Oldest tyres?

the_hundredth_idiot
the_hundredth_idiot Posts: 813
edited July 2009 in Commuting chat
A mate has just told me that he's changed the tyres on his MTB and the guy in the bike shop was laughing, saying they're the oldest he's ever seen. They have a date stamped on the side which says 1992. The guy (kid?) in the bike shop said he wasn't born in 1992.

C'mon - 17 years! That's nothing. There must be some bikes out there with really old tyres and still going strong.

What are the oldest bike tyres you know of which are still in use? (Presumably not doing that many miles each year ... :? )
Never be tempted to race against a Barclays Cycle Hire bike. If you do, there are only two outcomes. Of these, by far the better is that you now have the scalp of a Boris Bike.

Comments

  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    My RockHopper still has its original knobblies on. Bought the bike in 1990 or so. By the look of them, they're good for another 20 years at the same rate.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • AyrshireBacon
    AyrshireBacon Posts: 173
    My fixed bike is a conversion of an early 80s Kahlkoff racer. Tyres are a Schwalbe and a Michelin World Tour - both of which look old enough to be original, but probably only one of them is.

    Are all tyres date stamped? Can you tell me where the stamp would be?
    time flies like an arrow
    fruit flies like a banana
  • Cartesian Centaur
    Cartesian Centaur Posts: 44
    I had an old Raleigh Record of 70s vintage with the original tyres, highly doubt the person I gave it to has changed them!
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    God I burn through tyres in no time. Takes me a year or 2 and they're covered in little slits and cuts from debris on London's roads and have many bald patches from slamming on the brakes, skidding to a halt to avoid aimless pedestrians and idiot drivers. These people oviously don't use their bikes enough
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • the_hundredth_idiot
    the_hundredth_idiot Posts: 813
    AyrshireBacon wrote:
    My fixed bike is a conversion of an early 80s Kahlkoff racer. Tyres are a Schwalbe and a Michelin World Tour - both of which look old enough to be original, but probably only one of them is.

    Are all tyres date stamped? Can you tell me where the stamp would be?

    I think it's a code on the side which tells you the year rather than the date itself.
    Never be tempted to race against a Barclays Cycle Hire bike. If you do, there are only two outcomes. Of these, by far the better is that you now have the scalp of a Boris Bike.

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