Old Tires

Morning. I have Continental Tour tires on the front and rear of my KZ. By the date codes, they were made in 2000. Lots of tread left and no obvious cracks or splits. Do you all think I can continue to use them or should I get a new set pronto? Thanks.

you could drive those untill they are bald and not have a problem...this i know.......i've seen one tire failure ever...and it was a brand new dunlop touring tire on a huge goldwing and the guy had everthing and his wife and the tire was brand new and it went POP..... he said it got squirly and he pulled over(rear tire) 3 inch rip in the sidewall throught the lettering in the same direction as the shape of letters(longways)....
now everyone is probably gonna sat different but those tires with 32-36 p.s.i imo...if they stay at psi for a week with no drop are fine....watch the sidewalls for cracks when you clean your bike and if the cracks start getting scary ..... change em...folks run more old tires than new and no one pops em.....just my opinion...good luck

thanks triangle...in 36 years of riding, i have not had a failure or know of anyone who did...however, it is scary hearing/reading about folks who have had a tire go at speed and the result was not good...not good.

anyone could argue the ohter side and be 100% right....i would not top speed test em or spend a ton of time on cocrete segmented freeways at 75 mph....or.....or....but if you're just gonna ride a little once in a while and when summer gets good and these are worn down, buy new ones...than hell yeah...i would....do....have.... run an older tire and then tossed it.....

When you say there are no cracks, I'm wondering if you've been running them recently. If not I'd run them for some miles and check them again. If no cracks develop they're fine.

KZCSI

Tires can get hard and show no signs of it. This will greatly reduce a tires stickyness. So it kind of depends on how they were stored. On the bike and on the ground is very bad. Outside is very bad. Now, it also depends how you ride. If you are up for some spirited riding or are a carver I strongly suggest changing them. In fact I suggest taking a good look at all rubber on the bike as well as brake lines. I well understand the money problems people have and sympathize but if your life depends on something my mantra is hedge your bet. Get cheap somewhere else in your life...not in your motorcycle. I have also seen good looking old tires cheque up almost overnight. Just one more point....if you get a front tire flat while riding you are not likely to forget it. Have a blowout approaching a curve or in one and your seat will turn brown in a split second. Especially when you try to set some speed off and your weight shifts to that deflated rubber band that used to be your front tire.

Appreciate all the comments guys. Still uncertain what to do here, but am going to go down a few teeth on the rear sprocket, so now will be a good time to make a decision.

Heres something you might try. Put your thumb on the tread area of the tire. Rub the tire in a small circle. If the rubber is still good, it will start to feel stickie. That is an old trick that racers use to test the stickieness of different compounds. If it doesn't feel stickie, the rubber is getting hard (or is hard) Then you may be better off replacing it. I do this everytime I shop for any tires. The stickier they are, the better I like them.

I replaced both my tires this week. They were about 6 years old and with good thread but the sidewalls had some little cracking which was only visible on very carefull inspection. I probably could have gotten away with another season or maybe another two seasons but like Locozuna said "Get cheap somewhere else in your life...not in your motorcycle "
For me replacement was for peace of mind.

Hehehe what Locozuna said. Would you trust old rubbers with a girl you don't have any intention of keeping. Ok well maybe that is a bad comparison as the girl you are riding you would for sure want to keep.
I bought a California bike and I know the guy never rode this bike in years. The tires still had the stubbly rubber nibs on em. I figured I would just ride them until no good. I almost got in an accident twice or so. Once when a semi changed lanes no signal and quick. If it weren't for the emergency lane the two feet of it that was there I wouldn't be here today. I slammed on the brakes and both tires slide at 70 miles an hour and once when this cock smoker decided to slam on his brakes in front of me. I almost killed that arsehole just for being stupid because there were two lanes and I passed him on my way to work. Apparently he wanted my lane and then passed me and slammed on his brakes. Anyway slippery tires are fun in back but not when you have to stop. Smoking the tires at thirty and getting some fish tail action was fun. These weren't dry rotted but after a few thousand miles they cracked.
Long story short if you are just tooling around town and don't have much aggressive traffic or ride in the rain you could "get by" I decided to change my tires out as I don't enjoy not having traction. But smoking the spit out of the tires at lights was amusing for awhile.

I had brand new tires put on my 650 too as the old tires were hard. From afar they looked like new. I agree that for peace of mind replace them. There are only two tires and you can't afford to have any of them blow at any speed.

I'll chime in too here. When I bought my bike it had plenty of tread on the tires, but they had gone hard. I rode them for a year because I didn't know any better. I replaced them this year and it's a world of difference, especially when it's wet.