Maybe it's common knowledge and I'm just stoopid. That doesn't require an answer. Thought I'd share with you all that I recently found out tyres have a shelf life of about 5 years. I bought a decent set of used spare tyres recently and when to have them fitted a few days ago. The chap who I asked to fit them suggested not using them as they were about 8 years old and the rubber kind of sets and makes your ride very uncomfortable as well as quite unsafe. I think on nearly all tyres if you look around the edge of the tyre you can find the week and year of manufacture. I can try and add a picture later of where you can find the info on the tyre if it helps anyone at all. Maybe I'll use them as a swing!
The tyres I had on the bike while I was over in Greece for ten years had hardened. When I got back to the UK they didn't give me much confidence at all going into bends etc. As soon has I got new boots on the difference was amazing.
Bang some new ones on Dave it's just not worth it.
Bit of advice. Buy a good bed and a good pair of shoes, because if you aren't in one you'll be in the other.
new ones it'll be then. I was going to use the spares on the spare bike I have to use on a track but the tyre fitter reckoned that'd be even worse, especially on the bends. Never mind eh.
I looked at that site, & although it says .co.uk they're based in Germany. For some reason the same tyres vary quite dramatically in price. Puzzling...
As for tyres shelf life, i've got a Diablo on the back of the FZR-R atm & it's been on that rim for over 10 years with no problems. Before that I had a Pirelli GT that I used for 2 trips to the Bol d'Dor at Paul Ricard & 3 trips to Assen for various races. That GT tyre still handled better than the Diablo until it squared off. I've got a Pirelli MTR-01 on the front now, which i'd only ever used for foreign rides & it handles well.
Thought I'd share with you all that I recently found out tyres have a shelf life of about 5 years. I bought a decent set of used spare tyres recently and when to have them fitted a few days ago. The chap who I asked to fit them suggested not using them as they were about 8 years old and the rubber kind of sets and makes your ride very uncomfortable as well as quite unsafe. I think on nearly all tyres if you look around the edge of the tyre you can find the week and year of manufacture. I can try and add a picture later of where you can find the info on the tyre if it helps anyone at all. Maybe I'll use them as a swing! 
