I've been away from the track for a while and have quite a few Michelin takeoffs and even some new tires still in my garage. At this point, I'd be willing to give the take offs away, but will just trash them if they are "too" old. I'm guessing most are about 2 years old. They've been kept in my garage which doesn't fluctuate temp too much here in FL.
Have to look at the born on date. Also the type of tire makes a difference. Slicks vs dot (street). Some people say max is 5yrs, other guys say 3yrs if stored properly. Basically indoors or climate controled garage. I would check manufactures recommendations and always keep in mind a set of tires is cheaper then wadding your shit up with the possibility of a hospital visit. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
They are all race compounds, some slick and some dot. I don't plan on using them, but would give them away or sell them cheap unless they are better off in the dumpster.
I had mounted a brand new set of Dunlop slicks on my 749, then I got sidetracked and didn't race it for 2 years. The bike sat in my garage on the stand the whole time. I then got a wild hair and decided to race the bike, so I took it to Homestead and got within .5 sec of my PB on them, zero issues. My garage is in FL like you, so probably fluctuates between 75 and 90 degrees. Once they are heat cycled I would be more wary. But I've run some really old take offs before to do some shakedown laps (when racing Ducatis you have to make sure it's going to run before you invest in tires) and once scrubbed and up to temp, there was some good sticky rubber there. Dunlop said in the Ken Hill podcast that they often set lap records towards the end of the tire's life, so they last a long, long, time. However I don't think that counts for heat cycles with months in between. It sucks because they can't tell you "the tire will be fine" for liability reasons, but in reality, it probably will. This of course comes from the guy who starts every weekend with a new set for mental purposes. YMMV of course.
I ran a 10yr old set of D209s at jennings with no issues. They were stored in my hall closet. Id probably put them on CL or OfferUp to get rid of them so you dont have to pay any disposal fees.
Pfft, 2 years is nothin'. Run the unused ones. Do you not think you're good enough to figure out whether you should be usin' 'em or not? Only one way to find out...put 'em on. Take-offs? Sell 'em to the dragrace/TDJ squids if you don't want 'em.
If just 2-3 years and stored well then run the new ones and sell the take-offs to a track day junkie or even on a budget racer. Even if it is $20 bucks a tire that is better than nothing. I just bought a 5 year old takeoff 180/55 SC2 slick that is in excellent shape, stored well, from a source I trust and will probably get at least 3 track days out of it on my SV.
You mean when bike is 20lbs lighter, more same-rubber is on track and final finishing positions are being sorted? If the tire was truly better, teams would be lining up for race takeoffs for qualifying.
You called!? omatter34 - Mount'em, grip'em & rip'em!! Haven't been riding in a quite a while, and already have a stash - older than yours, so don't need'em.
Tire technology will obsolete the tire and make it undesirable to run, before the compound itself changes noticeably due to age.
I ran several sets of 8-9 year old Michelin slicks a couple of years ago that were stored in my basement. Still felt great!
what size michelin take offs? i need a set of street tires for my rc51. Let me know if you wanna throw em my way