Treadbox.io
Methodology
Plain arithmetic, no hidden score. This page says what each figure on Treadbox.io is and what it is not.
How the figures are computed
What is ranked
In plain words
Front and rear get their own boards. A tire only counts once it has come off the bike, so every row is about tires that finished the job, not ones still spinning. Speed wobble is shown but never scored: too much else causes it.
A leaderboard row is one tire model on one axle. Front and rear are separate boards; a model appears on both only if riders reported removed tires on both.
What counts is a removed tire: a tire that came off, with the distance it covered and the rider's rating. A newly fitted tire is stored, but it is not ranked until it is replaced.
Speed wobble (a wobble or weave at speed, headshake included) is shown on a tire's page as riders report it and is never ranked: it depends on the bike and its load as much as on the tire.
- Unit
- Model per axle
- Counts
- Removed tires
- Boards
- Front / rear
Rider rating
In plain words
One question sets the order: would you buy it again, 1 to 5? A single rave can't put a tire on top; it takes a few riders agreeing. Grip scores sit next to it but don't move the rank.
Boards are ordered by the rider rating: would you buy this tire again, from 1 to 5, given when the tire comes off.
The mean is pulled toward the average of all tires: (sum of ratings + 5 x overall mean) / (number of tires + 5). A single five-star report cannot top the board. Ties go to the longer distance. Ordering by distance first is a switch on each board.
Grip is rated on four scales from 1 to 5: dry grip, pavement; wet grip, pavement; grip, light off-road (fire roads, gravel roads); grip, deep or loose (desert sand, mud, deep gravel, wet or dry). Each figure is the mean of the tires rated on that scale, pulled the same way (m = 5) toward the average of that scale over all tires on the board. The boards show the pavement pair, a tire's page all four. Grip is not a ranking input.
- Scale
- 1 to 5
- Shrinkage
- m = 5
- Tie-break
- Distance
Distance
In plain words
How far a tire went before it was worn out, taking the middle of the pack, not the best case. Tires that came off early for a puncture or a swap don't drag it down, because nobody knows how far they'd have gone.
Distance at wear-related replacement is the median distance of the tires that were replaced because they were worn.
A tire that came off for another reason (puncture / blowout, seasonal swap, upgrade, damage, racing, other) could have gone further. It does not count toward this figure; it still counts for rating and grip. That is why the figure is not called tire life.
- Statistic
- Median
- Counts
- Wear & tear
- Stored in
- km
Cost
In plain words
Tire price divided by distance, for tires ridden until worn. Tire only, no fitting, no tax, everything in US dollars so the numbers line up.
Cost per km at wear-related replacement is the price of the tire alone, without fitting, balancing or tax, divided by its distance, for tires replaced for wear.
Prices are converted to US dollars with a fixed monthly rate table, using the month the tire was fitted. The figure is shown only when at least 3 tires that were replaced for wear have a confirmed price.
- Price basis
- Tire only
- Currency
- USD
- Minimum
- 3 worn tires
Confidence
In plain words
How many riders stand behind a number. One tire tells you nothing, so it isn't listed. A handful is Low, more is Medium, a real crowd with worn-out tires is High. Low rows stay hidden unless you ask.
Every row says how much data is behind it. High: 10 or more tires, at least 5 of them replaced for wear. Medium: 5 or more tires. Low: 2 to 4 tires, listed only when you switch them on.
A model with a single tire is not listed; its page says insufficient data. Whether a record came from the app or from the web form makes no difference to rank or confidence.
- High
- 10+ / 5+ worn
- Medium
- 5+ tires
- Low
- 2 to 4 tires
Records and privacy
In plain words
You see tires, not people: no names, no handles, no map pins. Every record is checked before it goes up. Tread-wear speed and other extras appear on tire pages once there's enough data, but they aren't ranked yet.
The pages show tire records only: no rider names, no handles, no avatars, no precise locations.
A record appears only after it has passed moderation. Not ranked in this version: tread wear rate (shown on a tire's page once 3 tires have a depth pair), weighting by age, weighting by contributor.
- Identity shown
- None
- Published
- After moderation
- Wear rate
- Not ranked