Jewishcowboy

Is it normal to rotate your tires on your bike like a car where you would put the front on the rear and the rear on the front after a while to provide even tire wear?

Shimagnolo

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

Cyclist0108

It is much better than skidding.

More seriously: When the rear tire wears out, toss it. Put the current front tire on the rear, and put the new tire on the front.

mstateglfr 

No idea if its normal, but over the last 8 years ive done it on a few sets of tires where i installed 2 new ones at the same time. The rear wears more quickly, so why not? I dont notice any degredation in traction or speed and those would be the only two reasons why i wouldnt want to flip em. Once the tire(s) get to the point of needing to be replaced, they get replaced. Its pretty simple.

St Sheldon declared it unsafe to rotate because the front tire controls the bike and you want the best condition tire up there.
Meh. It seems obvious to me to not put a tire that is worn to the point of unsafe up front so his freakout is, to me, a bit baseless. He also claims stem shifters are unsafe because they can impale you...as if the corner of the stem wont do a massive amount of damage if you hit it in the same way.

DrIsotope

I don't bother. Fronts seem to last almost exactly as long as two rears. So if I were to do the front-to-rear rotation with a new one on the front, I would be shorting myself at least 1,000 miles out of the set.

Perhaps if you ride infrequently, or do a relatively low amount of miles per year, rotation makes sense. But split between two bikes, I'm replacing a rear tire every 90 days or so. No need to rotate, they'll be worn out soon.

canklecat

On the road bikes with slicks, nope. Same as other folks suggested -- replace the rear tire as needed, which usually amounts to two rear tires per front tire in overall wear. Continental tires with their two wear dimples make it easy. With Schwalbe slicks I just inspected the tires occasionally to check for wear, pinching the tread during flat repairs.

On my hybrids, yeah, I've experimented with rotating tires just to see what happens. I don't ride these very fast or corner aggressively, so I'm not worried about a front blowout. I've never had a tire actually "blow out" while riding, just slow leaks that give enough time to slow down safely. One has chevron tread Michelins, the other has file tread Continentals. I'm just curious to observe the wear. So far the Michelins have little discernible wear but those have thick tread. I expect the Conti Speed Rides will need to be replaced by, oh, later this year. They wear remarkably well for soft, grippy, supple and cheap tires.

ThermionicScott 

It's one of those things that makes sense in theory, but I hate to disturb a tire that is doing its job well, so I never end up doing it.

noodle soup

I rotate my tires every day

TimothyH

Rotate your tires if you want to but I think it is a waste of time.

It isn't practical for tubeless, nor is it practical for those who ride lots of miles and go through multiple rear tires every year.


-Tim-

datlas 

No. But I do agree with Sheldon. New goes on front always.

Sy Reene

Then again.. a new tire is untested. It's kinda weird and completely and anecdotal, but I seem to get a proliferation of flats with brand new tires. After a couple tubes, they don't occur nearly as often. With my current set of Corsa controls, I had 2 flats in the first 150 miles; in the last 600 or so miles, none at all.

dmanthree

I don't bother. Since my tires don't really have treads, and the front wears much more slowly, I just replace the rear as necessary, and leave the clean build front tire alone. I see no need to disturb a clean build.

Trsnrtr

My rear tires usually wear a flat area in the middle - doesn't everyone's? Anyway, to me, it was noticeable when shoved on the front. So, even before Sheldon, RIP, i had decided rotation wasn't a good thing.

Your mileage may vary. (pun intended)

datlas 

You may have a point. But when I put new tire on, I usually inflate it to the max PSI and let it sit overnight as a stress test before dropping PSI to 90 or whatever, so I am reasonably comfortable it is solid.

79pmooney

Risk management. If you ride long enough, you will get to see everything. Tire failures can be bad and worse if they happen in front. (Hitting a stem shifter as a male can be bad also. We used to encourage buyers to switch to DT or bar-ends if we felt they might be open to the idea. At my last race, after my final days at the shop, an older gentleman approached me and told me that happened to him. Yes, this is just one case I've heard about in 50 years. But for the ease of going to a different shifter, this gentleman suffered probably excruciating pain and a permanent change in lifestyle.

Now, if you ride tubular tires, you can swap front and rear with a lot less worry. Even going very fast, braking and stopping isn't an issue after a flat, even a full blowout. I may well go back to tubulars once my house roof is paid for to get a little more peace of mind.

Ben

Nachoman

I don't rotate either. I just replace as needed.

Litespud

I buy three tires at a time. I shop around for sales, so I buy three at the sale price. I go through two rear tires for every front one, and I ride the rear tire until I see threads showing through. My current set (Rubino Pro G+) has ~5300 on the front, and it still looks good (not appreciably flat in the center), I got ~2600 out of the first rear, and the second is currently at ~2700, but still looks good. The first was used through the winter, which probably explains why it wore so quickly. When either the front or rear #2 shows threads, I’ll replace the whole set, regardless of what the other tire looks like, and start again. Life’s too short to be rotating tires.

eja_ bottecchia

This also applies to cars.

Darth Lefty 

I’ll do it when they make front and rear hubs the same.

Litespud

Disagree - the last thing you want is significant difference between front and rear tire performance. New tires on the front and worn tires on the rear leave you prone to oversteer in the wet or in other low traction conditions. Better to rotate the tires to equalize wear, to maintain as neutral tire performance as possible, then replace the whole set when the time comes

carlos danger

you should rotate your tires if you experience more wear in the front or back to make them last equally long. thats it.

I rotatate my studded winter tires every year since they wear different. and after 2-3 years i scrap them since they are done rubber wise. winter rubber last only 2-3 years until it turns to hard plastic. and so does regular tires too. rotate for 2-3 years if not worn out then replace no matter what. its like fresh fruit. its not fresh forever.

woodcraft

If the new goes on the front, & the rear wears out sooner,

doesn't that mean that you're rotating your tires?

TimothyH

This is not longer the recommendation.

If car tires have to be replaced in pairs then new tires go on the rear.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=52

The link above is only one of many. Ask next time you buy car tires.


-Tim-

ThermionicScott 

Yep, most car drivers are better off with understeer than oversteer.

Rollfast

I'm just trying to get rid of my 'spare tire'.