Tires

[jake1953]

Hi I ride a 98 Shadow Ace i am the second owner i purchased the bike with 10,000 miles and now have almost 17,000 i recently talked to the orginal owner and asked if he had ever replaced tires he said no they don't look bad but i have told by other riders that i should replace them because of the miles
is there certain time or miles that tires should be replaced and is there anything to look for

Thank you
Jimjavascript:emoticon('')

[flames4ever]

WOW 17,000 miles. I only got 4700 out of my Dunlop rear. i'd say if you don't have any cracks in the side walls, and you haven't wore them down to to tread ware bars, keep them on.

[Spirit_1100]

Hey Jake,

There are two things that will indicate if your tires need to be replaced...your wear bars showing and cracks. Since you have spokes on your Ace, you have a tube...so cracks are not as big of a deal as with a tubeless tire...since you have a tube that holds the air in the tires. Not saying cracks on tube tires aren't bad...just not as bad if you had tubeless tires.

For the wear bars, check the center of your tire to determine if you are near your wear bars. If you are...or even close, start looking for new tires.

Bottom line here is...the tires are your lifeline to your ride. If you don't feel comfortable on them...change them.

Joe

[Eldorado]

I would say that riding with 10 yr old tires is asking for trouble regardless of the tread that is left, I would definetly be changing them out, as mentioned, you only have two on the road between you and the pavement...................

[Steve-O]

Tires should be changed at 6 years...per the mfg. There is a month year stamp on every tire to indicate when it was made. After 6 years the rubber degrades and it needs to be replaced - for your safety.

[AngryHatter]

When you see the wear bars, replace.
Or if the tire has cracks in the sidewall.
Even with a tube I'd replace a tire with cracks.

[jake1953]

Thanks for all the good advice New tires are going to be my #1 winter project
seeing the weather up here in the Northeast will be ending riding soon unless i get Snow Tires Now to decide on what is the best tires to get
Dunlop , Metzier so many choices
thanks again
Jim

[Bubba1954]

There's wisdom in Steve's words..

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

[thunderglass]

10 year old tires are not your friend.

[hunzee]

Yikes!