Sharpshin

In my most recent biketiresdirect purchase I must have pressed the "order" button twice, and so received TWO sets of premium Contact II tires and tubes, each set in their own identical box, on my doorstep the same day, and was billed accordingly.

Easy enough to send the extras back I guess, but now that I have them I have no objection to having a spare set of premium tires hanging on my garage wall.

Is there any real downside to hanging 'em up for a year or two?

Thanks,
Mike

veganbikes

They don't really go bad unless they get dry rot or something like that but in a normal temperature controlled environment they should be fine for a long time. I have a friend with a set of at least 20 year old Conti road tires that still look semi decent (they were ridden on every so often and have a wee tiny starts of cracking) I wouldn't store them in a non-heated/cooled garage or in a similar attic or basement for a long time.

I bought a bunch of conti tires the year before last and they are just fine. The ones on my bikes every so often when cleaning I will wash them and spray them down with Bike Lust and they look good as new. Though I caution riding on them soon afterwards especially on slicker surfaces. I have not had problems but it is inherently dangerous and I hate to give people unsafe advice.

Plimogz

Store them somewhere cool and dry, away from direct sunlight and any ozone emitting machines. They will be fine by the time your first pair wears out.

tcarl

I have more bikes than I can ride at one time. They live in a dark, cool, dry basement. My experience is that my tires last at least 20 years, but obviously by the time they get up over 15 or so years old I use them on closer-to-home rides, don't want to take any chances. I'd say store your tires in a dark, cool, dry place and they should still be good when you need them.

chasm54

Hang them up and they'll last for years.

mtnroads

Well a few years ago I had an extra set of Conti Top Contacts that I had bought on sale for my touring bike and when I was ready to mount them after a couple of years the sidewalls had started to crack. Not sure why - they were stored in the garage out of the sunlight (but not hung). Maybe that's the reason. Or they were already old stock when I got them. They were the original design with the chevron pattern.. Still, I can't imagine they were more than 3 years old.

ironwood

May I add away from solvents and petroleum vapors.

staehpj1 

I have used some that are a few decades old and were fine.

djb

I guess my only opinion against keeping them is that depending on how much you ride, you may end up not wearing the first pair out for ages and ages. I have a pair of regular marathons on my mtn bike commuter/whatever bike, and with perhaps 10,000km or 6k miles on them, they still have lots of life left in them after maybe 5 seasons.

So in other words, why have both your money and tires hanging around for years and years when there may be nicer tires coming out in 3 or 5 years or whatever, and then at least you will know you have new tires.

Up to you, but you see my point? Guess it depends on how much it would cost you to return them.

bradtx

Sharpshin, I have three sets of tires that are about 15 years old. They are all Continentals (GP3000, Grand Prix, and Touring Y2K) and I only have history on one set and how they were stored (GP3000), but the others are in remarkably good condition...

Brad

fietsbob

Year or 2 in the dark away from Electric Motors , No Problem.

Suomi Nokian Utility and Studded tires use a rubber compound that has lasted 25 years,in use, On the Bike ..

Tourist in MSN

When I did my Pacific Coast tour, I used 10 year old tires, but they had been stored for 9 of those 10 years, were virtually new when I started the tour.

I bought several Schwalbe tires that I liked that were discontinued models, soon to be unavailalbe. I am storing for years, I put them in a garbage bag to try to reduce volatile compounds in them from off gassing as fast as they otherwise would, I do not know if that will slow the aging but it might. I store my folding bead new tires in sealed ziplock bags.

seeker333

As others have indicated, good tires properly stored appear to still be like new a decade or so later. Key word in that sentence is APPEAR. There's no way to tell with certainty that the tire won't catastrophically fail on the first 35mph hill. If the tire is new and fails you may have some recourse with a major tire manufacturer, but you're on your own with old gear.

I figure new tires are much less costly than ER/plastic surgery/major dental repairs, so I pitch my old tires after a few years. Odds are some combination of manufacturing enhancement/technological advancement has obsoleted any tire after 5-10 years anyway, so why ride a crummy old potentially-dangerous tire when only 40 bucks is the cost?

veganbikes

You can easily look over the tire and if you don't see cracking or splitting or holes or dry rotting rubber or anything like that you should be fine. Tires are pretty easy to inspect and if you haven't ridden on them there wouldn't be any wear and it should be simple enough to check. You can also feel the tire and will probably notice if it is decent.

However yes I would agree on them potentially being older technology that may not be as good grip wise or tread wise and it being a generally cheap enough switch.

Squeezebox

I saw a video once that included how Lance's mechanic "aged his tires" I forget the details. What's the thing about electric motors? Ozone?

Salamandrine 

FWIW, I've always found that Continentals seem to resist flats better after they've been aged a year or two. I dunno if this is still true, but IMO just keep them.

Biketouringhobo

I have 3 new Continental Touring Plus Tires 2 for bike and 1 spare 26X1.75in in my Storage unit in Vista, California still like new after 1 year+


Biketouringhobo

Tourist in MSN

I think the aging is for the hand made tubular tires, but not necessary for off the shelf clinchers. I think they age them for a couple years before use.

DropBarFan

Jobst Brandt wrote that aging tubular tires was nonsense. I would agree--aging myth probably got started since top pros already had an ample supply of spares on hand to replace the frequent flats.

Squeezebox

Maybe one of those " If it was good enough for Edie, it's good enough for me" kind of things???

Tourist in MSN

Lennard Zinn on aging tubulars:

Lennard Zinn FAQ: Chain additions, pedal threads and aging tubulars and more - VeloNews.com

Sharpshin

Sound reasoning, 'sides which the Gatorskins I took off still have life in 'em.

For $18 shipping I get my $98 back.

pdlamb

Years, somewhere between 1 and 10 so far. Keep them in a plastic garbage bag (to reduce ozone and other nasty stuff) under the bed (so they don't endure extreme temperatures).

DropBarFan

Mr Zinn rather equivocal about the issue. Used to ride tubulars but like most didn't have money & space to age tires so I can't judge personally. OTOH while I got frequent flats, Tour de France pros got frequent flats too even w/less glass.

Possible that Merckx got tires fresh from the factory that might have benefited most from aging. OTOH for him no drawback for that either.

catgita

Los Angeles is the ozone capital of the US. Tires go bad here in a year, used or not. I have had all black tires (inside and out) last a few years. When I was a kid, gum wall tires crumbled on the store shelves.