Tires with cracks

[mike10]

Are tires with cracks still safe to use? I have one for the rear GS1000 1980. Someone told me the cracks are superficial. It requires a tube, It's a Contiental.

[kdo58]

no it is not safe

[Joe Nardy]

NO!

If they are old enough to have cracks the rubber has probably hardened enough to be more like plastic. Besides the risk of a blowout, you'll have very little traction available. A new set of tires, even cheap ones, is much cheaper then a trip to the hospital........

Thanks,
Joe

[SqDancerLynn1]

You need new tires

[steve murdoch]

Are tires with cracks still safe to use? I have one for the rear GS1000 1980. Someone told me the cracks are superficial. It requires a tube, It's a Contiental.

Only for rolling the bike around in the garage.

[ramrod400]

no , just bought a bike thats been sitting around for years cleaned the carbs ordered tires cause they were crack and dry rot,it runs good took it two blocks to get it inspected they did not pass it because of cracked turn signal lens,said nothing about tires, I thought they would say something about tires but had to try, tires wont be in for 10 more days

[chuck hahn]

if cracks appear ANYWHERE on a tire dont use it for riding..PERIOD.

[will61310]

I recently bought a bike that sat over 20 yrs. The tires are like new - even have nipples showing. They will stay on till i get it going and maybe a few road tests in town. They will Definitley come off before any mileage gets put on the bike, and they have inner tubes as well...Remember this - Tires are about the only thing between you and the asphalt

[rphillips]

I've used old cracked tires several times, over the years, and never had a problem. Just shows I'm dumb enough to do it. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE to gamble on them. Just my opinion.

[79FiveFifty]

Are tires with cracks still safe to use? I have one for the rear GS1000 1980. Someone told me the cracks are superficial. It requires a tube, It's a Contiental.

On a car people tend to let their ozone depleted dry rotted tires remain on the vehicle until the tread is gone because even if you have a blowout.. you still have 3 other tires to balance on.

Despite the fact that you have an inner tube tire on your bike though, if you take a nice turn and start digging in to get some grip and the tire decided it's going to come apart.. inner tube or not - you're going down.

The tire is beyond it's useful life by the time it's dry enough to crack anyway so you'd be sacraficing traction - which is one of the two main components of riding.. Balance / traction.. take one anyway and what do you have?

[mike10]

Started looking for tires

Thanks,Everybody. Probably saved my hide. Plus I forgot about the DMV Inspection. My tail light lens has a small hole right in the middle about the diameter of a pencil. I think I'll just patch it with clear silicon sealer and see if it goes unnoticed

[ramrod400]

you will probably be alright with your lens, the guy doing my inspect was looking for something but didnt know what he was doing,he could have failed it for other things to, but thats o.k. it will be taken care of.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Mike10,

I found this on some guy's website. You may find it interesting...

How old are my tires?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff