Tire Dates

I don’t think so unless it’s discounted accordingly. $100 for a tire that may start cracking soon is hard to take. 

I had an old tire like that and I think I only got 4-5 hours out of it before it started to rip off knobs. I’ve been ordering my tires on Amazon (front and rear pirelli’s for a $130ish plus tax and free shipping) and they have had late 2021 dates and have been fine.  

As much as people have been riding, and new bikes sold in the last few years, makes you wonder why tires that old are sitting around. But now that I read this I have a new set of Michelins I got right after Christmas, I’ll check the date on them tomorrow 

Bought a new Dunlop MX11 from a tire distributor on ebay in April '22, and when it arrived, the date code indicated October '17, making it right at 4.5 years old.  Thought it felt stiff by hand but wasn't sure.

Went to the local shop to buy a new one but they didn't have any in stock, so I let them take a look at the one I already bought.  Dude twisted the sidewall a bit with his hand and immediately said it was in great shape.  Went ahead and let them mount it up while I was there since they've got the hydraulic machine.

Ideally it'd be a less-old mfg date, but as long as it's not sitting out in the sun or mashed under a lot of weight from tires stacked on top of it for years, a tire that's 4~5 years old will work fine.  I'm still running it now with 16 hours of MX, singletrack, and 4 arenacross races on it and it's been fine.

There was a revision done to that tire. 2018 might be the older version. 

I got like a brand new Michelin that has a 2016 code. Been in my shed a few years. Id hate to chuck it… lol

I'd expect a bit of a discount for a tyre more than a year old and a major discount for a 5 year old one, I recently bought a Michelin Starcross 5 Sand tyre with a 40 - 50% as it was just over a year old/old model).

Probably best to order from a high volume retailer. They are more likely to keep stock turned over. There is a reason those guys on eBay and Amazon are so much cheaper. 
 

I just got an mx53 from my local shop that they had to get from the distributor. Week 43 of 2022. That is a fresh one. 

Well I would have thought rmatv would have newer stock. Maybe whoever distributes Pirelli can give you a better idea. 

Ahhh, I bet thats the problem, Pirelli. How many Pirelli tires sell compared to Dunlop and some others? Id bet Pirellis sit a bit longer than other brands. I know I dont even look at Pirelli.. 

The one time I bought Pirelli I had them drop shipped from a distributor. I don't remember how old they were but they were less than 4 years old. One of the local shops has had some older Pirellis on clearance for a while. When I saw them a year ago they were already over 5 years old. If the rubber looks/feels good the 4.5 year old tire is probably fine.