info on tire shelf life...

[faded1004]

simple question really... how long are the life of the average tire, if you won't use it up? like say if the tire lasts you over 3 years... when do mountain bike tires usually start to degrade alot?

i thought about buying used tires, from the pictures it seems to look very good. so i think it would last me a while since i am a light rider. i was thinking tires would last 4 years average with no major issues? kept in a nice dark sealed area?

[Seat Sniffer]

I still have the original bontrager jones front on my hardtail from 1998. its a little dryrotted with some chunks missing but still works.

[faded1004]

so i am thinking 2 year old tires with no missing treads are not to bad then?

[soul rider]

for storage keep them out of sun light, ozone, extreme heat/cold

[autoduel]

My oldest tire was a 10 year old Ritchey alphabite WCS. Sidewalls were dried out, when I finally sliced the sidewall, it looked like strands from a palm trunk. When you run your fingernail along the sidewall and it leaves a puff of dust, it's time to replace. For car tires I've heard 5 years.

[northshore]

When I was racing in AutoX, we always used black trash bags for our R-comps and stored them in a cool dry place. Then again that was 200-300 a pop per tire and not a super affordable bike tire.

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by northshore

... not a super affordable bike tire.

$50+ a tire is super affordable for good bicycle tires? I pay the same amount for dirt bike tires.

As mentioned, it depends on the conditions of where the tire is mostly stored. When buying new tires, I try to make sure they are...well...new. I've been to a number of shops that have had some tires sitting around for a couple or more years, and you can usually tell by the brownish color. The older the tires, the harder the rubber becomes and the increased likelyhood that knobs will rip off or wear out (for DH use). Just the same, for XC use, these hard tires just handle poorly (compared to new), but they last forever, which tends to keep people riding on old tires even longer. And it really sucks to have a tire failure mid-ride because you're using an old tire that probably should have been replaced. On a related note, I replace chains frequently as well.

Buy 'em fresh, use 'em up, and discard them.