Originally Posted by Richard Cranium
There's no way a tire can improve by being "aged". And there's no way a tire can be stored "correctly."
All tires contain some VOCs. --- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapour pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere.
As these compounds "evaporate", the tire materials harden and lose some of the qualities that make the tire compliant and resistant to cuts and bruising. Old tires are inherently weaker than "fresh" tires.
You might want to send that on to just about every pro racing team. In "Lance Armstrong's War", author Dan Coyle documents how every team ages their tires - some as long as five years. Maybe it is different for sew-ups or something. Maybe it is supersitiion or just an old habit. Or maybe it makes a better tire for racing
But, I cannot believe that people spending millions of dollars on racing each year would do something that would in any way harm a racer or his chances to win. These are the world's top wrenches and I would bet they know what they are doing.