Going to look at an 04 Savage tomorrow. It has 2700+/- miles.  I don't expect to be able to see much in the way of weather cracking, but would you experienced riders expect them to need replacing just due to age?  I've been studying the "buyer's guide" posted in the tech section, so hopefully nothing major will slip past my eyes.  Comments or suggestions appreciated.

Ohh yea,, , 2700 miles in 7 years? Thats real close to what I call " Documented neglect",. Id want to see fresh oil in it before it got started. Oil gets acidic from the unburned fuel stuff that ghets in it,, It hasnt got enough miles on it to really justify an oil change, but Time is a factor, & lots of people dont know that, so dont ask IF its been changed, ask WHEN it was changed,, or, simply insist on a change, its okay to just drain & fill,,dont sweat the filter,

& its not yet broken in, so use dino oil,

I've seen a few posts mention dino oil, but I don't really know what it is.  Is it a brand or type?

mojo wrote on 09/19/11 at 06:24:04:


MrBrownTX is correct,.. the term "dino" refers to dinosaurs,... meaning plain old petroleum oil, as opposed to synthetic oil.  Refined from rotting dinosaurs, eh?

There is nothing wrong with dino oil, as long as you buy good stuff, the proper weight, and the kind without the friction modifiers (labeled energy conserving or fuel saving).  Oil with these additives is hell on wet-clutches.

A lot of us use synthetic oil.  It has no huge advantage, but might have a little better film strength in abnormally high heat situations.

I like Shell Rotella synthetic (made for diesel trucks) bought at Walmart for cheap.  It has none of the bad-for-wet-clutch stuff, and it coincidentally is formulated perfectly for bikes like ours: engine and trans sharing the same oil.

We have to be careful with our opinions expressed concerning oil around here.  Oil wars can start up almost instantly,.. much the same as loud-pipe wars, or schmagnet wars, or helmet wars, or seafoam wars, or Atkins wars, or petcock wars,... or,... or,...

Everyone please note, my comments about Rotella and about synthetic oil are purely my opinion.  If you like using some other kind or brand of oil, I hope you are truly happy with it.  I would never suggest you were a gay, bottom-feeding, commie liberal, that hates his mother and probably apple pie as well.

                                                                                                                                                                                  jk

Cant use synthetic during break in,,

The DOT# Should have a production date on it. The last 4 digits. Ex. 1911=19th week of 2011. I have heard people say tires are good for 4 years some say 7.

I'm very new to motorcycles so I may be talking out of my tushy. If you're at all concerned about tire condition buy new ones. I don't think its worth the risk on 2wheels..

On that note what are good brands?

I've been told over the years that tires are only good for 7 years, regardless of whether they are stored in a warehouse or in service.  Looked at the bike today, started it from "cold" condition.  It passed all the tests on the "buy sheet" mentioned above.  Seller said she had replaced the tires and they had about 2K miles on them.  Still had the little rubber needles sticking out on the sides (worn off where tread meets road).  I did not know there is a date code on them.  Will take another look tomorrow.  Bike is currently licensed and being ridden......has about 600 miles more than shown in the ad photos.  The only battle scars I saw were the right foot peg is slightly bent and the windshield has some deep scratches down low.......Seller said it was like that when she got it.

Thanks for all the info........will keep ya posted

P.S.  Seller said oil was changed 6 months ago, did not know what brand, thought it is 10-40 and it came from a MC shop, it looked clean thru sight glass.

A lot of the tire comments about tire aging and "age cracking" come from the car industry, and this is probably to be expected as they produce and sell most of the tires.

Our motorcycle tires have tubes inside them that hold the air.   The sidewalls and tread on our tires provide structural strength and contact friction, but they don't hold in the air, the tube does.

Old bike tires on Savage motorcycles that hold air are safe to ride and use up.    But if you feel safer, spend a few hundred dollars and change them out instead of wearing them out.

Me, I wore the Suzuki originals out (and they were crappy tires, btw) and bought 4 year old Dunlop/Goodyear tires on sale for less than half price and stored them for 4 more years until I needed them.  

Stored inside the house away from sunlight and ozone, the tires still look pretty much new when put on and they give me a full normal service life.

Yes, Goodyear has a policy that they will warehouse purge (by sale preferably, but they will cut up and scrap if need be) any tire older than 3 years old -- why?   Because tires typically spend 2-3 years in distribution before they get put on a car.  Then once on a car a tire generally sticks around no more than 4-5 years.

10 year old tires look rugged, and if tubeless a car tire might have issues hold air at the end of 10 years.  

However, the same age of tire on a Savage run with a fresh tube when installed will likely run out its rubber just fine.

Motorcycle tires are GREATLY over-strength on the sidewalls compared to a car tire, BTW.   Relative thickness of a bike tire sidewall to a car tire sidewall is 3 times thicker, relatively, with at least twice as much cord material.  

Car sidewalls are intended to flex and bike tires are intended NOT to flex at all.   The thought of these hell for strong bike constructed tires "failing" because of some cosmetic cracks on the side wall is really pushing it a lot, IMHO.

And the funny thing is the bike tire carries a load of 500 pounds per tire max and the car tire is rated at 1,000 pound minimum for the very least of them (most car tires carry load ratings of nearly a ton each).

How is this?   The car sidewall carries NO LOAD, the air inside the car tire carries all the load at 32 psi.   In a properly inflated bike tire the same thing is true, the air carries all the load.  However, a bike tire can go way down to 10-15 psi before it even begins to sidewall flex (and tell you it needs air).   The sidewalls are that much overbuilt on a bike tire.

Yeah, I used to work in the tire industry as a Quality Engineer and then later as a Manufacturing Engineer, so I know a little bit about them tires.   My last good paying job in Industry before getting put out to farm was with Goodyear Tire and Rubber.

Plus, I have personally run both types of tire on a motorcycle -  and remember boys and girls, car tires trying to go onto bike rims have a very hard time making the rim transition and the steel beads inside the car tire rim can really truly break in two on you, so please don't put car tires on motorcycle rims.

     (fingering the big scar on his left wrist as he types this warning)