When is a road tyre worn?

wastelander

Ok - in the world of MTB's it's pretty easy to tell when a knobbly is shot...not much left in the way of chunky tread. However, in the roadie world how do you know when a tyre is worn? When the fine centre tread is worn (in which case this one is shot!), when you can see the canvas/kevlar, when it starts slipping/sliding, all/any of the above???

For the record it's a Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp with just over 1k miles on it.

Thanks in advance

Bronzie

Depending on the tyre, they usually go in my bin when they are full of cuts and I start to get punctures because of it - this tends to be way before you can see the canvas!

Simon Notley

If you can see canvas it's definitely time for the bin! Some tyres have wear indicators to help. Generally once you've worn maybe 2mm of rubber off, it's time for a new tyre. Easiest way to tell is just to compare to a new tyre.

Monty Dog

An increased prevalence for punctures combined with the number of cuts and nicks is usually what terminates a tyre IME, way before you start to see the canvas. That said, Fortezzas are pretty durable and 5000 miles wouln't be unreasonable for a tyre of that type, whereas 1000 miles might be good going for an ultralight race tyre. Likewise, I had a pair of Michelin Carbons that went well beyond 10,000 miles i.e. 2 full winter seasons.

System_1

As others have said, unless it's full of big cuts, they puncture a lot, or you can clearly see the canvas, then they'll be fine. For what it's worth I use Fortezza Tricomps as well and I have about 1500 miles on the current set and I'm an offical 'fat b**tard€ who wears out rear tyres quicker than most. They have a few little nicks in them, but nothing a wee bit superglue doesn't fix.