A different kind of tire question

[Sandy]

When I took my bike outside today, I noticed that I had a flat in the rear tire. I took the tire off and decided to put on a new tire since I found a couple of questionable areas in the tire.

I have always heard that the best tire should be on front, which certainly makes sense, since the front wheel is the steering wheel. I also have heard that front and rear tires do not wear the same, so don't interchange front with rear tires. Simply replace whichever tire needs to be replaced. Rear tires also wear out much faster than front tires.

Since the front tire looked fine to me and has reasonable wear left and since the rear tire will wear so much quicker, I decided to simply replace the rear tire.

So now I have the best tire on the rear. Did I do a no no?

I am willing to listen to anyone's answer. You can ride a steel or aluminum or titanium or carbon or mixed materials bike. You can be old or young, fast or slow, skinny or fat, rich or poor, male or female. You can ride a mountain bike or a hybrid bike or a road racer bike or a city bike or a tandem or a recumbant.... It can be a Serotta or Spectrum or Trek or Calfee or...

Thanks for any response.

Tired Sandy

[bfd]

You are right that the best tire should be in front. The *proper* way to rotate bicycle tires is:

When rear tires wears out, you toss it out. Then move new/good front tire to rear and put on new tire in front.

For more on tire rotation, read Sheldon Brown:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

[slowgoing]

I always change both tires at the same time, regardless of how much tread is left on the less worn tire. I consider it cheap insurance.

[Chief]

When it came time to replace the rear Conti GP 3000 tire after about 5,500 miles, I moved the front tire, which was mounted at the same time as the rear, to the rear and put the new tire on the front. When I changed wheels, that rear tire had more than 9,500 miles on it and was still going strong; i.e., there was a lot of wear left in that front tire. IMHO also replacing the front tire when the rear tire wears out can be a waste of $$$.