Tires: How old is too old?

I have an EX500 I picked up a couple of years ago. I'm on installment three of my very slow attempt to get comfy on bikes. I keep being off so long between bikes I'm still effectively a beginner.

But I digress...

The bike has Metzelers on front and rear, and this is one of those bikes that while in pretty good shape, was definitely several people's first bike, and despite being an '88 only has < 11k miles on it. The tires have DOT numbers indicating manufacture dates of '96 (rear) and '97 (front).

They have tons of tread left, and there's only a bit of age-checking/small cracks on the rear. But are they aged out?

I'm not expecting them to separate or anything, but am wondering if as I get comfier and try to come to grips with how much grip a bike has, if they're going to dump me on my butt. I'm hoping to do a track day in a month or so, and I also don't want to get sent home with a bike the track day folks think is unsafe.

On a car I might drive around a bit with checked tires. On a bike, not so much (maybe around a parking lot). Flats on bikes are a couple of magnitudes more attention-grabbing than flats on cars. I also don't get on a bike without a hat and some armor.

I wouldn't risk anything older than 5 years on a bike of my own. Tire incidents on two wheels are downright terrifying. Not only that, but from 1997 to 2012 bike tire technology has improved by a couple orders of magnitude. Get a set of Bridgestone BT45's and you won't regret it one bit.

It's a bike. You can do the tires yourself and pretty cheap too. Buy some nice motion pro tire irons. Don't leave your safety up to chance on a bike.

For what it's worth I loved my Shinko tires and they are pretty cost effective.

I'm not much on old tires on bikes either. That's one corner you don't want to cut. I have Shinko 712's on my XS and so far they have been great, the price is right too.

Thanks, guys!

Good call. I don't know why I was even resistant. I guess it's some absurd notion of how a bike like this seems to exist in some sort of stasis, with nothing ever really getting enough miles to wear out.

It's not like it doesn't need or get maintenance, and tires totally count.

Look at the contact patch. That's all there is between you and possibly eternity. Do you want your tires aged checked too?

I ran really dry rotted tires all last summer, but then I was only riding around in the city. On the highway I was nervous. New tires will be applied prior to highway riding this season.

I've replaced the last two sets of tires because of age/dryrot. The first set was scary as hell and would slide upt from under you in a slow turn. THe second set I didn't let go that long.

Long time ago, the guy across the street from me bought a 650 Yamaha much like mine. He washed the hell out of it, then sat on his front porch shining it up. I walked over to look and saw that he had Armor Alled the tires, tread and all. I mentioned that made rubber slippery, he pooh poohed that. About 45 minutes later, he rode to the end of our street, turned left, hit a small wet patch and went right down.

Good call on replacing them... I know it sucks throwing out tires with "good tread" left but as others said, I wouldn't risk it on a bike.

I'm having the same problem my current project bike has a almost brand new set of times on it i'm talking 95% tread left on them but the bike has been sitting for 12 years and they have some minor dry rot and it kills me to throw them out but the sake of safety i guess i'll spend the 200$ and get a new set

I'm feeling pretty good about having just ordered some fresh Pirellis; seems like a good use of funds... Hope the slightly alternative size (my EX500 uses theoretically 100/90-16 and 120-90/16, which are rare in the front and more or less nonexistent in the rear) work out without introducing any weirdness. I ended up with 100/80 and 120/80...