cracked out.

[roadmaster]

now most my bikes/cruisers have brand new tires put on them over the last year, but the way my fenders clear on my 59' roadmaster, i can go with a 26 x 1.75 or maybe possibly a 1.95 if it has street tread. so for now, i am riding it with a pair of old "star tire co." 1.75's, lucky enough to actually have a match set, from the 60's or 70's untill i can find tires in a 1.75 bsw that i like.

my question is, the tires i have on now (the above mentioned) have good tread, are vinylon and do have little tiny sidewall cracks, but nothing really deep or big. are these tires safe for my 210lb self to be riding on? from the inside of the tire casing, everything look totally fine, but there are about the normakl amount of tiny, shallow age cracks on the sidewalls that you'd expect a 35 or 40yr old tire to have. i've riden with the tires for abut two months now and the cracks don't seem to be getting bigger or any worse. new tires probably won't happen till my birthday at the end of next month, unless is is totally unsafe and i gotta go get some cheapie cruiser tires from walmart till i find what i really wanna put on there.

how big and deep do sidewall cracks have to be b4 that tire is concidered unsafe? now if it was for one of my customers id put on new, but for just me... i like to live life on the edge. thanks.

 

[bicycleguy]

A lot of my bikes have tires with cracks and I have never had a problem with them even when busting curbs and staircases.

 

[deorman]

They usually start to develop noticable little openings through the casing before they blow out, but dry tires don't adhere to the road as well, especially in wet conditions. Assuming you're not flying full speed down mountain highways, you're probably fine.

 

[Rustinkerer]

I wonder if armor all-ing them would help? I know when I was selling bikes I'd hit the tires with some armor all wipes and it really made them look good! ~Adam