# MTB tire wear on road



## GaryPitts (Feb 23, 2011)

So I got this new Trek Cobia yesterday, my first ever MTB. I don't know if I envision myself riding MTB trails or just riding outdoors on gravel roads, creekbeds, unpaved roads, grass roads, haha you get the idea  I did ride a MTB trail yesterday, about 8 miles, and it was cool, but at 56 yrs of age I'm not sure that moderate to difficult trails is a smart thing for me to start on. We'll see... Anyway I was wondering how bad it is for MTB tires to be run on road. Does it wear them down quickly or otherwise bad for them? I'm wondering about such stuff as riding the roads to get to good paths and such. Is that a no harm done kinda thing or am I killing the life of the tires? FWIW, the Cobia came with Bontrager XR3s. Coming from the road, I know nothing about this stuff  Thanks!


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## rlouder (Jun 26, 2007)

Yeah, the tires won't last a long if you ride them on the road, but I don't let it bother me. It's not like a couple rides will get them, they just wear quicker. Plus, think of the money you will save in gas, even though you may have to buy a set of tires in two years instead of four.


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## mimi1885 (Aug 12, 2006)

I'd say that it would wear about the same as the trail give and take a bit. The problem is an epic mtb trail ride it's 20-25 miles you can do that on road quite easily so on road you are putting more miles and increase wear. I'd say ride your current knobbies til you wear them down then you can decide what to get on the next set of tires. It would be a while.


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## GaryPitts (Feb 23, 2011)

Well, I put 2500 miles on my hybrid since I got it 5 months ago, so it may not take too long. Ha! About how many miles are to be expected out of a set of knobbies? I would imagine there's a good bit of compound variance making it hard to nail down?


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## mastee (Sep 12, 2010)

I would say they would wear faster on the road, heat via hot asphalt, and friction would be the main reasons, there is slippage on the dirt so less friction


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## newfangled (Sep 13, 2010)

I've worn through kenda tires - nevegals and blue grooves - in a couple of months of commuting. They wear terribly on the road, and I'll never touch another kenda again.

But now I've got a rear Fire XC with over 5000km on it, and it is still in great shape. And I have some maxxis Ardents which must be close to 3000km, and which will probably last at least another 3000.

So I wouldn't worry about tire wear, but I would personally stay away from kendas.


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## David C (May 25, 2011)

I think you could compare the wear factor as using the example of car's tires.

Summer tires or regular tires for cars have smooth rolling and regular wear on dry asphalt, but on wet or muddy stuff, they get bad.

Winter tires will have a louder rolling due to being more knobbier and will wear faster then regular tires on dry asphalt, but will perform a lot better on wet or muddy roads. The regular tires will in fact wear quicker on wet or muddy roads.

So if you run winter tires year round, they may last only 2 years instead of 4, but don't forget you won't have to get a pair of regular tires, so the overall cost stay pretty much the same.

Plain rolling won't hurt the tire. When you turn, brake and skid, then tires are really wearing out faster. So use both brakes at the same time, plan ahead to have a smooth braking and try to avoid skids. Maybe also learning how to wheelie could save up your front tire a bit longer during the road part ? 

David


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## mgv101 (Sep 6, 2010)

Just avoid locking up your tires when going down a slope on asphalt.

Many of the trails that I ride are connected by asphalt roads and I usually just charge down the slopes. Had to panic brake on a few occasions when charging down at high speed and locked up my wheels. Ended up with flat spots on the tire where the knobs had literally been ripped off when using tires with a softer compound.


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## Squash (Jul 20, 2003)

GaryPitts said:


> So I got this new Trek Cobia yesterday, my first ever MTB. I don't know if I envision myself riding MTB trails or just riding outdoors on gravel roads, creekbeds, unpaved roads, grass roads, haha you get the idea  I did ride a MTB trail yesterday, about 8 miles, and it was cool, but at 56 yrs of age I'm not sure that moderate to difficult trails is a smart thing for me to start on. We'll see... Anyway I was wondering how bad it is for MTB tires to be run on road. Does it wear them down quickly or otherwise bad for them? I'm wondering about such stuff as riding the roads to get to good paths and such. Is that a no harm done kinda thing or am I killing the life of the tires? FWIW, the Cobia came with Bontrager XR3s. Coming from the road, I know nothing about this stuff  Thanks!


