Hi all, if you have 3mm tread left on your tyres and have a forthcoming 12 day road trip to Spain, would you change tyres before?
Advisable to change?
- Thread starter Benji
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It’s not about how long you’ll be somewhere but how many miles you’ll be doing / and if you want to find a tyre garage in Spain surely?
Yes. Definately.The handling will surely have suffered by now.
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Change them ....for me its a no brainer
Yes. For me, 1mm (to take them down to 2mm) would probably be c 1000 miles...I seem to get 6k out of a set (Africa Twin)
12 days in Spain (presume you're doing Plymouth-Bilbao/Santander?) would be at least 2k miles for me...150-200 miles a day
12 days in Spain (presume you're doing Plymouth-Bilbao/Santander?) would be at least 2k miles for me...150-200 miles a day
I would definitely change them. You've only 2mm left of them being legal, and even if you're getting 1K miles per 1MM of tread depth that's not a lot of miles over 12 days until you're down to legal minimum.
Depends. Assuming you are going from Plymouth to Santander, how many miles are you going to do in those 12 days?
Presumably you will be riding about, not spending 10 days at the seaside in Llanes? Many miles on a motorway?
Better tread is going to reduce your risk of punctures and give you better grip should you have a wet day.
How confident are you in finding a bike tyre place in Spain if they wear out suddenly? Pretty easy on the coast where most of the big towns are located in N.Spain. Less easy in rural Asturias. What impact will half a day faffing about finding tyres have on your travel plans?
Change them.
Presumably you will be riding about, not spending 10 days at the seaside in Llanes? Many miles on a motorway?
Better tread is going to reduce your risk of punctures and give you better grip should you have a wet day.
How confident are you in finding a bike tyre place in Spain if they wear out suddenly? Pretty easy on the coast where most of the big towns are located in N.Spain. Less easy in rural Asturias. What impact will half a day faffing about finding tyres have on your travel plans?
Change them.
If you have 3mm left on the front I don't think you would have had much more to start with?
Thank you all, confirmed what I was thinking, up to 2k miles around the picos and Pyrenees hear the roads are very good but abrasive, going mid April from Santander 
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Change them
Keep them!
What could possibly go wrong?
Surely 3mm is good for 3000 miles, not forgetting that your mileage increases as the tyre wears and gets more rubber down so its good for the rest of the year.
Oh, what would I do?
Well I am going to Spain in May.
With 5k gone and 4mm left on my Roadtec 01 its out the door and a new set on. Far easier to suck it up now rather than looking for a replacement late on a Saturday night, far from home.
Change over shape first, then thread depth.
If you are doing a lot of (flat) miles to the curvy destination, and can be bothered with the extra needed time, one option is to use the end-of life tyre to die squared off on the motorways, boring roads, and change to new ones when more interesting roads begin.
If you are doing a lot of (flat) miles to the curvy destination, and can be bothered with the extra needed time, one option is to use the end-of life tyre to die squared off on the motorways, boring roads, and change to new ones when more interesting roads begin.
Scotsrick
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I’d change.
My experience is the last few mm tends to go very quickly.
My experience is the last few mm tends to go very quickly.
Change them I did the picos and Pyrenees in September round those mountain roads dry fantastic damp or wet very slippery I changed my with more tread than you’ve got and pleased I did
You buy the bike and all the gear no problem but is the tyres that keep you upright. Ride safe and enjoy the roads
You buy the bike and all the gear no problem but is the tyres that keep you upright. Ride safe and enjoy the roads
To be fair, they will still keep you upright when they are slicks, they don't suddenly make you fall over.
It's nice to have fresh rubber on for long trip. If you can keep the old ones and then use them as a stop gap before another long trip where you would like new rubber again. This approach depends on being able to get the old rubber back on for reasonable cost.
Thank you all, new tyres this Saturday (Mitch road 6’s)
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