Tire Wear -- Front vs Rear

"Tom" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:a9kk31-c41.ln1 @news.wirelessfrontier.net:

Quoted message said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time
to 'rotate' the tires.

Be careful with rotating tires. Heavy wear on a rear tire can cause it to steer poorly if rotated to
the front. I just buy tires in sets of 3. When the rear one wears out, I put on the 3rd tire. Front
usually lasts about twice as long as the rear.

Greater weight as well as the fact that the rear tire powers the bike. Sliding during stops will
accelerate wear as well, and the rear will lose traction in a stop looooooong before the front will.

To rotate your tires, buy 1 new tire, put it on the front wheel. Put the "old" front tire on the
rear wheel, throw the old rear in the recycle bin.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

Tom said:

Guess its time to 'rotate' the tires.

Please read sheldonbrown.comtire rotation.htmlOpen ↗ first.

Quoted message said:

Tom

--
Rick Onanian

An anonymous apostrophe abuser said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before.

It's normal for rear tires to wear faster than fronts, partly because of the greater weight load,
and partly because of the driving torque from pedaling.

Riders who rely excessively on the rear brake cause _greatly_ accelerated wear to the rear tire. The
bad habit of overusing the rear brake is extremely common, and odds are that your wife does this.

See: sheldonbrown.combrakturn.htmlOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Guess its time to 'rotate' the tires.

Definitely not! Tire rotation is generally a Bad Idea for bicycles, see my article:
sheldonbrown.comtire rotation.htmlOpen ↗

Sheldon "Front Brake" Brown +-------------------------------------------+
| Any smoothly functioning technology | will have the appearance of magic. | --Arthur C. Clarke |
+-------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone
617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 harriscyclery.comharriscyclery.comOpen ↗ Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
captainbike.comcaptainbike.comOpen ↗ sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗

"Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Tom" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:a9kk31-c41.ln1 @news.wirelessfrontier.net:

Quoted message said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

front tire. I assume this is due to the obvious fact that greater

weight

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road bikes

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time to
'rotate' the tires.

Be careful with rotating tires. Heavy wear on a rear tire can cause it to steer poorly if rotated
to the front. I just buy tires in sets of 3.

When

Quoted message said:

the rear one wears out, I put on the 3rd tire. Front usually lasts about twice as long as
the rear.

Actually, if you want to "rotate" your tires, the proper way is put a new tire on the front, move
the front tire to the rear and throw out the old rear tire. For more see here:

sheldonbrown.comtire rotation.htmlOpen ↗

Tom said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time
to 'rotate' the tires.

Be careful how you tell your wife that you needed to replace her rear tire with her front tire
because of her weight distribution!

Tom said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time
to 'rotate' the tires.

Don't rotate tires. Think about it. A worn tire is more likely to flat. Which would you prefer, say
on a downhill, a front flat or a rear? Me, I prefer a rear flat.

Buy a new tire when the rear wears out. Put new tire on front. Move old front to rear.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | There is always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, _`\(,_ | plausible, and
wrong. --H.L. Mencken (_)/ (_) |

Sheldon Brown said:

An anonymous apostrophe abuser wrote:

I like it. 😉 I guess not EVERYBODY lets their newsreader handle the attribution line...

Quoted message said:

It's normal for rear tires to wear faster than fronts, partly because of the greater weight load,
and partly because of the driving torque from pedaling.

Really? I never figured this to be an issue for bicycles. How does driving torque wear the tire?
Maybe from the tire flexing under the torque load? I imagine there's no appreciable wheelspin to
wear the tire (I've never noticed any except in thick sand on an MTB).

Quoted message said:

Sheldon "Front Brake" Brown

--
Rick "Front Brake Like Sheldon" Onanian

You're lucky. I put a set on my wifes bike 2 years ago and they still look like new. Tells you how
much she rides. 🙂

Tom said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than

the

Quoted message said:

front tire. I assume this is due to the obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the
rear tire. However, we have three road bikes

and

Quoted message said:

I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time to 'rotate'
the tires.

