Put the good one on front

Don't be fooled by false tyre economy

To get extra kilometres from car tyres many mechanics recommend rotating your tyres to even out the wear and tear on the tyre tread. But is that a sensible practice to follow as far as bicycle tyres are concerned?

Your front tyre will wear less than your rear tyre simply because your rear tyre is taking the majority of the weight, causing more friction between the tyre and the road, resulting in greater wear. There is also the disparity of tread life on your rear tyre, in comparison to the front tyre, often caused by over enthusiastic use of the rear brake.

But swapping your rear tyre for your front tyre to even out the tread wear could be an accident waiting to happen. Even though you think you may be frugal by gaining extra kilometres from both tyres, you could pay more in hospital bills than it will cost to purchase a new tyre.

It is critical that you have a safe front tyre. If you have a blow out on a front tyre you could lose steering control of your bike and crash. If the same scenario occurs on the back tyre you have more chance of being able to bring your bike to a controlled stop.

Therefore you should have the more reliable tyre on the front of your bike. If you only want to replace one tyre on your bike when the tread starts to wear thin, then replace the front tyre with a new one and move your old front tyre to the back. Not vice versa. Trying to equalise the wear on both tyres by swapping their positions on your bike is not a safe practice.