How Long Do Road Bike Tires Last – Bicycles In Motion

How Long Do Road Bike Tires Last

How Long Do Road Bike Tires Last

A new road bike tire stored in ideal conditions would last three years before it needed replacing. However, that is without any wear or use at all, and most bike tires aren’t stored in perfect conditions or left unused.

After all, the point of bike tires is to ride. How long do road bike tires last?

The average road bike tire will last between 1,000 to 3,000 miles, while a high-end tire will last at between 2,500 to 5,000 miles. If you ride 10 miles a day, then your tires will last 3 to 9 months on average. Meanwhile, if you ride only 5 miles per day, they would last about 1 ½ years.

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When To Replace Road Bike Tires

Knowing when to replace your road bike tires is important. Especially when you spend the majority of your time riding on paved roads where there’s other traffic, blowing a tire mid-ride can be incredibly dangerous.

No one wants to crash but crashing into traffic is just about the worst-case scenario for a cyclist.

Since most road bikes don’t have an odometer, you can add a digital one. However, it’s essential to find different ways to keep track because not all tires wear the same, and most riders vary their routines from time to time.

I recommend starting with regular maintenance. Every time you perform maintenance on your bike, check the tire pressure, or do anything with it, take a moment to inspect your tires.

How Often Should Road Bike Tires Be Replaced

The absolute maximum you can keep bicycle tires safely is three years, but you should replace most road bike tires a lot more often.

For mostly unused tires that only see a few miles of wear (less than a hundred) per month, you can hold on to your properly stored tires for around twenty months.

However, you’ll need to replace them more often if you keep your bike outdoors or expose it to a lot of heat, light, and wear.

Check the manufacturer’s specifications to ensure you’re changing your tires on time. Then use an electronic odometer attached to your bike to track your travel distance.

You can also set a reminder on your calendar or set up automatic recurring tire purchases through a site like Amazon.

Riders often forget to check the bead. As Cycling Vitality reminds you, “The bead is the part of the tire that sits along the rim and is an area of the tire that is under a lot of pressure. If you see fraying or other damage at the bead of the tire, this can lead to the tire blowing out when it can’t maintain pressure.”

Additionally, you need to change the tire if you get a flat. Although you can use a patch kit or sealing filler to get your bicycle home again, you should remove it as soon as you are able.

Once a tire is compromised, it weakens the overall integrity making it more likely to fail in the future, and that is an unnecessary risk for you.

How To Tell When Road Bike Tires Are Worn Out

There are plenty of easy ways to spot when your road bike tires are worn out. Most of the time, you can quite literally see that there’s a problem when you know where to look.

Below I’ve collected a list of visually identifiable issues that indicate your road bike tire is worn out.

  • The tread on a road bike tire is semi-smooth, but it should never be completely worn off. Look for excessive wear on the pattern or uneven wearing that indicates part of your tread is gone. Many brands have Tread Wear Indicators or TWI’s that are marked, and once it’s worn away, you need to replace the tire, so always check your new tires for one of these marks.
  • Another thing to keep an eye out for is any exposed silver-looking wires. These are integrated within the rubber to give tires more durability, but the metal will easily wear away and break if exposed to the pavement. The wires should always e covered by rubber.
  • Rips, cracks, and tears are other simple things to look for. If you see damage to the integrity of your tire, you need a new tire immediately. This is most frequent when riding over rough surfaces and potholes, but it can happen over time too.
  • If there’s anything stuck into the tire like a nail, stick, or thumbtack, then you should probably replace it. Although some punctures self-seal well enough you wouldn’t notice, they also damage your overall tire integrity.
  • Any change in shape is a sure sign that your tire is on its last legs. It will warp slightly as the rubber wears out from riding and internal pressure.

If you want a more visual representation of how to spot a worn-out road bike tire that needs replacing, I recommend watching this video from GCN Tech.

They show you what to look for and provide tips on helmet care and replacing cables as well.

Which Road Bike Tires Last Longer

Although all road bike tires theoretically have about the same working or storage lifetime, in the real world, some last significantly longer.

There’s no big secret to finding the longest-lasting bicycle tires. They are precisely what most people expect.

The longest-lasting road bike tires are more expensive and manufactured by reputable companies.

When looking for a great road bike tire that is durable with long working life, I recommend Continental Gatorskin Bike Tires from Amazon.

These tires are made from a rugged carbon black mixture, and the polyester fibers overlap, which helps Continental Gatorskins resist wear and damage better than most.

With sidewall protection and wear optimized treads, you will love these hand-manufactured tires. Get a set of Gators by clicking here.

Continental Gatorskin Bike Tire - DuraSkin Puncture & Sidewall Protection
  • DuraSkin Protection: lightweight sidewall protection
  • Safety System: superior puncture protection
  • Versatile - Use for Commutes to Work, Sport Rides or Winter Training Rides
  • Available for MTB and 650c Road Bikes
  • Durable Tire that Eats-Up Miles

How Long Do Road Bike Tires Last In Storage

In an ideal world, unused road bike tires would last around three years in storage.

In theory, you could vacuum seal them with moisture and oxygen removers and keep them long-term, but no practical, real-world tests exist to prove the hypothesis.

Unfortunately, several factors influence how long a tire will store.

For example, just like food, you should never store rubber where there’s a lot of heat variation. Rubber expands and contracts as it gets colder and hotter, which will wear on the tires.

It may not seem like a big deal, but that change will damage a road bike tire’s integrity. Store your tires away from heating and cooling vents in a place where it stays cool without freezing.

Heat on its own causes rubber to break down, but some types of heat are worse. Avoid putting tires in a sunny area because UV light photodegrades rubber.

Lastly, it’s vital to ensure that rubber tires are ventilated since Ozone will also interfere with rubber preservation, and good airflow can help keep the temperature in the correct zone.

Helpful Tips To Know About How Long Road Bike Tires Last

Like any vehicle, your road bike needs regular maintenance and tire replacements. Fortunately, it’s not hard to learn the signs that it’s time to change out your road bike tires.

Here are more helpful tips to know about how long road bike tires last.

  • You can change the tire style on your road bike. In fact, some gravel bike tires are excellent for road bikes, especially if you occasionally go off the pavement. However, this will not significantly change the working life of your tires. The difference is entirely in the terrain they can move over smoothly.
  • Some bike tires, like MTB style, are made from overall thicker rubber. The thicker a tire is, the longer it lasts, so an MTB tire can sometimes travel up to seven thousand miles. Unfortunately, most standard road bike rims cannot accommodate the more expansive, thicker MTB tires.
  • Changing your tire style for a more durable rubber may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. Road bikes have some of the thinnest tires around, so their forks, frames, and rims don’t always accommodate a thicker tire. Even if you can change the rim and get that MTB tire on your road bike, instead, you are trading a longer working life for a less effective tire to use on pavement. You’d be better off getting a second bike if you want to go offroad and sticking to purpose-built road bike tires in many cases.

Final Thoughts

Road bike tires last up to 3,000 miles. Unfortunately, that isn’t a specific time frame since every rider uses their bike differently.

At most, a perfectly stored bike tire will last around three years, but most only last a few months when in use.

The more you ride, the more you’ll need to change tires, so it’s a good idea to get in the habit of checking your tires over regularly, so you always have reliable tires for your ride.

Brian Smith

Brian is the founder of Bicycles In Motion and an avid cyclist for 17 years. On the weekends, he enjoys exploring new bike trails and countryside roads to enjoy the outdoors.

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