kiltedcelt

Title says it all. I bought some Continental Contact tires in 700x32 to replace some Vittoria Randonneur tires. I noticed my rear Vittoria had worn down really low on the tread down the middle on the rear tire. Since I needed a new rear I was just going to buy another Randonneur but decided instead to go with a tire that had a little bit more tread going onto the sidewalls, hence the Conti Contacts. I'm not a huge guy (185lb), and I don't carry a ton of weight in my panniers, maybe about 15lb on average. The rear Conti seems to have worn out in only about 2800 miles. I'm not exactly sure when I bought the Randonneurs, but I am pretty sure that I got around 2000 miles out of them, maybe a bit less. Is this pretty acceptable in terms of life expectancy? The center tread is close to wearing bald on the Conti whereas when I replaced the Randonneurs, the center tread on the rear tire then was completely worn smooth. Currently the tread on the front Conti looks fine - lots of life left there. Any suggestions on tires with a nice long lived tread compound? Or, if this is normal for the mileage, does one simply just keep replacing the rear tire every 2800 miles or so? This is only my first year of commuting daily. My ride is 110 miles a week total, not including non-commute related errands or leisure rides.

HardyWeinberg

I think 3k miles is pretty good. I go not by tread wear but by accumulation of flats. If I start getting a bunch of flats (3 in a month or so) I figure the tire's had it unless there is a compelling case the flats are fluky (like clear evidence they are pinch flats from my own inattention to tire pressure or spoke hole flats from my tire levers shoveling the rim strip out of the way while fixing another flat)

ben4345

2500-3000 miles is pretty good for any set of tires. Personally I go for softer tires for better traction. Anyways, I hear Schwalbe marathon plus tires are great for lots of miles.

Bill Kapaun

I wouldn't be disappointed getting that many miles on a REAR tire, since they wear about twice as fast as a front.

10 Wheels

2,800 on the rear is good.

ezdoesit

+1
When my Contis wear out I am back to Vittoria Randonneur tires and will stay with them from now on.

fietsbob

got in a long tour on Nokian A10, looks like new , rear had a sidewall issue
before showing any wear

rode length of Irish west coast with cool weather clothing and camping gear first..

you probably would hate the performance, It is kind of a truck tire for bikes..
wish it had been a 4 ply casing on the rear to see how many miles.. I could get ..

Still have a Nokian studded set bought 15 years ago .. all the studs still there..

acidfast7

Didn't realize the Nokian made bike tires. I have a set of winter tires for the Audi from them ... and four or so of their mobile phones. I'm quite impressed with all of their products.

kiltedcelt

Okay, so I'm gettin' pretty good mileage from my back tires. I guess I'll just get another Conti to replace my worn out one.

Hopslam

I have a very old set of contacts . They were new then I got my last used tandem. Hated them on the tandem. But their great on the cyclecross / commuter , I trail ride them & love them on gravel. They have 2000 mi on them & show hardly any ware . I'd say they'd go 4000 mi w/ rotation. I know they are a different tire than you have now as I believe they have changed at least 2x in the last 20yrs. 2800 mi. still great tho. The things are sure heavy.
One more thing , guy showed me a Bontrager Hardcase the other day with 10,000 (claimed mi.) the thing reminded me of the old semi- pneumatic tires of yesterday , liked like you could run them flat

Cheers