Beware old tyres!

[Janet]

you would enjoy the ride down here. Its so hot now, i am stripped off to just my tee shirt.( sorry, no photos)

I hope it's a very long T-shirt.

[Mckorkins]

By the way, I forgot to mention that an acquaintance of mine unfortunately lost his life a couple of years ago when riding out on his Matchless G80 due to the fact that his tyre suddenly deflated (probably due to an old inner tube failing). He was going down a hill on a winding road on Exmoor and hit a bank on the opposite side of the road and was thrown from his machine. His mate following a little way behind had the misfortune to run over him as he lay in the road and he was killed. His mate suffered not only the trauma of running him over, but also was subjected to arrest by the police for dangerous driving, even though it wasn't entirely his fault. His bike was impounded whilst the investigations took place and he had to live with all this hanging over his head. Two years passed before the police decided that he wasn't to blame and it was only after the coroner's inquest that the evidence led them to that conclusion. The chap had only bought the G80 from a dealer in Cornwall a couple or three months before and obviously didn't know the provenance of the tyres or tubes fitted on his 1955 machine.

So do check those tyres and inner tubes, if you can't or don't remember when they were fitted.

[Ludwig]

When the nut on the valve isn't tighten or -better- omitted, a tilted valve is a sign for low pressure.

[mikeydpippin]

Interesting post, will check my tyres, what exactly will I be looking for, perished tyre, pressure, valve secure.
Would there be a date on the tyre.

[mikeydpippin]

Good old Google just found this,

The date your tyres were made will be on the sidewall in the form of four numbers usually preceded by the letters DOT. These numbers represent the week number and year, so 3410 will be week 34, 2010. Use that information to make sure you're buying tyres with the longest shelf life possible.

This info is not on most of my tyres, had a quick look and found a rear tyre badly perished but good tread.
Need replacing me thinks, Thanks probably saved me from falling off.

WP_20170509_001.jpg

[Mckorkins]

Certainly that applies to the tyres made by Avon. According to the numbers, mine were made just a few weeks ago!

[Harry44]

The date marking on a tyre often called a DOT marking because it is used to comply with the US Department of Transport regulations will as you say give the week number and year of manufacture. If has only 3 digits the tyre was made in the 1990s. The figure 1 being 1991.

The lack of number may mean the tyre is older than that.

[Harry44]

DOT code should look like this

[Mckorkins]

My Model 18 Ajay's tyre had the following marking next to the DOT sign: ←8. The arrow pointing left indicates the tyre was not made in this millenium, but back in the late 90s - 1998 in fact.

[Ozmadman]

Interesting post, will check my tyres, what exactly will I be looking for, perished tyre, pressure, valve secure.
Would there be a date on the tyre.

Seems that the tubes cause more issues and you know the only way to check those!!