How often do you rotate tires

FYI. It has become the accepted practice WHEN the rear tire "wears out" to move the front tire to the rear wheel & put the new tire on the front wheel ...

For Florida, since it lacks inclines, I think you can-or-should simply choose the tire(s) which fits your budget ...

• so-called "training" tires cost less & wear longer I happen to like Michelin ... not too exotic ...
  
• OR, often whatever is "on sale"
  

alfeng said:

FYI.  It has become the accepted practice WHEN the rear tire "wears out" to move the front tire to the rear wheel & put the new tire on the front wheel ...  YES For Florida, since it lacks inclines, I think you can-or-should simply choose the tire(s) which fits your budget ... NOÂ

• so-called "training" tires cost less & wear longer
  • I happen to like Michelin ... not too exotic ... 
  • OR, often whatever is "on sale"  

to spare money on tyres is simply not worth it, when you buy good quality a) they will last so much longer b) it is much safer and you don't risk a walk back home with a destroyed tyre c) bike gets an automatic upgrade d) you get better puncture resistance

If I was going to be rotating a set of long wearing tires (like I did with my recent Conti 4 Seasons) I would do it well before the rear was completely worn out and simply rotate (not toss the rear). Unless a tire is torn, I prefer to replace tires as pairs. When I ride fast wearing performance tires like Vittoria CX they don't get the rotation treatment and both go straight to the trash when the rear is shot.

If one's style of riding doesn't include daredevil descents or fast corners maybe it's not so important.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by vspa [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

to spare money on tyres is simply not worth it, when you buy good quality a) they will last so much longer b) it is much safer and you don't risk a walk back home with a destroyed tyre c) bike gets an automatic upgrade d) you get better puncture resistance

FWIW. I think it may be important to differentiate between RACING tyres & TOURING tyres because a "racing" tyre certainly has "good quality" but it will not last very long & is far from flat proof ...

• I presume you are referring to tyres like the highly regarded Schwalbe Marathon
  
• on the other hand, a "racing" tyre is generally good for only 1500-to-2000 miles & will have a comparatively thin tread
  

• so-called TRAINING tyres are somewhere in between in the mileage which one can expect to get + how robust the tread can be considered to be AND choosing a quality brand training tyre like the ones sold by CONTINENTAL or MICHELIN is (IMO) adequate assurance that the tyre will not fail prematurely ... flats happen ...
  
• obviously, we don't always see the object which inevitably causes the flat tyre ...
  
• nonetheless, rider awareness can sometimes limit the encounters with road hazards ... I know someone who thought he could safely ride over a utility knife ... really ... he was "okay" with the front tyre but he ended up cutting his rear tyre ... kids, don't try this at home!
  

i was referring to cheap wal-mart like tyres,

FWIW, I don't personally rotate tires front to rear as they wear. I actually don't know too many folks that do but I'm sure some follow that method and I suppose it's smart. If you go that route I'd make the swap sooner rather than later as it makes no sense to put a highly worn rear tire up front where a puncture can be harder to deal with safely than in the rear. We do have a lot of hills here and I want very reliable front tires when I have the choice as rolling fast down a twisty descent is no time for a front flat.

I'll run tires till I think they need replacing and then replace them one at a time which usually means I get about twice as much life out of my front tire as I do out of a rear tire. Hard to describe exactly when to replace them, if they wear down to showing casing then sure they're way past time to go and they get trashed. Some tires like many Continentals have wear indicators, small dimpled divots in the tire surface, when the tire wears down to the point where those divots aren't visible and are now level with the worn down tread then it's time to replace them. On other tires I replace them when I start getting big gashes or too many small nicks and cuts from glass and sharp rocks or if I get a pattern of flats on the same tire and even though I can't find stuff stuck in the tire I get more flats than I'd expect, in that case the tire will go as well.

Hard to say with yours and just a bit of flattening off of a somewhat pointed tire (like the Michelin Pro 4 race for instance) might not be a big deal but if it's squared off to the point that the flattened tread sections are getting very thin and you expect to start seeing casing showing through then yeah, trash them.

I've also had good luck with Michelins though I prefer the Pro Race 2 and 3 tires to the Pro Race 4s. I've had good luck with Continental GP4000s tires as well but have had what seemed like too many sidewall slashes on some older Continentals so YMMV. I also like some of the Maxxis tires. And for fast race day clinchers I really like the Vittoria Corsa CX, especially the newest ISO Grip version but these are not sturdy tires. I did get more than fifteen races and a handful of fast training days out of my rear Corsa CX this spring until I got my first flat but then within a couple of weeks it was showing a lot of gashes, I got some more flats and I tossed it, the front tire is still going strong.

It doesn't sound like your tire with just a couple of hundred miles is ready to be replaced but if it starts to look real bad and cut up you may want to swap it out. Tires are consumables and it's hard to say how long they'll last which depends on things like the roads you ride and how skilled you are at keeping a loose eye up the road so you can avoid the worst road debris like sprinklings of broken glass on the road.

