I’ve been running a Specialized Butcher for a while and love it. When I was in the bike shop the other day I felt a new one and it felt loads more rubbery than mine.

It got me thinking, after a while, even if there is a good deal of tread left, should you replace them as they start to degrade and stop working as well? Or can you run them until bald?

Or can you run them until bald?

Certainly sir, you can…

When the back gets too twitchy it’s time to go. Or when I’m going to NZ

They do harden and lose grip with age. Can’t say I’ve ever noticed it on a mountain bike as they tend to wear the tread long before and grip is a mixture of compound and knobbliness but it is quite noticeable with slicks

I ride them until bald – have you seen how much they cost! + they get faster when bald as well!

When I see something else that I like the look of/rip them at the bead/lose bite in corners(front only really)

Pre loved tyre = summer tyre, Shirly?

Road tyres seem to suddenly start picking up punctures, even though they look like they have a bit of life left.
Bin!

When do you retire a tyre?

When it’s tired.

Until somewhere between “the first mm of nobbles and sipes have gone”, and “bald”. Or a trip away somewhere, if it’s costing me £80 in petrol to get somewhere then £40-£50 on tyres to make it a bit more fun doesn’t seem so bad.

Tyres are one of the few bits that really make an immediate difference to the bike so it seems sensible to replace them as they wear rather than wait for the performance to drop below a £5 halfords special on a bike that probably cost 20x more than the tyres.

Up here in the sharp and rocky Highlands, most tyres get their sidewalls shredded apart long before the tread wears out. I’ve got tyres with loads of tread left but the sidewalls look like carpet backing. Most go in the bin with holes large enough to stick fingers through. Only old skool Maxxis dual ply last long enough to wear out naturally.

I have been thinking I should run this set until the autumn since the dry is hopefully here to stay.

Depends on the tyre. Some lose a lot of grip as they wear. Butchers do but they also go faster too so that’s useful. Quite a lot of square block tyres just go rotten- hans dampf frinstance loses much of its grip as soon as the blocks wear. Sometimes siping’s important, kenda nevegals stop working well once the center split block wears down enough to look like just one block…

Just do whatever feels right with that tyre, how you ride it.

until they explode (ust tyre last week) until it stops gripping enough (cx tyre this week) or it starts to get punctures.

Front tyres are chosen for grip, rear tyres for survivability/puncture resistance. I have run some pretty worn, but airtight, rear tyres, I’m a bit more fussy with the front.

CX, like road, once they start to get punctures it’s a good idea to replace regardless of tread.

Anyone tried cutting down worn tyres?

I’ve been wondering if there’s more life in some if I got the cutters out and gave them a nice new square edge? Especially those with stepped blocks which wear down to one big one.

Could yours be a different compound to the one in the shop? But I don’t disagree they degrade with age and use.

I replace the front one when the side knobs are thorn apart from fast cornering.

This way it is “once in a lifetime” purchases… 😆

I believe there is only one compound for the butcher, happy to be proven otherwise though.

Could just be the release wax on the new tyres, I’ve got some new tyres in the garrage identical to my current ones, they feel much ‘gummier’ but I’m pretty sure they’d feel the same once that coating is gone.

when it reaches re-tyrement age

When I get “round” to it, which tu be honest, isn’t that often.