--
Mark Wolfe wolfenet.orgwolfenet.orgOpen ↗ gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6
8C71 It starts like fascination, it ends up like a trance You've gotta use your imagination on some
of that magazine romance And these bones--they don't look so good to me Jokers talk and they all
disagree One day soon, I will laugh right in the face of the poison moon

Quoted message said:

Really? I never figured this to be an issue for bicycles. How does driving torque wear the tire?
Maybe from the tire flexing under the torque load? I imagine there's no appreciable wheelspin to
wear the tire (I've never noticed any except in thick sand on an MTB).

Torque is about the only thing that *does* wear a tire. Your front tire is just going along for the
ride; what little extra friction generated while cornering is insignificant (unless you're trying to
emulate Jobst in one of those photos where he's leaned way over). Your rear tire is doing *all* the
work, using itself to push your forward. I don't think it takes wheelspin to generate considerable
friction between the tire and the road either- the tire has to be soft enough to maintain traction,
despite its very small contact patch.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sheldon Brown said:

An anonymous apostrophe abuser wrote:

I like it. 😉 I guess not EVERYBODY lets their newsreader handle the attribution line...

Quoted message said:

It's normal for rear tires to wear faster than fronts, partly because of the greater weight
load, and partly because of the driving torque from pedaling.

Really? I never figured this to be an issue for bicycles. How does driving torque wear the tire?
Maybe from the tire flexing under the torque load? I imagine there's no appreciable wheelspin to
wear the tire (I've never noticed any except in thick sand on an MTB).

Quoted message said:

Sheldon "Front Brake" Brown

--
Rick "Front Brake Like Sheldon" Onanian

Tom said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time
to 'rotate' the tires.

Data on tire wear is available at analyticcycling.comTiresDataAnalysis Page.htmlOpen ↗

The average mileage for a worn out front tire is 2400 miles and for a rear is 1500 (road bike).
Mileage does not correlate with weight of rider and bike, hence weight distribution on bike would
not affect mileage either.

I believe the wear on a rear tire comes from scrubbing as the rear triangle moves out of plane with
each pedal stroke. Climbing out of the saddle at slow cadences amplifies this scrubbing action.

Tom Compton www.AnalyticCycling.com

Tom Compton said:

Quoted message said:

I put a set of 'new' tires on my wife's road bike last year; and, I just noticed today that the
'tread' had worn much more on the rear tire than the front tire. I assume this is due to the
obvious fact that greater weight distribution is upon the rear tire. However, we have three road
bikes and I just never noticed such an apparent difference on any of them before. Guess its time
to 'rotate' the tires.

Quoted message said:

Data on tire wear is available at analyticcycling.comTiresDataAnalysis Page.htmlOpen ↗

That's a use unfriendly application that asks too many questions without the desired options, such
as worn through to the cords.

Quoted message said:

The average mileage for a worn out front tire is 2400 miles and for a rear is 1500 (road bike).
Mileage does not correlate with weight of rider and bike, hence weight distribution on bike would
not affect mileage either.

That may be for your tires but others may find that, for instance, an Avocet Road 700-25 lasts
3000mi on the rear, primarily riding in the mountains. For the front tire, I don't know because I
rotate them to the rear when replacing a tire but for a long tour, I use two new tires.

Quoted message said:

I believe the wear on a rear tire comes from scrubbing as the rear triangle moves out of
plane with each pedal stroke. Climbing out of the saddle at slow cadences amplifies this
scrubbing action.

From that I take it that you believe front tires wear faster than rear ones because they steer even
more than rear tires when climbing standing. The scrub results from tractive effort, something you
can hear when a rider with light weight tires accelerates hard.

Jobst Brandt [email hidden]

Tom Compton said:

The average mileage for a worn out front tire is 2400 miles and for a rear is 1500 (road bike).

This seems ludicrously low, especially as some rear tyres must be lasting less long than even that
average. When I had a rear tyre wear out after 1,500 miles this year I took it back and
complained; and I would think the front tyre I put on at around the same time must have had around
10,000 miles on it.

1,500 miles would imply, for instance, that about half of all riders in the PBP will require new
rear tyres during the event.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!

