Riding on 16-years old tires.

I rode about 20 miles after registration and then checked tires manufacturing dates.
Front tire 1998 cracked, already ordered new one.
Rear tire 2000 has no cracks and has at least 90% left. Based on tire condition, the bike was never kept outside.
Would you replace rear tire?

Folks may hold different opinions, but the front and rear tires should be the same brand and should be model tires that are intended to be used together. If your new front tire is a match for the rear you may be ok with that rear tire, but if the front tire is not a match I would buy a matching rear tire. As an example, the Pirelli Sport Demon front and rear tires shown below are engineered to be used together. Ed

What Ed said...be safe and replace your tires as a set.

Mcdroid wrote: What Ed said...be safe and replace your tires as a set.

+1
Even if they were a matching set I wouldn't ride on a tire that old. I generally don't ride on a tire older than 6 years old. 10 maybe if they have been garaged indoors and have no cracks.

The guys are right, but its more about that the front and rear tire shall have the same basic geometry and approximately the same compound, in order to work together with your bike to give you the right riding experience.

I have raced numerous times with tires from different manufactures fitted front and rear, both to the edge of my ability and sometimes beyond, but I don’t for a second think it was the tires fault. :whistle:

But riding on 16 years old tires is like checking in to the Darwin award. Tires contain ”distillate aromatic extract oils” that makes them soft and enhance the road grip, these and other petrochemical oils in tires evaporate away over time and making your tires harder and eventually to the point where they crack. Even the natural rubber in tires age like female millionaire losing its vigor. Anyhow long before that, the grip is basically nonexistent and they will be able to give you a surprise when you least of all want it, like when cornering on a wet surface or just plainly trying to brake.

So if you plan to rider faster than a hog better get new rubber, it can save you a lot of money.

Having tires of the same type and from the same manufacture only applies if you intend to mount them on the same axle. But that’s just my 2 öre.

/A

car5car wrote: Would you replace rear tire?

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YES!!!

I was towing a friends trailer made from an old pickup bed, he said he'd put new tires on it, but really he meant new to him. The whole tread separated from the carcass on the Freeway after driving about 30 miles to the Freeway and about a mile on the Freeway. The bang from the trailer and the way it was transferred the shock to my F350 pick up was amazing. The tire actually remained inflated, the outside looked like what you normally see inside the tire, the tread was completely gone over the whole 360 degrees. That certainly gave me a heads up reminder as to why I change my bike tires due to age, not wear. That tire looked great when I hooked up to the trailer and was properly inflated. Had that been on a motorcycle the impact alone caused by the tread coming a drift and temporarily impeding progress would have thrown the rider down the road. As it was I was able to laugh about how I drove the additional 6 miles home, slowly. on just the inflated carcass as I had no spare and fortunately no load in the trailer.

scubaanders wrote: The guys are right, but its more about that the front and rear tire shall have the same basic geometry and approximately the same compound, in order to work together with your bike to give you the right riding experience.

I have raced numerous times with tires from different manufactures fitted front and rear, both to the edge of my ability and sometimes beyond, but I don’t for a second think it was the tires fault. :whistle:

But riding on 16 years old tires is like checking in to the Darwin award. Tires contain ”distillate aromatic extract oils” that makes them soft and enhance the road grip, these and other petrochemical oils in tires evaporate away over time and making your tires harder and eventually to the point where they crack. Even the natural rubber in tires age like female millionaire losing its vigor. Anyhow long before that, the grip is basically nonexistent and they will be able to give you a surprise when you least of all want it, like when cornering on a wet surface or just plainly trying to brake.

So if you plan to rider faster than a hog better get new rubber, it can save you a lot of money.

Having tires of the same type and from the same manufacture only applies if you intend to mount them on the same axle. But that’s just my 2 öre.

/A

I understand what you are saying about using different tires, front and rear, but the profiles can be different between various brands and this can definitely cause poorer handling. Some tires are a bit more more like a V others much more rounded, so while I don't entirely disagree, there's more to it than that. With race tires they often run different hardness of rubber on the front and the rear, soft, intermediate, hard etc. in different combinations on different tracks, so you could say they often are not matched, but the tires themselves will still have the same profile shape. While we probably shouldn't ride hard enough on the road for many things to be an issue, personally I'd rather ride with matched tires because every little could make a difference in an emergency situation.

When I bought my BMW R1100r the tires were 10 years old, and still looked like new as the bike only had 3,032 miles on it, and had been stored inside the whole time. The tires seemed to have good grip. but when I changed tires, the difference was night and day, where I really noticed it was with the rear brake. With the new tire I could brake unbelievably hard and not lock the wheel, where as previously I'd felt it start to lock a couple of times when not braking that hard at low speeds. So even if the tire doesn't fail from age, the loss of grip could quite literally be the death of you. The bad news on the BMW is my new tires are now up for replacement

650ed wrote: Folks may hold different opinions, but the front and rear tires should be the same brand and should be model tires that are intended to be used together. If your new front tire is a match for the rear you may be ok with that rear tire, but if the front tire is not a match I would buy a matching rear tire. As an example, the Pirelli Sport Demon front and rear tires shown below are engineered to be used together. Ed

Attachment PirelliSportDemon-2-3.jpg not found

^^^^^^+1
I agree with Ed, Tires on my 1975 RestoMod Z1-B are probably 8 years old and only have maybe 1500 miles on them if that, bike is always kept inside. However, I will replace them after this season. I always buy tires that are same make and type. Has always worked for me.
Ed

I got the bike back on the road after 15 years. I bought a new tire before I parked it. Didn't put it on. I put the new/old tire on it was a PITA. Hard. I rode with it until I could buy a new one. I had to, the tire was coming apart at the spaces in the tread. That thing was ready to fail all at once. It was on the rear and anyone that has had a blowout in the rear will tell you the chances of going down is better that 75%.
I wouldn't chance it. Not for $80-100.
Steve

ed spangler wrote:

650ed wrote: Folks may hold different opinions, but the front and rear tires should be the same brand and should be model tires that are intended to be used together. If your new front tire is a match for the rear you may be ok with that rear tire, but if the front tire is not a match I would buy a matching rear tire. As an example, the Pirelli Sport Demon front and rear tires shown below are engineered to be used together. Ed

Attachment PirelliSportDemon-2-3.jpg not found

^^^^^^+1
I agree with Ed, Tires on my 1975 RestoMod Z1-B are probably 8 years old and only have maybe 1500 miles on them if that, bike is always kept inside. However, I will replace them after this season. I always buy tires that are same make and type. Has always worked for me.
Ed

I've heard 3 years touted as time to change your tires by some, that seems excessive to me, if they are low miles and kept out of the sun. I think 6-8 might be reasonable, but as I said the reduction in grip on my 9-10 year old BMW tires was very significant. It also depends on the riding you do, there's a difference between taking off down the freeway for a couple of hundred mile trip and doing a 30-40 mile round trip from your home. Checking them regularly for cracks etc. is important riding long distances that isn't going to happen often enough to avert a possible disaster.

Removing really old tires from the rim gives you a good idea as to how much they harden over time.

$68 shipped! Same tire Shinko 712
Front one was $49 shipped

This is what I use.
Steve
www.chaparral-racing.com/product/shinko-...tire/369-874170.aspx