[email hidden] (Rik O'Shea) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Has anyone ever come across the concept of "maturing" tires i.e. leaving them for a period of time
before using them - the idea being that they are less susceptible to punctures and cuts.
The reason why I ask this is that at the start of the year I put on an new pair of Continenal
Grand Prix foldable tires (which are no longer manufactured) on my bike. The tires had been in
storage in my shed for about 6 years - yes 6 years.
I have riden in excess of 2000 mile on these tires and have yet to get a single puncture. Although
slight thread pattern is now worn they still have no cuts or nicks.
I run the tires at 90-100 psi but ride quite hard over roughish country roads. Admittedly I dont
use this bike/tires in the rain but this is the absolute longest I have ever gone without a
puncture (used to average one every 6 weeks). Is this down to the maturing/aging of the rubber
compound (any scientific/engineering explanation to back this up) or just plain luck ?
Regards R
Dear Rik,
I suspect that your undamaged tires are just plain luck, which accounts for a depressing number of
our unusual successes. The wind, for example, matters more on a typical ride than most of our
efforts to improve through technology.
Tire rubber typically hardens and even cracks with age, but it's unlikely that your tires hardened
to the point of invincibility. If your tires had indeed become significantly stiff, then you'd
probably be complaining about a harsh ride and frequent skidding.
To paraphrase an explanatory note from an old BikePro catalogue (not, perhaps, the most respected
authority), the chief causes of rubber degradation are exposure to heat, sunlight, oxygen, and
ozone, whose effects are all delayed by various chemicals added to the tires. If we're lucky, more
knowledgeable posters will add interesting details (or correct my ignorance).
Car and motorcycle racers often baked tires (and may still do so) in hopes of improving traction,
but I don't remember anyone artificially aging tires in hopes of avoiding flats. The racers thought
that heat would "soften" the rubber for better traction, while the engineers predicted that further
heating would only degrade the rubber. Again, more knowledgeable posters may have much to say.
I imagine that you just happened to have a literal run of good luck that left these old tires
undamaged. They might also have been tougher, longer-wearing tires when manufactured.
In any case, the only obvious mode for aging to protect your tires from damage would be to
toughen and harden the rubber, which would reduce your traction. Overall, your tires were
probably better when new.
Whatever the cause, let's hope that your good luck continues.
Carl Fogel
