a cautionary tale

[OakLeaf]

Well y'all thought I was overreacting about the shop trying to sell me outdated tires. I don't feel so hypersensitive now.

[Owlie]

I know it's been mentioned, but how do you go about determining whether your tires need replacing, before it becomes painfully obvious?

You've got me nervous now...my tires are two years old but don't have that many (~600) miles on them...

[Biciclista]

in my case, I had some rubber left (can't really call it tread) but there were those threads. EYEBALL it.

[Biciclista]

wow, you found a road bike tire that can handle goat-head thorns??!?!
the Schwalbe marathon tire i just put on my bike comes with a great recommendation. My husband has ridden his 9000 miles without a flat!

[Biciclista]

yeah the Schwalbe are expensive, but if you spread that $50 per tire cost over 3 years, that's pennies.. and the promise of NO flats is hard for me to resist

[Biciclista]

ps you got a good price on the tires you bought!!

[wackyjacky1]

After reading this thread, I took a close look at my tires. The rear tire had some loose threads here and there. It doesn't seem like much to me, but I don't really know about this stuff.

My tires are the originals on an '08 Trek 7.2FX. They've got about 2000 miles on them, give or take a few.

Is this sufficient to warrant new tires? There are four or so little spots like this along the sidewall where small threads are tearing away. I ordered new tires from Nashbar, but now I'm wondering if I'm just being paranoid.

[wackyjacky1]

I suppose it's a case of "better safe than sorry." I went ahead and put on the Nashbar tires. They have a kevlar belt, too, so hopefully they'll give me as many flat-free miles as the original tires did.

(I've never had the same bike long enough for stuff to start wearing out...this is new for me, lol.)

[soprano]

yeah the Schwalbe are expensive, but if you spread that $50 per tire cost over 3 years, that's pennies.. and the promise of NO flats is hard for me to resist

I have about 4,000 miles on my Schwable Marathon Supremes and have had one flat, which was caused by a 1/2" nail. Most of my riding is in an urban area, so I go through broken glass on a regular basis. The rest of my miles are from loaded touring. Those tires were pricey but worth every penny.

[ridebikeme]

Another vote for the Schwalbe Marathons! I have two customers that rode xc with those tires, and between them they only had one flat! An interesting tidbit, both are still riding with their orginal tires

I just put them on my touring bike, so will try and post a picture once the bike is completed.



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