Motorcycle Tires how old is too old?

I've become aware of a law called the Tread Act. It's a federal law that speaks to defective tires, among other things. I've been told, by folks repeating stuff they've heard, that the law says you may not sell a motorcycle, or car, that is equipped with tires older than five years. I've read the Tread Act and cannot find anything that mentions five years. I'm still looking. If anyone has any better information on this five year business, I'd like to hear it.
In the mean time I found this bit by Motorcyclistonline.com that at least talks about how to read the age of a tire:
www.motorcyclistonline.com/do-motorcycle...ZFDfAL6V10ogAXROitCY
Regards
Bill

This is the only thing we've been able to find.

www.tirebusiness.com/article/20140721/IS...tire-age-safety-rule

Lots of field lore out there, but so far nothing legal.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Modern (soft) motorcycle tires should renew every 5 years, they will lost a lot of performace and grip.
Technical inspector deny the inspection sticker here in Germany.

Tires have the date of manufacture stamped on them. Going on memory but I think 7 years is the recommended life.

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: This is the only thing we've been able to find.

www.tirebusiness.com/article/20140721/IS...tire-age-safety-rule

Lots of field lore out there, but so far nothing legal.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thanks Jim,
That's the most definitive information I've read so far.
Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating for vintage tires but nor am I a booster for more government regulations.
Bill

I work for Dunlop and we can not ship tires that are more than 3 yrs old and tires that are older than 3yrs are scrapped.

Quigleyje wrote: I work for Dunlop and we can not ship tires that are more than 3 yrs old and tires that are older than 3yrs are scrapped.

Hi Quigleyje,
Thanks for the information. I'm assuming that's Dunlop's policy, perhaps a liability insurance requirement. I'm betting that the NHTSA doesn't require that of you.
Regards
Bill

I work for an aerospace component supplier and we won't ship any rubber components such as O-rings unless they have 80% shelf life remaining.

Nessism wrote: I work for an aerospace component supplier and we won't ship any rubber components such as O-rings unless they have 80% shelf life remaining.

Sorry Bill, I am not trying to hijack your thread.. it's relevant.

What do they consider the shelf life to be on rubber components and NOS rubber items, Ed?


Also, do you have any insight on NOS clutch material compared to fresh clutch plates? Does it have a shelf life?

Shelf life depends on the material and storage method. For the stuff we sell in aerospace there is a MIL-SPEC document which is a pretty good guideline. Our material guys decide after that. As for clutches, no clue. Most likely unlimited if stored correctly in the original packaging.

Some dealers sometime have tires in stock that are over three years old!!!!! Look at the DOT numbers to make sure you are buying a tire that has not sat in stock for many many years!!! The bigger the dealership, bigger the turn over of inventory. Even watch the mail order stores too!!!! I have noticed that the sticky performance tires for bikes seem to develop a series of sidewall cracks after 2 years or so. The Metzeler Comp K's used to do that a lot back in the 80's and 90's. The sticky Pirelli's did the same thing back then too!!!! Even the sticky Avon's I put on my GSXR a few years back have a few sidewall cracks starting to develop on them.

As far as gaskets and rubber o-rings. I have a huge collection of Kz1000 gaskets I bought around 1982 to 1984. I used them in my last engine build for my Kz1000 Superbike two years ago. The valve guide seals are just as old that I used in my cylinder head. This motor is oil tight with not even a drip out of it. Plus there is no sign of oil trails in the ports from pulling oil pass the valve guide seals.

All my Kz1000 gaskets are the very old gaskets that contain asbestos. You can tell them by the greyish/black color. Not those later gaskets that were like a brownish color and with the 11060-???? part numbers. I think it boils down to how the gaskets were stored when it comes down to how good they still are for sealing. I keep all my old gaskets in sealed plastic bags, laying flat in a sealed up box. I also keep them in an area at a constant temperature too.

All my gaskets are the old asbestos type gaskets.

We had the local Suzuki shop install a set of Dunlops on my wife's first bike.
I had to take the rims off the bike and bring them in only to get charged more then 500 bucks for 3+ year old tires that showed dry rot by the end of the season.
We traded it in for her latest bike at that time and when they started to haggle on price the dry rot came up , I informed them that they had sold those tires to us 8 months earlier.
we still made 200 bucks over what we paid for the bike a year earlier off of craigslist and she put around 12,000 on her.

Now I buy my tires from a motor cycle super store and do the installs myself , all of the tires I buy online are on sale and less then a year old
About $ 225.00 per bike.
The tire changer and balancer have paid for them selves