Is it time to change?

[georgehenry]

I commute to work and back on a 2015 hardtail Yamaha powered sDuro Haibike. After a couple of rear wheel side wall failures using schwalbe smart sam plus tyres I changed to Specialized Crossroads Armadillo 650B 27.6” Wired Clincher Tyres in 1.9” width.

I ride about 3000 miles a year with roughly 65% of that away from tarmac and 35% on the road.They are a classic compromise and more road orientated than I would like but with the miles I do on the road mountain bike tyres would wear out in no time and after getting used to them I have learnt that they are more effective than I had first thought they would be off road.

They are quite a bit lighter than the schwalbes and have proved to be very tough with no punctures at all.

I have now completed 3688 miles since I put them on at the beginning of January 2017.


Front tyre

Rear tyre

Rear Tyre side profile.

I do keep an eye on my tyres for cuts and wear and side wall issues. The rear is now quite worn, squaring off in the very hard wearing centre line. However apart from the wear you can see in the picture it is in excellent shape and rides very well.

Am I deluding myself or should I be thinking about putting a new tyre on the back with the wear shown?

That is the question from the title of my thread that you can help answer with your reply's and opinions.

Would you replace your rear tyre if it looked like mine? or keep going keeping a careful eye on it?

I have been very impressed by these tyres and would heartily recommend them for high mileage users who want to also go off road and do not want to get any punctures. I run them with slime filled tubes but to my knowledge they have not been penetrated to the tube.

On one ride home on the road I heard a rhythmic metallic sound and stopped to find a discarded drawing pin stuck in the tyre. I removed it with some trepidation but there was no tell tale hiss or sign of slime and I continued my journey and subsequently found no ill effect with the tyre in question.

I was quite lucky as the drawing pin was stuck in slightly off the centre line but I was still pretty impressed.

 

[Nev]

I would change them, you have had nearly 18 months and 3700 miles out of them, that's pretty good going.

 

[georgehenry]

Blimey Nev, I was only considering changing the rear tyre. I thought the front has years left in it!!!

 

[GLJoe]

Blimey Nev, I was only considering changing the rear tyre. I thought the front has years left in it!!!

It has.

I'd imagine the rear has probably lost about 1mm of rubber! there's got to be 5-8mm left

but of course, the thinner it is, the less the puncture resistance.

I was originally going to suggest swapping the front and back to even out the wear. Depends on how long things like the sidewalls are going to last.

 

[georgehenry]

The sidewalls look really good and so much tougher than the previous schwalbe tyres although it may be that schwalbe recognized the weakness in the smart sam plus design and may have re designed and strengthened it as the sidewalls now look similar to the marathon design that recieves very good reviews.

After all although I am doing a relatively high milage for a bike the tyres I have on now are not chronologically that old and the strength, elasticity etc of the material should be very good.

The lazy approach is to keep an eye on it, keep going and change the back tyre in due course when I think the time is right. That way I only have to change one tyre. The danger knowing myself as I do is that the right time never arrives until eventually the canvas (If modern tyres have canvas) appears or worse the tyre fails.

However despite the wear it still looks good with a fair bit of material left.The design incorporates a central ridge of tough material that seems designed to be very hard wearing.

There could be however merit in changing the front to the back and putting a new tyre on the front and then see how long the old front tyre lasts on the back before repeating the process.

 

[E-Wheels]

Blimey Nev, I was only considering changing the rear tyre. I thought the front has years left in it!!!

Just rotate them front to back

 

[Nealh]

For commute riding if not renewing I would leave alone as I would prefer to have the more grip on the front, only you can tell how the handling/grip feels on both surfaces. If road riding all the time I wouldn't bother but as you off road a bit replace the rear for the extra grip and centre strength.

If concerned about the rear replace it as with all bikes powered or not rear wears first.

 

[georgehenry]

To be honest Nealth there are surprisingly no handling or grip issues with the tyres worn as they are.

I do actually more off road riding than on as my off road ride to work is around 12 to 18 miles and my road ride home 10 miles.

I am inclined to buy a new tyre, wear the current rear one out a bit more, and in due course swap the current front to the rear and put the new one on the front.