Modern Vespa

Many advise that a motorcycle or scooter tire should be replaced after 5 years of use. (clock starts when tire is installed on the bike)
Some also advise that tires should be replaced after 5 years of age. (clock starts when tire comes from the mold)

Michelin suggests that motorcycle/scooter tires be replaced after 10 years of use.
Michelin says tires in use for 5 years should be inspected yearly by a professional.
Michelin says damaged, plugged, worn to wear limits tires should be replaced.


Members - Surely many riders have pushed their tires past these conditions - so, please post your experience of the motorcycle/scooter tire failing on the road while in use - which was NOT due to a puncture. Personally, I am aware of off-road cyclists experiencing tire failures - but I have never heard of a street bike doing the same. So, your story will be of interest.

Thanks, O.S.

5 years from date of Manufacturing, not date installed.

They just started pushing out to 10 years now that tires compounds have changed so much in the past few years.

Have 8 years old Tires on my 2000 F-250, lots of tread and looked fine, little bit of weather cracking on the side walls.
They worked fine till I did a highway run for about 2 hours round trip. Parked the truck back at the dealership as I was getting some work done. They called me the next morning asking if I knew I had a flat tire. The tread had separated after I parked it and the tire went flat.
That is why I am so conscious about tire age.

I don't think I have ever had a tire last beyond 5 years.
Tread-wear wise, that is.

Question for WEB-Tech; did you tend to park your F250 outside, or in an enclosed garage? Asking in regard to UV/sun exposure.

First 5 years always in the garage unless I was using it to tow something. After that ATV's and other stuff took over the garage.
So 3 years outside all the time.

Factory recommends belt change at 12,000 and oil change at 6,000. I change my belts at 10,000 and oil change at 5,000.
I'll risk tire failure at speed in a car/truck but not on a bike.
The front tire on my Honda is 5 1/2 years old. I was waiting till the commuter BV was repaired to replace it. I'll maintain my vehicles at or before manufacture recommendations until I'm too poor to do so.

12,000 is the factory recommended belt change interval for the BV350. For those who have a GTS, the factory recommended interval is 9,000 miles. I change my belt and rollers at 8,000. I change my oil at 6,000 or less, as I change it annually regardless of miles. I typically change the tires on my scooters at about 5k. A tire failure on a PTW is no bueno. The local tire shop which services my car and RV will not repair or mount a tire which is more than 7 years past its date of manufacture.

What Michelin said is now the norm. Plugged tires can last a long time, but I'd only keep a plugged tire on an around town scooter, not one I take on highway speeds.

I am safer than you.

I change oil weekly, belts monthly and tires every 500 miles.

Bill

Geeze Bill , you had me there for a minute....

I'm overdue for a nap....

if you want to ride on 5 year old hard as a rock tires thats on you.

they might have a lot of most of the tread but that does not make them safe.

cars are a lot different as you have 4 contact patches gripping the road.

m/c's and scooter's you have 2 spots from the size of a quarter to half dollar that you are relying on.

I personally go for tires that offer me the most available grip I can get. I could care less about how many miles I get out of them.

Its my SAFETY first and foremost.

I will add I will not install a tire for any customer that is over 3 years old from manufacture date.

Last summer I did a true change for a customer and he had original tires on a 2006 M/C, the date code on them was 2005. those tires were so hard they had no side flex to get them off the rims. I had to use a sawzall to cut them off.

I charged that customer double as it took me 3 times as long to change them. he did not complain and actually gave me a tip on top of his charges.

Ha! He rides more than that in a day....

On the bright side, it wouldn't matter if he filled them up with air for a while....

If you worry about that sort of stuff then change it otherwise just just look at it's condition and make a judgement call. Manufactures of tyres might not be the most impartial people to tell you how often you should buy new tyres.

It's the rubber manufacturers that have a say too, not just the tire company's.

If you're a regular rider, the 5 year mark (I've also heard 7) will never become an issue. I average 15,000 scooter mikes per year (across multiple bikes) and I doubt any of the tires have seen 3 years.

It does become a problem when you have multiple bikes.

I have an R80GSPD I really only trailer and ride to a single event every year.
That means I would only put some 500kms per year onto the tyres.
After five years they would still have plenty of tread left.

A fair point but wouldn't rubber manufacturers also want to sell more rubber? I'd prefer to see entirely impartial figures.

Well in the past few years they increased the tire life from 5-6 year to 10 years. How does that not show no bias? If they went from 10 years to 5-6 years I could see you point.

Do you believe oil manufactures? They work with the manufacturer's to set use intervales.

Bought a used scoot that had its second set of tires, installed by a dealer, that were older than the scooter. 2015 scoot, 2012 t ires! Akso ourchased a 2007 aprilia with original, hard as rock, tures on it. Ro de that one home 75 miles carefully. Just bought another scarabeo, 2009, with original tires. Tiresvwere cracked in esch tread and had 50 psi in them. Owner said the bike was rideable. I trucked that one home. Bith these scoots werebeing ridden regularly.!!!! By their owners. I will do five to 7 years only with daily inspection jf the tread is good.

I've worked on scooters with tires that are 20 or even nearly 30 years old. Some are completely cracked and it's easy to know they are gone, but some, that are stored in the dark, look OK, but are very smooth and shiny. Those I keep on while I am rebuilding the scooter, just for test rides up and down my street. After a while the smooth shell wears off and they are sort of OK, but when I'm happy with the mechanical performance of the scooter I put on new tires.

I've never had an old tire fail, but I have had 2 old valve stems fly off. That will really wake you up, because the failure is complete and sudden. I was lucky that when the front valve stem broke off the tire was so old that it really didn't collapse, the sidewalls were so stiff I could bring it to a slow stop with only some head shaking.

On the scooter in my garage now I took it out 2 days ago to run up the block and the front felt heavy. Looked at the tire and it seemed low, so I rode it back slowly, and it checked out as 4 pounds pressure. This one (20 years old) was so stiff it never got sloppy.