Hitchcocks Forum

Should inner tubes be replaced when a tyre is changed due to the tyre's age? The tyres on my 2007 350 are the original ones & I know they should be been changed long ago despite not much wear after some 8000 Kms. In fact the age code says made in 2006. I therefore plan to change the tyres this winter, so should I change the inner tubes also? One is a bit younger having had to replace the original due to puncture damage, but I will replace it if necessary. I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

If the tyre is being changed, I'd fit a new tube and keep the old one as a spare.

If you're anything like me, I'd have a spare handy before changing the tyre anyway. I have a roughly 3 in 4 success rate with changing tyres without nipping the tube.

I replace tyres and tubes when they get to ten years old anyway.

Odd things tyres anyway. I just put a new tyre on the Electra X disc brake wheel I have on my 612 project at the weekend. The one I took off was a 0048 date coded roadrunner. So the tyre pre-dated the model of bike it was fitted to by a minimum of 5 years.

theres quit some stretch in what a bulleteer is willing to do.



recently i came across these ones.







when i told the owner he should really consider changing his tires given the age they have, he just looked at me with complete unbelief and answered “ but there still thread on it”.



to my knowledge he’s still riding on these tyres, but then again his bike didn’t even have a 1000km on the clock.

Hi, in the seventies I rode an exwd M20 and the tyres were probably 30years old. Never had any problems with them. Vince.

I have just replaced both tyres on my 2007 Electra X due to the sidewalls on the originals having cracked due to age. I was horrified to find that an oversized tube had been fitted to the front, causing overlap and resultant chafing of the tube. This could have been catastrophic. The rear rim tape was rotten and just disintegrated. Needless to say I fitted correct sized Michelin tubes. I wonder if the front tube had been fitted from new, perhaps by Watsonian / Squire??