Back on the the bike after 2 years
03-21-20, 09:12 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Back on the the bike after 2 years
Life got in the way the last 2 years so I didn't do any road riding. I did use my Wahoo Kicker but that's about it. My bike is a 2015 Ridley Fenix with full Ultegra 6800 groupset. It did not have full 6800 when I got it but it did soon after in mid 2016. I had just put Conti GP 4000 tires on it when I parked it late 2017 but I am concerned about them sitting all this time. Should I go ahead and do new tires/ tubes?
03-21-20, 10:05 PM
#2
Senior Member
It's only been 3 years, your tires are fine as long as they were not left out in the elements. Taken care of, tires will last 30+ years.
03-22-20, 10:45 AM
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Ever heard of dry rot? I would not drive or ride anything with 30 year old tires. I just spent $4000 on motorhome tires even though they looked great, but it is generally known that you have to replace every 7 years no matter what. I don't know what the shelf life is for road bike tires so I asked the question. If I had been riding regularly during that time I would have put new tires on at least once probably twice due to normal wear.
03-22-20, 11:07 AM
#4
Senior Member
Ever heard of dry rot? I would not drive or ride anything with 30 year old tires. I just spent $4000 on motorhome tires even though they looked great, but it is generally known that you have to replace every 7 years no matter what. I don't know what the shelf life is for road bike tires so I asked the question. If I had been riding regularly during that time I would have put new tires on at least once probably twice due to normal wear.
It sounds like you want an excuse to buy some bike tires, if that's the case, go ahead.
Last edited by katsup; 03-22-20 at 03:51 PM. Reason: typo
03-22-20, 01:48 PM
#5
Senior Member
Personally for 2 year old tires you should be fine, if you do a google search it recommends changing your car tires every 6 years regardless of how worn they are because they tend to loose their effective grip. I had a set of tires on my bicycle so long they started to crack and they still had very effective grip at high speed so with bicycle tires. The internet states about 20 years on bicycle tires.
Unless there are any cracks I would perhaps not ride them too hard for the first mile or so and they should be fine. But for peace of mind you might want to get a new set. If you won't feel safe on the tires no matter how good they really are then that's not going to be any fun for you.
Although on the flip side of buying new tires you may need to bed in your new tires so you'll have to factor that in. What do I mean? Depending on what you buy there may be some residue from the creation of the tire as well as those pesky little 'beads or nodules' that are left on the tire that can make cornering a bit sketchy / dangerous. Some tires need this bed in, others don't.
Unless there are any cracks I would perhaps not ride them too hard for the first mile or so and they should be fine. But for peace of mind you might want to get a new set. If you won't feel safe on the tires no matter how good they really are then that's not going to be any fun for you.
Although on the flip side of buying new tires you may need to bed in your new tires so you'll have to factor that in. What do I mean? Depending on what you buy there may be some residue from the creation of the tire as well as those pesky little 'beads or nodules' that are left on the tire that can make cornering a bit sketchy / dangerous. Some tires need this bed in, others don't.
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03-22-20, 06:45 PM
#6
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Personally for 2 year old tires you should be fine, if you do a google search it recommends changing your car tires every 6 years regardless of how worn they are because they tend to loose their effective grip. I had a set of tires on my bicycle so long they started to crack and they still had very effective grip at high speed so with bicycle tires. The internet states about 20 years on bicycle tires.
Unless there are any cracks I would perhaps not ride them too hard for the first mile or so and they should be fine. But for peace of mind you might want to get a new set. If you won't feel safe on the tires no matter how good they really are then that's not going to be any fun for you.
Although on the flip side of buying new tires you may need to bed in your new tires so you'll have to factor that in. What do I mean? Depending on what you buy there may be some residue from the creation of the tire as well as those pesky little 'beads or nodules' that are left on the tire that can make cornering a bit sketchy / dangerous. Some tires need this bed in, others don't.
Unless there are any cracks I would perhaps not ride them too hard for the first mile or so and they should be fine. But for peace of mind you might want to get a new set. If you won't feel safe on the tires no matter how good they really are then that's not going to be any fun for you.
Although on the flip side of buying new tires you may need to bed in your new tires so you'll have to factor that in. What do I mean? Depending on what you buy there may be some residue from the creation of the tire as well as those pesky little 'beads or nodules' that are left on the tire that can make cornering a bit sketchy / dangerous. Some tires need this bed in, others don't.
03-23-20, 07:06 AM
#7
Senior Member
Your tires will be fine, you might want to replace the tubes - the area around the valves seems to decay over time and I've had kids/my wife's unused bikes go flat there.
03-23-20, 07:17 AM
#8
Senior Member
Ever heard of dry rot? I would not drive or ride anything with 30 year old tires. I just spent $4000 on motorhome tires even though they looked great, but it is generally known that you have to replace every 7 years no matter what. I don't know what the shelf life is for road bike tires so I asked the question. If I had been riding regularly during that time I would have put new tires on at least once probably twice due to normal wear.
03-23-20, 08:45 AM
#9
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Life got in the way the last 2 years so I didn't do any road riding. I did use my Wahoo Kicker but that's about it. My bike is a 2015 Ridley Fenix with full Ultegra 6800 groupset. It did not have full 6800 when I got it but it did soon after in mid 2016. I had just put Conti GP 4000 tires on it when I parked it late 2017 but I am concerned about them sitting all this time. Should I go ahead and do new tires/ tubes?
