Analytic Cycling Logo Tire Mishap
Data Input
People often ask "What is the best tire?" Responses are usually educated guesses. It's out belief that collecting data on tires will help provide quantitative answers to such questions.

There are two parts to this data collection. In one part we keep track of tires. In another we keep track of mishaps that happen to tires. We define mishaps as flats from things like rocks, glass, and sand. They also include abrasions from spokes, sidewall cuts, and blowouts. And would also include taking a tire out of service just because it's worn out. The initial tire database came from catalogs that were handy. We don't think we will ever have the time to make it an exhaustive database, but do send information on the more popular tires and we will make an effort to enter it. Initially it only includes road tires and a few track tires. If riders really do keep track of milage for 'cross tires and MTB tires, we will include them.

Enter tire mishap data on this page. The input form is self-explanatory.

Select from several causes of mishaps:
  • Thorn--Things that puncture
  • Glass--Things that puncture
  • Sand--Things that puncture
  • Nail--Things that puncture
  • Blowout--Improper mounting, massive cut
  • Pinch Flat--A "snake-bite" or flat from under inflation or from hitting a sharp edge
  • Sidewall Cut--A cut from a rock or stick
  • Abrasion--Rubbing at valve step; a spoke not covered by rim tape; stitching wearing on tube of tubular; sliding across road in a crash
  • Wornout--Ridden to the end of the tires life. This can be from miles or just time.
If you take a tire out of service before its wornout or before it has a mishap, don't include the milage here.

When data is entered, it is echoed back in table form, and then you are asked to confirm it.

Please, only enter good data. Yes, it's obvious that anyone can abuse the data entry. If you want to enter some data to see how it works, enter data using the "Test Tire, Give-It-a-Try, 700-23, Tubular". That's what it's for. Play with it. Have fun.

You don't have to be too precise about mileage, a good estimate is fine. However, if you really don't have a clue, don't bother.

Eventually we should be able to answer questions like:

  • Do clinchers flat more often than tubulars?
  • What is the longest lasting tire tread material?
  • Do lighter weight tires last longer?
The next topic on this series gives tools for analysing and retrieving the data. You can work with Tire data or Mishap data. Anyone is welcome to download data and do their own analysis. Data files download as Tab-Delimited flat files. These are easily read into Excel.

If you have suggestions for an analysis that you want, please email us the suggestion to us.

Hint: When doing an analysis we often find it convenient to open two browser windows. In one do an analysis of say tubulars. In the other do an analysis for clinchers. This gives a lot of flexibility on how one looks at the data.

Manufacturers: If you would like your tires listed here, send a list.

We wrote this topic as a Java servlet. It uses a Postgres database. The servlet uses webMathematica for data analysis. webMathematica is an HTMLServlet-based interface to Mathematica technical computing language.

© 2001 Tom Compton