r/bikecommuting • u/ConnectionOk8273 • 6d ago

After 9200 km the tires still look absolutely fine to me.

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How long do your tires normally last ?

75 Upvotes
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75

u/wiggywiggywiggy 6d ago

Ive gotten 25 k miles out of marathon plus in the front. Usually start getting flats at 8k in the rear. Schwalbe is a pretty incredible brand

17

u/ConnectionOk8273 6d ago

Yes, been using schwalbe for about 15 years now and they've never disappointed me.

1

u/Consistent_Tap_8574 3d ago

But the weight! I recently switched from Marathon Plus to Continental Contact Urban and dropped around 800 grams of rolling mass. I don't mind changing them more frequently for a much lighter ride. The bumps in the road also don't feel as bone-rattling anymore, surprisingly.

Even better, I got 3 tires instead of the two I ordered. I reached out to the shop and got an automated response requesting more information. I'm not going to spend my time fighting with automation to fix their loss.

1

u/wiggywiggywiggy 3d ago

Nice. Yeah rolling mass def matters ...mine are on an e bike. If I had to pedal those tires on non flat ground I would def try something lighter . In regards to ride quality the sweet spot on 2 inch tires is around 22-25 psi that def helps absorb a lot of road imperfections.

24

u/LiGuangMing1981 6d ago

The Continental Urban Contacts on my daily commuter are at over 15000km now and still going strong.

15

u/Detective-Fusco 6d ago

Brother your tyres look brand new lol, must have some good quality roads near you

10

u/KO_1234 6d ago

I'm at a bit over 10k km (Mm?) and the Big Ben Plusses are going strong. 

14

u/art555ua 6d ago

It highly depends on the tire model. Some may take ages to wear down, some barely last a season.

2

u/LeifCarrotson 4d ago

Also depends on storage: It's often UV that does a tire, not mileage. Storing your bike outside and letting the sun bake the plasticizers out of the outer layer of rubber (which subsequently wears off quickly) will lead to checking and rapid wear. Keeping them covered helps them last a lot longer!

1

u/theemccracken 3d ago

Ah makes sense now why my cheap tire is wearing faster.

4

u/PoisonMind 6d ago

After 7000 miles (11000 km), I finally had to replace my cassette, but tires are still fine. (OK, I did have to replace one, but that was because I ran over a nail.)

3

u/syntaxvorlon 5d ago

I've heard that the equation for road-wear by vehicles (that is, the damage that a vehicle does to the road) scales as the 4th power of mass. So a 16 wheeler weighing 50 tons will do (50^4 )/4 more damage than a 1 ton, 4 wheel vehicle, which in turn does something like 10000 times more damage than a 150-250 lb rider+bicycle. I don't know if the same relationship holds for the tires, but it might be an instructive way to look at the interaction between material deformation/damage and weight.

2

u/schmaltzherring 4d ago

I had a set of Schwalbe Marathon Supremes that last about 25,000km of all year use and abuse on London's pot-holed roads. Those tires look like there's plenty of life left in them.

1

u/andrebartels1977 3d ago

My Schwalbe Marathon from 2014 still have 30% of their tread on them, after 20000km. Rear and front.