The bike I recently purchased has dry rot on the front tire, especially in the tire's grooves. The tire has quite a bit of tread on it, indicating that the bike hasn't been ridden much lately. Does anyone know how long dry rot typically takes? I'm trying to get a ball park estimate on how long the bike has been sitting.
To pre-empt a tire safety lecture, I'm stating that I'lll replace the tires in a couple of weeks.
Rotting tires aren't a great way to tell how long a bike's been sitting. I bought some Ansen Sprint wheels/tires off fleabay that had been sitting in a garage since the early 80's and the 20 year old rubber on the tires is in phenomenal condition. I think the best way to tell is by doing a big burnout in front of your house.
All tires have manufactured dates on them. Look for a 4 digit code. The first two numbers are the week and the last two are the year.
Thanks dgyver! That's exactly the type of info I've wanted.
For more info on this including a picture of what the date code looks like, see this link: http://www.tuninglinx.com/html/car-tire-date-code.html
I've had my GS500 since new for 8 years and 4 months. No tire changes and no dry rot showing yet. It has 2001.2 miles on it and is kept in a small shed/building. It's always there "in case I need it". :)