I'm living in Germany temporarily so I bought as gravel bike to use as an all-rounder for road group rides, gravel, and some light MTB trails. This is the rear tyre, it doesn't really come through in the photo but there is a maybe 2cm wide section in the middle that is completely slick.
Is this the normal lifespan of a gravel tyre? Or is there something else going on, maybe OEM tyres use a worse compound? I realise that I could have swapped the tyres before they got to this point to get a bit of extra life, but I am used to getting 8000+km out of a set of GP5000s so I didn't even consider that they would wear out before I sold this bike.
Would love to hear other people's experience on how long tyres should last. I've already ordered some pathfinder pros as a replacement 🙂
by oscailte
23 Comments
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Tyres last seemingly forever for me, get a good few years from each set.
Same tires. Nice but bald quickly
Now you have Vittoria Corsas.
I really liked my torreno dry’s until…. I had about 800km on them and then accidently locked up the rear wheel on asphalt very momentarily and the tire wore through and was garbage .
road use on tires like these will eat them up quicker than using them offroad ime
Yeah, they do look really dry, you’re right
Yes, these are absolutely terrible tires. Two sets on two bikes, both used on light gravel (grade 2-3) and road, same issue as you after even shorter distance.
For anyone searching for reviews of Vittoria Terreno Dry tires, don’t waste your money on them!
If you look around, there’s a ton of feedback on Reddit, online merchant site reviews, etc. that suggest that this is a common complaint about these specific tires.
Like you, I decided to try them anyway for similar riding (good amount of road, gravel, and light singletrack), maybe with the addition of the compound being rated very well for grip on wet pavement for winter riding.
I believe it’s the softness of the compound that gives it both excellent grip and poor longevity. Unfortunately, the construction of the tire doesn’t make it particularly fast (it still has quite high rolling resistance despite the semi-slick appearance), so I don’t know that I would recommend it for any fast road group rides, but I still love the tire if you acknowledge it for what it is (an all-rounder that’s capable of going anywhere at the expense of wearing out quickly).
Because I rotated the tires (going against people’s advice to never move the rear to the front, which I wouldn’t ever recommend either), I’ve managed to get 3,601km out of mine so far. One of them has a patch I put in it to seal up a cut that was too big for the sealant to fully seal, the night before a 5-day mixed surface tour which they survived with flying colors. I am starting to see little wet spots of sealant coming through what little tread is left (it’s almost as bald as yours) so I think I’m probably 1-2 long rides away from replacing them with the Tufo Thunderos I’ve already bought as my replacement.
By all accounts, those, and your Pathfinder Pros, ought to last quite a bit longer than these.
That is about right for a good gravel tire that balances good rolling resistance, with grip in the corners and puncture protection.
My pathfinders are at 3000km and still look as new
If you use a tire that has minimal to no tread to begin with, that minimal tread won’t last long, especially if you’re riding tarmac a lot. This is completely normal wear for that type of gravel tire. There are many tires with more tread that will take longer to wear down, but the trade off is more drag on paved roads. But you’ll have better performance on dirt.
They are pretty slick when you take them from the pack. I have ridden some 500km with mine and can hardly notice the pattern in the middle anymore. But if you really need any pattern there, pick some other tire. They are ”dry” for a reason.
This is a “gravel tire” not an “asphalt tire” (well it is now)……..I have a cheap second set of wheels on 32s for this specific reason. I was wearing my knobbies down way faster than I wanted. I’d say get a second set, or stay off the hard stuff as much as you can with gravel tires.
Over inflated used mostly on road. I use them. Just done 800km off road around Tuscany in a week loaded – perfect show no wear. Used them from Gibraltar 🇬🇮 to UK 4000km 50000m climb loaded mixed road off road and race.Got home in June. Used until winter. Flawless. Just needed regular sealant top up.
Use them off road.
You get 8000km on GP5000s? I’m at 4500km and threads are starting to poke though on my rear tire.
I got 13,000km out of a pair of Specialized Sawtooth tires. Those are my favorite tires ever.
You need to stop doing donuts in parking lots! 🙂 That is crazy. Try Pirelli’s M. I have probably 1000 miles and still looking like new. Super tires.
I had the same experience with the same tire that came with the bike. It’s a cheap tire comparing to more high end gravel tires, so that’s probably the reason those come as the stock on many bikes.
I swapped to Panaracer Gravelking SK. Those lasted about 3 times longer.
I presume you got a Cannondale top stone version European ?
I got the American one with WTB riddler comp instead of Vittoria Terreno Dry
And guess what ? Same here. Same issue after 1700/1800 km. I need to change it.
Mine did the same. Tires feel very good, I liked them, but not very durable.
My Terreno Zeros look almost as new after 2300km, but tan wall version got leaky sidewalls.
My Terreno Zeros look almost as new after 2300km, but tan wall version got leaky sidewalls.
That’s about right. Surprised you got that much out of them.