Not all tires are created equal of course. Generally speaking off road MTB tires will wear faster on pavement than a tire that is intended for pavement use. An off road mtb tire is usually designed and manufactured with softer rubber compounds to enhance traction in the dirt. A pavement tire will be made of a harder compound to resist the abrasion caused by paved surfaces. Yes pavement is more abrasive to rubber than dirt is for the most part.

With that said, there are knobby mtb tires out there that do fairly well on pavement. As newfangled has discovered the Panaracer Fire XC Pro is one of them. The Fires use a dual tread compound that it rather unique. It's what you could call a stacked knob. The center and transition knobs are layered in two layers. The bottom half of each knob is a soft compound and the top half is a hard compound. So when riding normally the hard compound digs in and provides good traction. When pushing the tire hard the softer rubber underneath deforms and allows the tread to conform to harder obstacle, hard packed trail surfaces etc. But the hard compound being on the outer half of the knob also allows for good wear characteristics on either pavement or dirt. Also many low end or economy versions of higher end tires will use a single harder (cheaper) rubber compound as well. And they will usually wear better/longer on pavement than their higher end counterparts. However in the case of "cheaper" versions of high end tires there is a compromise, and it's usually in the area of traction on the trail. Also the more aggressive the tread (larger taller knobs with wider spacing between) the faster the wear, but not always a hard and fast rule.

Anyway, sorry for the book here, I find tires and the way they are designed for a specific purpose quite interesting.

The bottom line is just ride what ya got where you want until it wears out. You won't do anything to them that any other tire wouldn't do. They were designed for dirt so you may wear em out faster on pavement. It's not that big of a deal. But running a knobby tire on pavement will not cause them to auto destruct or damage them in any unconventional way. If you find yourself eventually riding more pavement than dirt, you may want to consider moving to a more pavement oriented tire simply for the smoother faster rolling characteristics. But I'd leave the knobbies on there till you figure it out. :thumbsup:

Good Dirt


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## VFXterra (Nov 8, 2011)

The stock Bontragers on my Piranha are about halfway worn out after one year of 50/50 pavement/dirt riding. Bicycle tires are cheap! Ride 'em till they wear out and slap on some new ones. 

What gets expensive is having to replace the tires on my motorcycles every year or two because of the soft compounds I like to run. At $170-$200 a pop for a rear tire it makes me cringe.


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## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

Riding your bike will cause it to wear out. If you want your bike to last a long time you should not ride it. 

Seriously though, your question has been answered pretty well above. The knobs will wear quicker on pavement than dirt, but not so fast that you need to panic. Just avoid expensive racing tires with really soft rubber compounds if you plan to do a lot of pavement riding.


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## GaryPitts (Feb 23, 2011)

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes, VF, I also have a cycle with a motor and I know about those tires, too  Fortunately for me I run sport touring tires so I get around 7k out of them instead of half that for a sport tire.

Hey, Squash, or whomever, any knowledge on how the Michelin Wild Race'r tires fare? My bike is a 29'er which does somewhat limit available choices. I seen to migrate to Michelin for everything I drive and ride, so I'm wondering if they're OK in this application, too. I somehow suspect I'm going to end up more of a XC rider that does some easy to moderate trail riding from time to time, but that remains to be seen.


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## fubaru (Oct 27, 2010)

Knobbies have a lot more rolling resistance than road tires, so they make you work a lot harder on the pavement to reach the trail. You might want to consider a tire with a continuous tread in the center and knobs on the sides, like Schwalbe's Black Jack, assuming someone makes such a thing for 29ers.

schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/off-road_tires/black_jack]Black Jack


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