when is a tyre to OLD

[BLOFLY 636]

Hi all, I am just curious if there is a use by date as such for a set of tyres? I recently read an article about heat cycles in tyres I believe it was something like 2 or 3 heat cycles before a race tyre starts to lose it's grip and something like 500 heat cycles for a street tyre to begin to fade any body know of tyres becoming too OLD?
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[Bendy]

When they start losing their grip.

My last set, which had been heated and cooled and heated and cooled finally just lost their grippiness - I could feel it when going round a roundabout.

[BLOFLY 636]

yes I actually noticed that today! I was doing about 85 kmph and almost had the peg down when I felt a skittering sensation coming from the rear not a spin more of a tiny hopping scrubbing feeling my tyres are michelin pilot sports with 9500 km since I bought the bike in March last year
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Those bloody footpegs......they ought to do away with em!

[Kickstart]

Hi

Age wise they are damaged by UV light. If stored properly they should last very well.

I had some old tyres on the FZ750 when it went back on the road. Probably 10 years old. They were OK in the dry but had virtually no grip in the wet.

All the best

Keith
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[Jrod]

I just took a tyre of my front that was dated '96, It was pretty damn bald. Grip levels were poor aswell. VERY poor.

[stinkwheel]

They go all hard with age. When I bought my 350 powervalve, it had a set of avon roadrunners on it which must have been about eight years old. They had all the consistancy and grip of bakelite and were a complete bastard to take off.
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[Dom_]

I own a year 2000 bike, the tyrs havnt been changed yet (low miles) and there dew a change, but there so crap. Theres splits all over em, they feel like pastic and the grip is shocking.

I also have that skittsh back end thing when i get low. They are sh*t Pirelli MT75's.

I just don't know what to get next.

MT75
Demon Sport
BT45
BT45s
BT39ss????

[Yeti]

go for the BT45's im running MT75's at the moment just felt like abit of a change last time i changed the tyres but i will be going straight back to the BT45's
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Lifes a Beach!

[EuropeanNC30R...]

I've noticed the sides/edges of Dunlops seem to go blue if you don't use the bike for a few days.

[mchaggis]

Plasticisers. What you add to rubbers and resins to make them bendy, flexible and stretchy. The only problem is, they leak out of the rubber/ plastic and disappear, leaving it hard and brittle. This is the reason your car always smells of plastic after it's been in the sun for a while, the plasticisers in the dashboard evaporate especially quickly in the warmth.

Tyres go hard and smooth when left outside in the sun especially, but will go hard and lose grip over time simply to due the plasticisers evaporating.
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[dotti]

In an article that I read, they reccommend changing tyres every 3 years or so at the longest. That said, if bikes are stored in a garage, away from UV light they should last longer. The tyre on the front of my GN is 1997 and the rear is 2002. Both offer plenty of grip which is amazing considering they are a cheap Cheng Shin's

I wouldn't be surprised if the tyres on my dads's SR500 are over 10 years old and still seem to be grippy enough. The bike has recently come out of storage (it was sat proudly in the living room with the Norton Commando until my dad finally got around to doing something with them).
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[El Toro]

I wouldn't know

My back tyre gets changed twice a year and the front one a year - through use!!

[Visitor Q]

Had exactly the same problem on the goose. The rear is quite old, plenty of tread, fine in the dry (gorgeous in the dry actually) but as soon as there was a hint of moisture id find out by the back end wheelspinning sideways round every corner. It wasnt completely manic and vaguely controllable (considering the speed and lean i used to do im amazed i never dumped it), but it was quite disconcerting in heavy traffic roundabouts.
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[iCraig]

The tyres I recently took of MY GPZ were quite old the rear was from about 1998, and the front was OE, so it was on the bike from 1995(or 1993 cos it was registered late)! They were hard and an absolute nightmare in the wet.