I have a set of 25mm michelin tyres that I’ve had on the bike for years – they are great. They are however getting a wee bit flat on the top of the tread and have a couple of tiny <5mm cuts in them. Replace, or just glue the cuts and keep on trucking?

When they start puncturing or have particularly large cuts in the that go right through the carcass.

When you get three punctures in a month.

That’s my standard for replacement and excludes snakebite or running over broken bottles..

I replace mine when they wear a hole through so the inner tube pokes out. Preferably before you get half a day into riding the Trans Penine Trail.

Depends how and what you ride. I had some gatorskins I wore flat and it was really noticeable cornering. You could tell when you went over the edge of the flat bit and it became a bit unnerving.

For club runs and racing I would want my tires in good condition. I don’t want to be the guy who got a blowout and took the group down.

Also I’d rather not have a tire fail coming down a hill at 40mph +

So it depends how much risk you want to take for what £50.

have you tried taking the tyre off and checking the depth betweek finger and thumb? what are the sidewalls like ? on old tyres these sometimes go before the tread

if they are still gripping and not puncturing and not really thin then crack on

Sidewalls are fine, there is still plenty thickness on the crown of the tyre.

I have just replaced them with some pro race 3s in 23mm and do not like the new tyres, so might put the old ones back on. I do audax rides, so nothing especially fast, just huge distances.

Why don’t you like them, and what pressure are you running?

I’ve used Conti GP 4000s all winter at 100-110 psi, then used my other bike with Pro 3 (service course!) on at similar pressures and got rattled to ****.

5 psi less in the Michelins and it’s a magic carpet ride…

Running them at 100psi will try 95 and see if it makes any difference.

The difference between the 25c and 23c tyres is huge.

I replace when I start getting punctures on a regular basis.

Which on Conti 4000’s is about every year.

When they do this

🙂

a couple of tiny <5mm cuts in them

that’s 10 miles round my way 🙁

having a shot at tubeless next for me, I think

i tend to wait until they are dead, last pair the tread delaminated, made cornering a bit interesting when the rubber peeled off!! More usually when i get a few punctures. Works out as a new tyre ever 3-4 months if i buy decent ones and a bit longer for cheap and nasty.

Works out as a new tyre ever 3-4 months if i buy decent ones and a bit longer for cheap and nasty.

3-4 months? Blimey, how many miles are you doing on them?

3-4 months? Blimey, how many miles are you doing on them?

of order 7-800miles a month. Tyres will last longer but they have a very noticeable flat profile on the back after a few thousand miles. Nice tyres are worse as they tend to have a thinner tread.

All my conti tyres have little wear indicators on them, 2little dimples that the rest of the tyre wears down to.
Never managed it yet as the usually die due to cut ans such first.

You’ll usually find that you can bin the rear, put the old front on the rear and just get a new front tyre.

Swapping the tyres round (front to back) once every 3-4 months evens out the wear a bit as well if you want to get a bit of extra mileage out of them.

As others have said, when they start puncturing regularly or if there are noticeable cuts or wear, they get binned.