Check your goddamn tyres

OK so quick PSA for those who don't know (I know most of you will, this is more for new riders) check the age of your tyres, don't just check for tread or viable signs of damage. I recently brought a 1999 600 fazer that looked in pretty much mint condition, it had passed a mot every yeah the previous owner had had it and it only had 21k miles on it. After a quick inspection everything seemd in order (for real I've seen 5 year old bikes with tyres in worse condition than these) so I gave the guy my money and was on my way. On my way home however the first time I tried any sort of real lean the back tyre droke traction almost instantly, luckily I was only going about 15mph and the only real damage was a scuff on the engine case so I was able to ride it home, it was raining that day so I chalked it up to that and went about my day. The second time I wasn't quite so lucky, the car in front of me started braking quickly so I start braking hard as well (yes I was doing the speed limit and yes I had a 2 second gap) there was no reason why I shouldn't have stopped in time but as soon as I got hard on the brakes the front end locked up completely and I instantly lost traction, yes I wasn't braking as smoothly as I should but that still shouldn't have been the result. After the crash the police officer even said that my tyres looked in very good condition until we thought to check the DOT number on the tyres (0035 front and 1015 rear for those who are interested) basically the front tyre is 19 years old and the back is nearly 10. The moral of the story: don't assume a tyre is OK just because it looks OK, a tyre that is to old will have degraded badly and could quite easily get you killed. via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/clucsh/check_your_goddamn_tyres/?utm_source=ifttt