I have a pair of tires that although have some tread left seem to not offer a much grip as they used to.

Do tires age and loose their ‘skickyness’?

If they do how long is a sensible time to keep a tire for?

American ones don’t last as long these days.

I found that with a pacestar Racing Ralph. Although the tread still looked fine, the level of grip fell off a cliff. I assume it’s because I wore through the top layer of sticky rubber and down to the hard stuff underneath. Tread still looked fine though, I’ve worn other tyres far more with much less loss of grip.

First thing to go is the sharp corners. That happens pretty quickly and you’ll lose some grip. Not much you can do about that. Then the wear starts and the knobbles get smaller. More on the back ime, then you just need to decide how much wear you can live with before replacing. If you keep a tyre long enough the rubber does lose its flex and subsequent stickiness. Never happens on an MTB tyre as they wear out first but I have had it on slicks.

6 years+ according to the Conti rubber queen on the front of my bike.

Rear tyres tend to get ripped/torn before wearing out 🙁

First thing to go is the sharp corners.

Back in the day I used to race on Conti 1.5 XC’s for certain conditions, after two or three races the edges would wear to a point I’d have to change them.

I’ve just changed my Bontrager Jones CX tyres after 11 years of use. Last tour the tread got ripped down to the canvas on a really sharp tow path surface.

Before they are worn out they are obsolete as standards have moved on

Say 14 months

How long is a piece of string?

Depends on the tyre and the conditions and how you ride.

I’ve had mtb tyres last <6 hours before, marathon event which was essentially 120km of riding round on a rocky mountainside. Completely ground the tread away. Also sliced off a few of the nobs.
Mud tyres i’ve had last until the carcass flexed itself to death.

Things like gatorskins i’ve had last until the rubbers degraded/dried out. They (amazingly) had even less grip than they did when they were new. Must be some sort of record.
Had a pair of brand new and (very) sticky road tubulars go off in the course of a warm up followed by a 90 minute race. The rubber was pretty much shredded and the tub had gone hairy. The next pair lasted about 4 weeks, as i didn’t do any crits for a month.

Could trash a set of Super Tacky HR’s in under 10 days in the Alps, Super Tacky minions would do 3 months in the lakes of hevay riding. Others forever

Tend to replace a tyre every 12 months, either from wear or they seem to go hard after being stored (winter/summer tyres when switched). The sticky front tyres (Maxxis 3C) tend to not like being stored for some reason, they get a hard sheen on them. Usually have worn the side knobs a fair amount over the summer anyway too. Plus it’s a good feeling having new tyres for the new season 😀

I think the OP is about the rubber going off rather than the tread wearing away.
My answer is yes the rubber can become hard and less grippy, I bet the compound of the rubber and how it is stored affects how long it takes. Best to look at and feel the tyre and change when it looks and feels crap.

So when Schwalbe gives the Big One a durability rating of 2, is that 2000km on roads, or 2000 miles on the beach? 😉

If you are going to store tyres for long periods, clean them first then put them inside one of those thick bin bags and tape it up.

I have a pair of tires that although have some tread left seem to not offer a much grip as they used to.

Do tires age and loose their ‘skickyness’?

I think the OP is about the rubber going off rather than the tread wearing away.

Maybe but in general as the tread wears down slowly over time you don’t notice how much different it is compared to a new tyre, stick it against a new one and the answer may present itself. Like changing worn cleats

I think it also depends on how the tyre has been stored/ how old it is before you purchase it. A few years ago I had to emergency purchase a tyre at an event from a market stall type retailer. It was a brand I already used, and had the usual compound and tech markings. It was fine on the hard pack at the event but the first time I rode on the road it was like riding on ice. Binned it pretty quickly but happened to talk to an acquaintance who works in the motorcycle tyre industry and mentioned it. He said assuming it wasn’t a counterfeit, if it had been stored in extremes of heat (cold or hot)it can cause alterations in the behaviour of the compounds.

600-2000 miles in my experience.:)

Could trash a set of Super Tacky HR’s in under 10 days in the Alps, Super Tacky minions would do 3 months in the lakes of hevay riding. Others forever

+1

First thing to go is the sharp corners. That happens pretty quickly and you’ll lose some grip. Not much you can do about that. Then the wear starts and the knobbles get smaller. More on the back ime, then you just need to decide how much wear you can live with before replacing. If you keep a tyre long enough the rubber does lose its flex and subsequent stickiness. Never happens on an MTB tyre as they wear out first but I have had it on slicks.

+1

Although I suppose it’s possible to wear through the outer layer on triple compound tyres too. Dual compound might last longer as they only put the sticky stuff on the edges.

Depends how fussy you are, I’d buy fancy new tyres for a holiday, because £60 out of £600 is small change for the improvement. Week in week out, I’m happy just running the same tyres until they look worn and conditions change enough to justify new ones. So depending on use that might be 1 summer or 1 winter, or a couple of years if I’ve 2 or more bikes at the time.

In terms of just going off in storage though, not in any great hurry, they don’t like sunlight, but just sat in the shed they’ll wear out quicker than that unless you really do never ride them.

Cheers for the comments guys, as Twisty said it was the rubber going off I was asking about.

I’ll just keep running them until I start to fall off more often.

Anyone remember the maxxis slow reezay compound? Lifespan measured in (not very many) hours

[/quote]If you are going to store tyres for long periods, clean them first then put them inside one of those thick bin bags and tape it up thrown them away

Like you will eventually if you tape them up and store.