotate the front to the rear when you take the rear off for replacement. I generally want to try a new kind of tire by the time I wear one out, though, so that plan would suck for me. So now I’ll usually swap the two just once after 1500-2000 miles, so there’s still a good bit of life left in the rear but the front is barely worn and I’ll get much more life out of the pair.

[vvill]

@Sunyata 124422 wrote:

On my road bike, I will wear the rear tire out after about 3,000 miles or so, then swap the front tire to the rear and put on a new front tire.

I do this sometimes too. I find my front tires last over twice as long as my rear, and also I don’t want to put an old rear tire in the front, since that’s the most important for staying upright.

On my road bike I usually run the nicer tire on the front. So my road bike has had a Durano 25mm on the front and various 23/25mm tires on the back that I don’t care so much about (in terms of weight, suppleness, cost, etc.). Also because if I use a trainer, only the rear tire is getting worn [badly].

In terms of my actual mileages I’ve got about 1500 miles on a rear Clement Strada 28mm with little visible wear, so pretty happy with that. I had maybe 5000 on the cheapest Vittorias that came stock on my road bike but they didn’t have the best grip, especially in the wet, so I wouldn’t use those again. Gatorskins are about the same, but more flat proof, and less supple. Various Panaracers (and generic Performance tires which appear to be identical) I’ve had also seem to wear really well, although they weren’t very supple.

On the other hand I also had some 23mm Hutchinson Fusions I liked a lot but the rear was well squared off at 2000 mi, and front had a large enough cut I stopped using it.

CX/gravel tires are weirder, since I find I’m constantly changing them. I think CX tires are more sensitive to wear since the knobs are smaller and they tend to be more lightweight and soft, whereas gravel tires make decent commuter tires (unless you’re cornering hard on pavement!) I ran some Ritchey SpeedMax tires as allround CX/gravel/winter commuter tires and they worked ok, though now the centerline on the rear is worn enough I’d only use them for commuting and easy gravel rides.

No idea about MTB, I’m yet to ride significant miles on those tires!

[TwoWheelsDC]

Also worth noting…the more bikes you have, the less you have to worry about changing out worn tires.

[jabberwocky]

@vvill 124438 wrote:

No idea about MTB, I’m yet to ride significant miles on those tires!

In addition to all the other factors, it really depends on where you mostly ride. Drive to Wakefield and ride there (almost entirely dirt, no pavement time) and tires last a long time. Ride pavement to trailheads or go to Frederick a lot (lots o’ rocks) and you’ll see shorter life. Pavement riding is really hard on MTB tires.

[Author]

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