How long do tyres last?

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Cathryn

Legendary Member
Potentially silly question - apologies if so.

My touring bike has Specialised Nimbus Armadillos. I got them in 2008. I must have put 2000 miles on them at least in the following two years but prob a max 1000 in the remaining years as I cycled less and got various other bicycles to add to the gang!

The tyres look good still and aren't losing air when I don't ride for a week or so.

Do I need to change them for any reason or should they still be good?
 
Change tyres if the sidewalls start to crack from old age or the tread wears so thin you start getting punctures. A slick tyres is not a problen in normal road use.
Many people use old bikes with old cracked tyres esp as short range pub/shopper bikes. If you are going further or to work, you need tyres you can rely on.
 
Location
London
What michael says.
Ride until lots of punctures while keeping an eye on sidewalls.
Check tyres frequently and dig bits out of any cuts.
Cuts in themselves nothing to bother about.
 
I have done over 3000 on mine in a year
The back tyres wore down until I could see the inner layer where the tread was worn away after about 2500 miles
The front tyres have just got to the point where I am getting a lot more punctures - so I am getting a new one for my birthday (looking forward to how my wife wraps it up!!!).

So - basically - if you are an old fat bloke on a heavy ebike - and have a habit of going round roundabouts too fast - then I would say 2500-3000 is the limit on Mitas 'puncture resistant' tyres that my ebike came with
other tyres will vary - as will other riders - so you need to play it by ear
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
If you are planning a tour on them or extra long rides, I think you can justify new tyres after 13 years.
But if just riding within reach of "home", just carry on until the P's get too frequent.
 
Location
London
Ride them until theyre mullered, or 6-8ish years, whichever comes first.
It's true i have lots of bikes so wear is spread, but am pretty sure i have lots of tyres over 8 years old. Some are conti top touring 2000 and they haven't been made for donkey's years.
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Do I need to change them for any reason or should they still be good?

My Raleigh Royal tourer I believe is still running on it's original tyres, and the bike was built in early 1985, so they are 36 years old. I'll probably replace them this year though as they are pretty shabby.
I was running an older pair of Semperit roadster tyres on an old Puch 3-speed, but the back one exploded one day. If they were original they lasted 43 years to failure.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
It's true i have lots of bikes so wear is spread, but am pretty sure i have lots of tyres over 8 years old. Some are conti top touring 2000 and they haven't been made for donkey's years.
Oh aye, you can physically ride them for as long as theyre intact.

But like car tyres, the silica compund does chemically dry out over time, and they lose their flexibility at the macro level, and thus a portion of their grip.

Yoy can ride them until they physically disintegrate and won't support the bike any more. However, after 8ish years they won't provide the same footprint profile or grip as when they were new, and the chances of an off become greater. Therefore, 8 years is about the sweet-spot where performance and value coincide.

It's all relative, bikes are far lighter than cars, and genetally slower, so the differences are much less pronounced. Nevertheless, a few percent of your geip on the limit could be the difference between getting home intact, or a skin graft (or worse), so while the risk is small it still outweighs the cost of a new hoop.

So on the rare occasions mine last that long I tend to bin them off at around the sweet-spot age.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
What would you recommend instead? I love them (because bomb proof) but interested in faster alternatives!
The aforementioned Marathon Green Guards are a good puncture resistant tyre. I run the softer but less protected Delta Cruiser on the bike that used to have Armadillos.

But if you ask three cyclists, you get four tyre suggestions!
 
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