Which wheel gets the gatorskin, front or rear?
06-09-08, 09:32 AM
#1
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Which wheel gets the gatorskin, front or rear?
I am trying out some new tires for my commuter. One is a 1&1/4" gatorskin tire and the other is 1&1/8", slightly lighter tire. I rarely get flats, but which wheel typically gets the most flats, front or rear? Should the heavy-duty tire be in back because that is where most of the weight is? Or should the lighter tire be in back for the faster acceleration? It probably doesn't matter much, but I want to know what makes more sense.
06-09-08, 09:52 AM
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Put the more durable and wear resistant tire in the rear. The rear tire wears faster and gets more flats.
06-09-08, 09:53 AM
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The durable tire should go in the back if you had to choose. Most flats occur there because the puncturing object is "lifted up into place" with the front tire just in time for the rear to be punctured.
06-09-08, 09:55 AM
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06-09-08, 10:24 AM
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On the back, they wear faster has already been pointed out. I always thought the back punctured more often because 1) more weight is on the back and more chance for impact pucture 2) as the rear wares faster there is less protection on it. 3) sometimes you may be able to avoid a sharp object with the front wheel but not the back
06-09-08, 10:26 AM
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i never thought about it this way, but that's a really good point, as well.
06-09-08, 10:35 AM
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According to Sheldon Brown, the more durable tire should go in the front. He explains that a front blowout is likely to cause an immediate crash, whereas a rear blowout is merely annoying.
06-09-08, 12:57 PM
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I think the durable tire should go on the rear...and if you want a more racy tire for handling and traction it would be more likely to survive on the front while gaining you a slight advantage in safety (not as likely to wash the front wheel out while cornering hard etc.) while not being as much of a strike against your puncture frequency.
-Jeremy