Antti Salonen said:

David Damerell said:

1,500 miles would imply, for instance, that about half of all riders in the PBP will require new
rear tyres during the event.

The Paris-Brest-Paris is actually about 1200 kilometres - about 750 miles.

If we assume that nobody checks the age of their tires before the ride, this would therefore mean
that about half of the riders would require new tires during the event, since about 750 is about
half of 1500.

My tires have about 5000 km on them, with lots of life left, both front and rear.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Recursion n.: See Recursion. -- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary

Tom Compton said:

The average mileage for a worn out front tire is 2400 miles and for a rear is 1500 (road bike).

Nonsense. My tandem wears our rear tyres at about that rate, but not fronts, and a typical single
bike certainly won't wear them out that fast.

Quoted message said:

Mileage does not correlate with weight of rider and bike, hence weight distribution on bike would
not affect mileage either.

I don't believe any of that. Tandems wear out tyres much faster than singles. Certainly I believe
that the dominant factor is power input rather than weight, but the two are rather well correlated.

Quoted message said:

I believe the wear on a rear tire comes from scrubbing as the rear triangle moves out of
plane with each pedal stroke. Climbing out of the saddle at slow cadences amplifies this
scrubbing action.

Sounds implausible to me. And as we do almost no out of saddle climbing,
and have an exceptionally stiff frame, what wears out our tyres so fast?

James

Antti Salonen said:

Benjamin Lewis said:

If we assume that nobody checks the age of their tires before the ride, this would therefore mean
that about half of the riders would require new tires during the event, since about 750 is about
half of 1500.

Well, I'd think that somebody who participates in the Paris-Brest-Paris knows the equipment he
uses fairly well, including the tyres. I doubt anybody would actually start the race with tyres
which don't last the distance, and with reasonable safety margin too.

I agree. I doubt that over half the PBP participants put on new tires right before the ride, though,
as they would have to if the 1500 mile figure were reasonable.

As I said, I have over 3000 miles on my tires, and it looks like they'll last for another 3000.

It depends on the tires too, of course.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Recursion n.: See Recursion. -- Random Shack Data Processing Dictionary

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tom Compton said:

The average mileage for a worn out front tire is 2400 miles and for a rear is 1500 (road bike).

Mind boggling. I get at least 5 times that mileage on front tires and about 2 times that mileage for
rear tires, if I don't swap them.

Does your statistical method control for confounds like widely varying definitions of "worn out?"
For example, my idea of "worn out" is that the casing is exposed through the rubber tread, whereas I
have a friend who discards rear tires when they are "squared off."

David Damerell said:

This seems ludicrously low, especially as some rear tyres must be lasting less long than even that
average. When I had a rear tyre wear out after 1,500 miles this year I took it back and
complained; and I would think the front tyre I put on at around the same time must have had around
10,000 miles on it.

I would agree. I've now used a pair of Michelin Pro Race clinchers for 1500 miles, and even the rear
tyre looks like it should be good for 500-1000 more miles. Considering that this is a low-weight
racing tyre, the average of 1500 miles seems extremely low.

Quoted message said:

1,500 miles would imply, for instance, that about half of all riders in the PBP will require new
rear tyres during the event.

The Paris-Brest-Paris is actually about 1200 kilometres - about 750 miles.

-as

James Annan said:

Tom Compton wrote:

----8<----cut

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I believe the wear on a rear tire comes from scrubbing as the rear triangle moves out of plane
with each pedal stroke. Climbing out of the saddle at slow cadences amplifies this scrubbing
action.

Sounds implausible to me. And as we do almost no out of saddle climbing,
and have an exceptionally stiff frame, what wears out our tyres so fast?

James

I'll guess that it has to do with the sheer amount of power going through that tandem back wheel,
down to the contact patch. While the middle of the contact patch will almost certainly not slide,
there will still be tread flex (along circumference = line of travel), causing the rubber at the
*edges* of the patch to scrub ever so slightly, in relation to the road. Do this about 1,2 million
revolutions, across the whole circumference of the tyre (assuming about 2500 km / 1500 miles total
use) and you might get a bit of wear ;-)

A theory, but how does it sound?

/Robert