always get a bit nervous piling downhill at 50 mph in a pair of virtual swimming trunks with a lump of plastic on me noggin’ with a pair of cut up tyres………….

so when do you bin the tyres then? got a few 2mm / 3mm cuts down to the carcass. Have superglued a few up!

Arrr yes the superglue trick, I give my pro race’s, 2500ish miles on the back, bit more on the front, anymore and they get a bit puncture prone.

I go by how thin the tread area feels, when it starts to get really thin and punctures more common i change them.

If you look at the tyre like this (the bottom one)

It may look a bit flat when it’s worn. Also if its covered in cracks, it might be time for a new one.

Hard to tell, best bin them on the safer side of worn?

Try running your finger nail inside the tyre with a fair bit of pressure and see if any thin spots appear.
Look for flat spots.
Open cuts.
Perished or cracking carcass.

I’d replace them every 3000 or so. Failing that, a new set of summer tyres each spring 🙂

My Conti GP4000S have a wear indicator on them to let me know when they are knackered. Although I usually get rid of them when they look a little squared off.

mine get relegated to the turbo once i see thread!

having said that i dont often hit 50mph! lol 😯

mine get relegated to the turbo once i see thread!

having said that i dont often hit 50mph! lol 😯

Soon as I can see the webbing they move to turbo duty.

{EDIT] Beaten to that! But I have hit 55mph once, and that was on a cross bike.

When the cases deteriorate and the rubber starts to visibly crack. I don’t ride the road bike that much 😆

When I used to ride TT’s (15 years ago) and ride mostly on the road it was about once every couple of months due to presence of flint on Suffolk side roads combined with 20mm tyres with ultrathin skin walls. Don’t think I ever wore one out.

The side walls on this are pretty much perfect but the tread has started to develop shoulders so it was taken off.

Depends on where and how its used.

When i used to commute through London on my road bike, it was monthly otherwise i was getting too many flats. That was for the rear, then they lasted another month on the front…. Used to 7-900 miles per month.

The bad roads and crap on them killed the tyres, it was the cuts that really killed them…

I’ve got a pair of conti’s with over 5000kms in them, they are a bit off the depth of the wear indicators but there is a tiny bit of thread showing in one patch…..I’ve just stuck a tyre boot under this section.

Now i’m worried.

I’ve always replaced tyres when they frequently puncture, up to now the contis have been reliable.

Maybe I should replace them.

When they start puncturing regularly. But then I don’t get to 50mph!

I agree with trio. When they start puncturing is the best indicator.

so 3 punctures in 20 miles is quite a good indicator that they are ready for the bin then!