Tire Rotation

He could be a little bit of an alarmist about rotating tires. As long as you have 50% or more tread, it's safe to run on the front, IMHO.
His reasoning makes sense on bicycles with narrow tires without much tread to begin with. Especially if the tire is old.

The wear on a front tire has a minuscule effect on weight and acceleration/deceleration, but it has a large effect on handling.
Believe it or not, the front tire is actually more important for handling than the rear tire - the same is true with automobiles.

Back when I used to race bicycles, it was common to see bicycles with wider front tires than rear tires.
The narrow rear is more efficient, enhances acceleration and tracking; the wide front enhances cornering ability.

I agree.
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I don't think switching tires would hurt anything. I moved a front to the rear, but I was putting a new tire on the front.

I think Aleman is probably right. Sheldon Brown is probably thinking about skinny little road bike tires that are ready to blow out just from looking at them.

You have to consider that road tires are running at 100 psi or more and a blowout is going to be more violent than a tires, say at 45psi. Also most road road tires are beadless, meaning they don't have a steel bead to hold the tire to the rim, so more likely the tire will collapse compared to a beaded tire. In addition, the rims on a road bike are very narrow and is harder to control when you have a sudden flat or a blowout. There are differences in road tires. Some are racing tires and other are training tires. The racing tires are generally thinner and don't last as long as training tires. Lastly, some people go tubeless to save weight. I think Sheldon was making a blanket statement to cover all bases.

Look at the condition of the tire before you decide to rotate.

I go through one tire every two months on my road bike and swap the rear onto the front and put a new one on the rear. I throw out the old rear. I just don't want to take the chance of having a blowout going 40+ mph downhill on a curve.

Motor Bicycle tires are generally thicker than road tires. You can rotate motorcycle tires, why not bicycle (non road) tires?

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/a-guide-to-rotating-your-motorcycle-tires#b

Chris
AKA: BigBlue

How about a knobby on the front and a slick on the back? That's what I'm doing now. On my MB and my bmxer. Rear tire can almost slide out from under me but that front wheel just swivels with the handlebars.



Aleman,what kinda bikes you used to race? Dyno,GT,Haro,Redline,or Diamondback? I swear if you say you raced Mosh bikes I might have to have a drink to calm my nerves.

Knobby on front tends to not work so well on the street from my experience, especially if there's a little bit of sand or pulverized gravel on it. I've found it's better to have a wide slick or semi-slick in the front in hard street cornering, they put down more rubber on the road!

d_gizzle, I've raced all the bikes you've listed except Mosh lol. I predate Mosh, unfortunately

I might have to try that aleman. And mosh came out a little late for me too. I'm a dyno,gt rider. Always have,awlays will.