do tyres most commonly wear out or fail in another way?

[Bmblbzzz]

A friend is still using a rear tyre, Vittoria Rubino I think but I'm not sure which variety, with the canvas showing around the entire circumference. He does a high mileage and has worn it out over one summer, with other bikes used as well. He's continuing using it "to see just how far you can go with them" (ie to see when it explodes or disintegrates on him!). He is known as being a bit mad...

[roubaixtuesday]

I generally replace mine when the canvas is first visible.

I can only recall one failure before that point, a huge gash which left a nearly new tyre uninflateable, though I never spotted the culprit.

[Bmblbzzz]

I have always retired them before that point as I find that they get prone to punctures before the canvas is visible, and also I get a bit iffy about grip.

[mig]

hmm i think i err on the side of caution with my tyres - the non commuting ones that is - as i often find myself ripping down long descents on the racier bikes i use. i prefer to have a little thickness to the rubber at 50mph, rather than watch bits of fluff rotate before my eyes on the front wheel. hence my summer tyres get retired to turbo duty or similar way before they wear out. or, more likely, hung in the shed for ever and a day!

commuting tyres often fail by going out of shape and the ride starts to feel odd. at that point i consult the stack in the loft and bung on the one closest in type and size to the damaged one.

[willcee]

Interesting comments, Like Brucey albeit without his depth and breadth of technical knowledge,I never really wanted to try Graphene induced tyres from Vittoria, my basic opinion is that if it had been all its claimed to be why didn't Michelin get on the bandwagon first,I rate them as one of the best tyres you can fit on anything that is pushed or driven, A car or motorcycle actually feels different when a full set is fitted to them, and imo a bicycle does too... I do change lots of tyres for clubmen,as an old school type ,tend to always keep a really good tyre on the front, and warn them that when you start to see a pronounced flat profile appearing on the rear its safer to have it replaced tout de suit.. I had one guy who rode PRO 3 until the canvas showed regularly..I cut that tyre in section across the bead to show him just what he was racing on at 40mph downhill..he went a tad white!!!! will

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
When I was commuting it was easy to wear down to the canvas.
My riding now is mixed mainly, so the tyre is ripped up after a year on gritted cycle paths, 2" tyres.
I prefer a semi block tyre for speed but they pick up debris on cycle paths, so I might go back to a std MTB tread and suffer the drag..........

I have always rated Michelins on cars if you get the right type, some last just 10K.
The tyre my car came with are seeing 50K of town driving, but they are discontinued

On motorcycle Trials everyone had Michelin professional mt40's, I wouldn't touch anything else.
Although I have always used contis on my road bike going back over 35 years, didn't like them on motorcycles that much.

I think its probably highly personal.
So many designs and rubber on tyres.................

[MikeF]

A good portion are run underinflated on the rear of a sit-up-and-beg bike and they (weirdly) often wear at the tread edges and not so much in the tread centre.

The same thing happens to car tyres; under inflation causes wear at the edges; over inflation causes wear in the middle.

Edit I note tim-b has already commented

[fatboy]

I tend to go with the "oh no another p*******" or when I see some holes showing. However I recently changed a Marathon where the centre track was almost all green!

[flat tyre]

My tyres generally start looking a bit past their best after about 2,000 miles, I usually end up with a cut and tube bulging through at around this stage, though may be earlier and I change the tyre when this happens. The roads around here are a puncturefest with flinty mud and thorns etc from hedge flailing.

[pwa]

My cycling is 99% on lanes and B roads with road tyres, so it is the central tread that wears down. I change them when the central bit looks flattened rather than rounded. If a tyre punctures (not very often) I feel the thickness of the tread as I'm changing the tube to see if that was a factor.

I have had sidewall damage once in the last two decades.

[bovlomov]

Anyone use the Hank Williams method?

We'll put aside a little time
to fix a flat or two
My tyres and tubes are doing fine
but the air is showing through...

And here's the link. [Note to children: Setting the woods on fire is illegal. Here Hank is using the term as a figure of speech (I hope).]

[Brucey]

A good portion are run underinflated on the rear of a sit-up-and-beg bike and they (weirdly) often wear at the tread edges and not so much in the tread centre.

The same thing happens to car tyres; under inflation causes wear at the edges; over inflation causes wear in the middle.

Edit I note tim-b has already commented

yes I have seen that on car tyres many times; it was very common when car tyres were bias-belted (cross plies) and not radials. However it is surprising that it can happen on cycle tyres too. Possibly it (at least in part, on cycle tyres) arises from the centre of the tread being in good contact with the road, whereas the tread edge makes contact as the carcass is deforming in shear.

The areas to the side of the contact patch centre deforms in shear twice as the tyre rolls through contact, and this may encourage that part of the tyre tread to scuff/slide a little over the road surface, and wear. It seems that under the right (wrong) circumstances more rubber can be lost here than at the tread centre.

If there is a puncture-resistant layer of rubber, the tread has appreciable bending stiffness and the pressure may not be evenly distributed in the contact patch; perhaps the lighter loaded areas can be the ones that wear fastest.

cheers

[gloomyandy]

On my "summer bike" I tend to use performance orientated tyres (which typically have thinner tread of a softer compound) and they tend to last until worn out. So I've just recently replaced a set of Vitoria Open Corsa CX 25mm tyres which according to my logs lasted 4,775 miles. Given the way the back tyre popped and a chunk of the tyre seems to be be missing perhaps I pushed them a little too long! On my winter/touring bike I run wider tyres, at the moment 32C hypers in the past marathon supreme and these seem to last forever and I generally replace them due to either sidewall or individual damage (deep cuts etc.).

One thing that does drive me nuts is that by the time I've worn a tyre out (typically a couple of years) and decided I like it, I can no longer buy the same model as it will have been replaced! I've laid in a stock of hypers so will hopefully be ok for them for a while. I'd have liked to get more Corsa CX tyres but they have been replace. I'm currently using Conti GP4000s II which are nice but which seem to come up very wide for their supposed size (I have 25C but they measure over 27mm wide), unlike the Corsa CX.

[Audax67]

I ride mine (GP4000 IIs) until the tell-tales disappear, then move them to the missus's bike turbo bike.

[rmurphy195]

I can't remember when I last replaced a tyre that had worn out. They all seem to succumb to one-too-many glass cuts. But then, when they are getting a bit thin maybe they are more susceptible to the dreaded sharp objects.