[wiredfool]

15K is an overestimate for most bike tires. It might be accurate for ultra hard commuter ones, but my experience is more like 2k miles for a rear (at 700x25c, single racing bike) and 5k for the front. At that point, the rear is a pretty square shape, with thin tread in the center, and starts to have some interesting handling issues.

Wider, more supple tires might do better than that, the 26x2.2 rear on my tandem is 2k miles in, and probably has another 50% of its life left. Tandems are kind of noted for eating tires due to the loads on them.

[ljf]

I was about to agree then I did my own maths.

I used to use GatorSkins - as they are perfect for London cycling. I used to commute 29 miles a day, 5 days a week, plus complete a 60ish mile ride on weekends - so times that by 47 weeks (5 weeks leave where I wasn't commuting) gives 9,635 miles. My gatorskins easily lasted a year, usually more - in fact I still have one of my London tires on my good bike, 7 years later (as the front tire) (I no longer cycle commute and only ride for leisure now.)

So I think those miles really are possible on a good tire. I used to use cheapo tires but ended up changing them 3 or 4 times a year and burning through inner-tubes.

[_Wintermute]

2k miles is only 2 months for someone doing decent mileage, but even pros don't train on thin racing tyres.

[wiredfool]

The 2k figure was from a Michelin lithion 2, which was a decent for the price cheap (15 eur) 700x25 tire. It’s not an event tire. Mainly chosen for its relatively price and predictable performance (1 compound).

The tandem and wider tires are not the cheap ones though, they’re Rene Hearse, roughly 90eur or so. I’d say they’re worth it, but they are about the same price as my last car tires.

[adrianN]

My Schwalbe Marathon Plus last around 20k. That's about five years for me.