Dangerous Rear Tire?

So I'm still fairly new to the site here. I found this goldmine searching for carb cleaning help, and my god I have found so much that this bike will be running better than it left the factory when I'm done with it. In the past couple weeks since I got it, I've drained, cleaned, and rebuilt the carbs, done 2 oil changes (The oil the PO had in there was so old it was practically turning back into dinosaurs), checked my rear shoes for delamination (looked good), and polished her up a bit.

While I was doing all this I noticed my rear tire has quite a bit of weather cracking. There is numerous tiny hair thin cracks going around the tire on the sidewall. I'd say there is about six 1/2" long cracks in any given square inch of the sidewall, but there is absolutely none in the tread itself, and the tire has plenty of tread left. The date code on it is stamped 2004, and the tire seems to still be structurally safe.

So I'm left wondering if this is going to pose an immediate hazard. I'm a full time college student, so I'm not exactly flush with cash. I do plan on replacing both tires eventually, but is it dangerous for me to ride around with it in this shape for the time being?

 

My tires are exactly the same way with the xj650 I just picked up a couple weeks ago. Interested in these responses.

Have you cleaned/rebuilt carbs before? If not, how did it go? It's the one thing I'm terrified to do myself.

 

These were my first set of carbs that I've even taken apart. I didn't break up the rack when I cleaned them because I heard is major PITA if you do. The procedure I used to go about cleaning them is warned against every where on this site, but I had no problem with it.

I went around first and took everything apart, and soaked all the pieces except the main jet needle assembly in chemtool. Then sprayed chemtool in every hole and orfice I could find. Then seeing that things still were a little dingy. So then I boiled everything in lemon juice. Call me crazy but I saw it online somewhere. It actually worked expectionally well. There was a bunch of dirt and grease built up between the carbs on the rack that I couldn't get at, but the acidity in the lemon juice took it all off. Everything came out shiny and smelling lemon fresh. I used compressed air to blow any remaining juice out, and then did a thorough wash down with WD-40. Everything was squeaky clean except I noticed when trying to blow air through my pilot jets that they were still clogged. After much searching for something tiny enough, I used a single bristle of a wire brush to poke into the jet, and it worked perfect.

The carbs are back together and back on the bike now. And I haven't had any real problems with them so far. I haven't had a chance to synch them yet, I figured I'd wait until I check the valve clearances first. As of now the bike starts up and runs great for the first three minutes, then the RPM's race to 4 to 5 thousand, and when I take off the choke, the RPM's keep going down until it dies. I'm hoping that's just because they're out of synch, but we'll see.

I'd say its a great learning experience cleaning your carbs for the first time, its a good way to learn the concept behind the tuning and all. But If I were you I'd probably go by the book [The Church of Clean].

 

sidewall dry rotting is the cracks forming on the sidewall. It is not good to have that kind of damage on your tires. I'd replace them as soon as possible. If the tire were to fail, that would be very bad...

 

That tire is 9 years old, just replace it. Tires aren't meant to be used for that many years.
My tires looked the same when i got my bike, one was 5 years old, the other 12! Decent amount of thread, but cracks all over the place. Not to mention, the handling was very bad. New tires will not only improve your bikes handling, but also your safety, which should be your no. 1 priority.

 

KJ, I think I will do it by the book as my bike runs pretty good right now and I don't want to chance it! Lemon juice cleaned her right up though huh? Pretty interesting!

I've got a lot of dry rotting on my tires too, is it at least safe to ride it to the shop to get new tires?

Oh and how do you guys store the bike over the winter to prevent dry rotting during storage? light coat of armor all on the sidewall? That's probably very dangerous though...

 

YES IT'S DANGEROUS!!!!!! DON'T RIDE IT!!!!

also, just a friendly hint. if you take your wheels off and take them to the shop you are going to pay far less on the tires as you don't have to pay labor to pull/reinstall on the bike

 

Replace both. If it's been sitting both are likely old. Check the date code, bet they are past their usable life.

 

DANGER DANGER! The PO of my bike was my cousin, he got the bike from my uncle who bought it new. My cousin thought the tires were good enough. Wrong was he! A month before his wedding he was riding in a turn, the tire blew and down he went. Broke his collar bone and a few ribs. Dry rotted tires are no joke! Get her swapped out.


On a side note, thats how I got a free motorcycle. His wife to be was pissed to say the least, im surprised she didnt pay me to take it!

 

Over the winter, I replaced my front tire after noticing cracks in the sidewall this past fall. Used only four years. Checked the date code and found it was FOUR years old when I bought it. The new tire was made November 2012. Important lesson - CHECK THE DATE CODE.

 

Now you guys have me worried! Can you guys de-crypt this and tell me the year of this tire?

 

Week 44 of the year 1990. (The "440" at the end of the identification.)
Looks like someone bought it and hardly used it. It is still old and cracked. With only 2 contact points with the ground, you can't risk having one of those points disappear!

 

wow, 1990? You gotta be kidding me!

OK, gonna order some Kenda challengers right now. Can't risk my life.

And yea, the bike has 17k miles on it. It runs OK, needs some love. Valve gasket is first. Im getting really sick of smelling like motor oil/gasoline when I get to work

 

Current tire codes are 4 digits. 2 digits for the week, two digits for the year. (0113 would be the first week of the year 2013).
Prior to 2000 tires dates were 3 years. 2 digits for the week, one digit for the year. So if my first guess was wrong, then my 2nd guess is 1980.

 

for future reference:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=11

CHassan - you are right about 1990 because of the triangle after the date code....

 

Mill, I looked at that exact site but the 440 threw me off. I was really hoping that 0 was for 2000. Then I saw the triangle... Man I need to order tires ASAP. I started a new thread for Kenda challenger vs cruiser ST. I don't know which to get. But I need to get something shipped to me today LOL

 

yea... 2000 started 4 digit codes.... I'll respond on your other thread as well....

 

Thanks for the advice everybody. I was hoping that for some reason this would be OK on motorcycle tires, but my common sense was telling me otherwise. But after reading all that you guys have experienced with them, new tires are definitely on their way.

 

Johnson, good call brother. Better safe than sorry man!