-Dave

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

If you go that route I'd make the swap sooner rather than later as it makes no sense to put a highly worn rear tire up front where a puncture can be harder to deal with safely than in the rear. We do have a lot of hills here and I want very reliable front tires when I have the choice as rolling fast down a twisty descent is no time for a front flat.

Yup. if I were gonna do it I'd want to swap at around 1/4 into the tire life.

Until this happens (Michelin Pro 4 Endurance, which is supposed to be a little more durable). I think I got about 3500 miles out of this one so its not too bad for this type of tire.

[IMG]cyclingforums.com1000Open ↗[/IMG]

Fortunately I noticed this Friday evening while getting my bike ready for the Saturday morning ride and fortunately I had an older (actually never used Mich Pro 3 in my inventory).

This was the previous Mich Pro 4 that had maybe 1000 miles on it.
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I typically look for good sales on tires. I have Continental GP4000s still in the box that I bought back in the winter from PBK at a price that was equivalent to a buy one get one free. I have those in my inventory ready and another Mich Pro 3 that is like new if I need a single replacement.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

FWIW, I don't personally rotate tires front to rear as they wear. I actually don't know too many folks that do but I'm sure some follow that method and I suppose it's smart. If you go that route I'd make the swap sooner rather than later as it makes no sense to put a highly worn rear tire up front where a puncture can be harder to deal with safely than in the rear. We do have a lot of hills here and I want very reliable front tires when I have the choice as rolling fast down a twisty descent is no time for a front flat.

I'll run tires till I think they need replacing and then replace them one at a time which usually means I get about twice as much life out of my front tire as I do out of a rear tire. Hard to describe exactly when to replace them, if they wear down to showing casing then sure they're way past time to go and they get trashed. Some tires like many Continentals have wear indicators, small dimpled divots in the tire surface, when the tire wears down to the point where those divots aren't visible and are now level with the worn down tread then it's time to replace them. On other tires I replace them when I start getting big gashes or too many small nicks and cuts from glass and sharp rocks or if I get a pattern of flats on the same tire and even though I can't find stuff stuck in the tire I get more flats than I'd expect, in that case the tire will go as well.

Hard to say with yours and just a bit of flattening off of a somewhat pointed tire (like the Michelin Pro 4 race for instance) might not be a big deal but if it's squared off to the point that the flattened tread sections are getting very thin and you expect to start seeing casing showing through then yeah, trash them.

I've also had good luck with Michelins though I prefer the Pro Race 2 and 3 tires to the Pro Race 4s. I've had good luck with Continental GP4000s tires as well but have had what seemed like too many sidewall slashes on some older Continentals so YMMV. I also like some of the Maxxis tires. And for fast race day clinchers I really like the Vittoria Corsa CX, especially the newest ISO Grip version but these are not sturdy tires. I did get more than fifteen races and a handful of fast training days out of my rear Corsa CX this spring until I got my first flat but then within a couple of weeks it was showing a lot of gashes, I got some more flats and I tossed it, the front tire is still going strong.

It doesn't sound like your tire with just a couple of hundred miles is ready to be replaced but if it starts to look real bad and cut up you may want to swap it out. Tires are consumables and it's hard to say how long they'll last which depends on things like the roads you ride and how skilled you are at keeping a loose eye up the road so you can avoid the worst road debris like sprinklings of broken glass on the road.

-Dave

FWIW. Just to clarify -- for "rotating" bicycle tires, the two tires are not rotated, per se, as they would be on a car, but rather when the front tire is put on the rear, the front tire is replaced with a new tire & the (old) rear tire is "discarded"...

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by alfeng [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

FWIW. Just to clarify -- for "rotating" bicycle tires, the two tires are not rotated, per se, as they would be on a car, but rather when the front tire is put on the rear, the front tire is replaced with a new tire & the (old) rear tire is "discarded"...

That makes more sense to me in terms of always keeping your best tire up front.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

That makes more sense to me in terms of always keeping your best tire up front.

Agree good rubber on the front is critical. A strategy I've adopted with the GP4000s is to just replace the front tire with every second rear tire. The front still has tread life left after two rear tires wear out, but I just change it anyway in interest of keeping fairly fresh rubber up front. Buying tires in sets of three works well with this scheme.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by dhk2 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Agree good rubber on the front is critical. A strategy I've adopted with the GP4000s is to just replace the front tire with every second rear tire. The front still has tread life left after two rear tires wear out, but I just change it anyway in interest of keeping fairly fresh rubber up front. Buying tires in sets of three works well with this scheme.

I am of the opinon that if a tire is not suitable for both front and rear wheel that it sould be disposed of.

It is really hard to make a claim that a worn tire with no obvious defects is dangerous on the front. As there is no tread, the traction should be constant. And I have never had a flat where the little amount of additional rubber on a new tire v. a worn tire would appear to have been of benefit.