PDKL45

I got a new bike, a Merida Speeder, back in late March with Maxxis Detonator 700x32c tires on it. I've put 3,300 kms on the bike since then, mainly commuting, but the rear tire is already worn down to the threads. There are a whole lot of small threadbare patches on the rear tire and last night I seem to have hit something, causing a slow leak.

I don't have a lot of experience with road tires like it, having mainly ridden Schwalbe Little Big Bens on a Specialized AWOL for the last few years, and they last for ages; I never saw threads even when the tread on the rear tire was all but worn away. My question, for those of you who have ridden Maxxis Detonators, is whether it's normal to wear them out in a few thousand (3,300) kilometers of riding?

I am going to change them for something else, hopefully with a little more longevity, but it seems like a very short lifespan.

cxwrench

That's more than enough miles..or km...not a short life at all. I've never seen that many miles on any tire.

dsbrantjr

Worn patches? Do you skid your rear wheel frequently while braking?

CliffordK

So, about 2000 miles.

I haven't ridden the Detonator. But, I get about 2x or 3x that on my Gator Hardshells. But, 2000 miles isn't bad for a lot of other tires that seem more popular on BikeForums.

As @dsbrantjr mentions, try to avoid skidding, or spinning the tire. It is, however, hard to keep a perfectly even wear pattern.

If you rotate front to back, you should get quite a few more miles on the former front.

ThermionicScott 

What, really? That's only about 2,000 miles by my math. Even my notoriously thin-treaded Pacenti Pari-Motos are nearing 5,000 miles (8,000 km).

PDKL45

I don't skid or spin the tire, even on the local bike paths with the reddish paint-like covering that can be slick in the wet. It's just the tire rubber wearing away (normally?) and exposing small patches of threads, like how a heavily toured Schwalbe Marathon will eventually wear down and expose little patches of the green or blue puncture band within. I am certain it's not my riding style as it's a geared hybrid, rather than a fixie or something that I would skid.

I was just surprised to see threads in that rear tire after what seems to be a fairly short distance to me. I get that commuting wears things out faster, and I'm not overly dismayed at the prospect of buying new tires, but 3,300 kms, or 2,050 miles, doesn't seem like all that far for a tire to be worn like that. I'm used to heavier urban/commuting tires which is why I'm asking, because I lack first hand experience with road tires.

Thinking about it literally as I am typing this post, my weight may be playing a part. The tires are rated to 70 kgs (154 lbs) I believe, but they're on wheels that can handle over twice that, carrying a much heavier rider. It's not a huge thing, but I really don't want to be going through 3-4 pairs of tires a year. I need to find a tire that's durable but still light enough to offer a certain level of performance I guess. I have my eye on Panaracer Paselas, I guess I'll see how they go.

CliffordK

The Continental Gator Hardshells (different from Gatorskins) will be reasonably long wearing. Give one a try. The front and rear don't have to match on your bike.

Two notes... I did blow a sidewall (bead) on one. I'm not quite sure why, but it was almost new, and I pumped it up to max pressure in the cool evening,and blew it midday the next day.

I have a habit of dragging my fingers on the sidewalls of tires to orient the valve. Don't do that with the continentals.

oberwl

Uneven tread can be a sign that your wheel is not radial round. So this is causing some wear on one area. I've ridden with Maxxis tires, and think they are a very good make given their price. But I've only ridden 25-28's. Road Riding.
Also I'm around 155lb -160lb and light on my bike.

It's been a long time since I ran Panaracers, but by my recollection they lasted very long. This was when 23's were still the norm. I also had their Fires on one of my mountain bikes that did well. I think that the rubber got stiff, hard and cracked before I wore out the tread.
Maybe I started to taper off my riding as I started to play more competitive tennis.

shelbyfv

Panaracer GravelKing slick is a durable yet decent riding tire in 32mm.

andrewclaus

My 700 x 28c Gatorskins routinely last 5000 miles on the rear, 7000 miles (over 10,000 km) on the front. The one set of Schwalbe Marathons (25 mm) I bought lasted 10,000 miles but I didn't like them.

My last rear Gatorskin went way past the wear indicators, and failed in a weird mode, with the last layer of tread starting to bubble up in a regular pattern, and it started making a strange whining noise at higher speed. I never saw any threads or had a flat.

HillRider

That's a fairly short life time as I get about 3500 miles (5600 km) on 700x23 Vittoria Rubino Pros used only for road riding but I'm fairly light (~150 pounds) and the bike isn't carrying much beside me.

Iride01 

I once had a wheel slightly askew in the drop outs. It was my old Raleigh with the almost horizontal old style campy drops. While it was centered between the brake pads it wasn't in line with the centerline of the bike. And it wore fairly fast.

With a long straight edge laid over the sidewalls of the rear tire I could see that it was pointing off the centerline and the the font and rear would be several inches apart when in parallel planes to each other.

Fixing that fixed the tire wear and several other issues.

PDKL45

I just ordered 700x32c folding bead Gatorskins instead of the Paselas. Same weight, give or take 50 grams or so, and a bit more more suited to my bike.

I had a hell of a time last night after work with a puncture on one of the bald spots, taking the opportunity to put the balding rear tire on the front. I have changed the wheelset from the one in the pic below, to a DT Swiss H 1950 Classic which is much wider (25 mm instead of 17 mm internal width), and the tires are wider on the new rims. Maybe the wear is due to the change in tire shape? They're much fuller on the wider rims.

Anyway, I will see how the Gatorskins go, run on the wider rims for their whole lifespan.

Camilo

I personally would not put a badly worn tire on the front. I do most of my braking with the front. Also since a front flat at speed would be much more dicey in handling than a rear.

PDKL45

I swapped that badly worn Detonator over to the front last Thursday night so I could keep commuting to work by bike. The Delta variant of the coronavirus is leading to one of the worst pandemic spikes we've here in South Korea to date, and I want to stay out of the subway system. I have a car, but the parking situation at work is suboptimal. I had another puncture in that front tire on Tuesday so I took the subway on Wednesday, because the puncture situation was beyond a joke and I had awful cheap tubes from a local bike shop that I know from experience have very touchy valve stems that will rip (the metal itself, that is, not at the junction with the tube) with vigorous hand pumping. No fun at all.

Still, my new Gatorskins arrived on Wednesday, with nice Continental tubes. I changed them over last night and put on a new clip-on fender for rainy season road spray; that bad boy had a baptism by fire--or water--this morning. So pleased to be able to ride to work confidently, without having to scan the path ahead of me for debris like a mad man.

andrewclaus

Keep in mind those Gatorskins aren't indestructible. I don't have to tell you how I felt when I ruined a new $50+ tire hitting a piece of hardware in the road. I keep a tire boot in the tool kit and a spare tire at home.

I still get three or four flats a year, cycling in thorny desert areas. They keep most punctures out, but not all. Wires from steel-belted auto tire blowouts will still work their way in.

And pay closer attention to your rim strips. If you go longer between changing tubes, you may not notice a pending failure.

PDKL45

Yeah, they're certainly not a magic bullet, but they're infinitely better than the Detonators that were on there in the state that they were in. Very pleased to be able to ride confidently for now at least. And yeah, I know exactly what it's like to destroy a new tire. I had a very new Schwalbe Little Big Ben on my old AWOL at one stage and managed to run over half a snapped off craft knife blade near some greenhouses. A 4"/10 cm gash later and I was ordering yet another tire.

I have the folding bead 700x32C Gatorskins and they seem like a decent compromise between performance and puncture protection. I would run Schwalbe Marathons, but they just turn your bike into a dump truck IMO.