Tires aren't milk

[Stig / Major Tom]

Sleeting...so reading instead of riding.
Regarding tire age, stale dates, etc.
Google the above subject title, for a rebuttal of riders overly concerned about buying old tires.
Everything within reason, obviously......but always was suspect about all the excitement surrounding the age of scooter tires.

Many of us are driving on tires 5+ yrs old -- and wager few have ever seen a car tire fail.

So...to sum up: tires aren't milk; manufacturers think tires have a safe life span of 5 years - on or off the wheel. One must also care properly for the tire - including running PSI per the manual, and inspect the tire frequently  and paying attention to treadware indicators.

I reckon that if I were riding a big scooter at highway speeds - I'd be comfortable sticking to their recommendations.
Stig

[big blue]

Where you live probably has a big effect on tires. When I lived in LA due to the high ozone count tires tended to develop cracking in the sidewalls very quickly. I recall that when I purchased a Yamaha 250 in 1964 the stock Bridgestones started cracking in about 6 months and the hand grips actually split and fell off! I replaced the grips with Bates vinyl ones and they never developed the same issue. I replaced the tires with Dunplops which faired much better in the LA environment. After I moved to Northern California I never experienced this problem.

[MJR]

I'm perfectly fine running older tires unless they are Maxxis crap the only maxi scooter tires I have ever had separate on me.