If they hold air well, look smooth, round and non-lumpy, and the sidewalls have no fraying threads (bare is not equal to fraying), and the tread seems well-stuck on without any significant cuts, I think they are ridable, at least on some test rides to try to gain confidence in them. I have gained the use of a number of ugly old tires this way.
What kind of tires are they? What do the labels say?
Ken Freeman
Ann Arbor, MI USA
> I'm talking (of course) about an aged set of unused Tubular tires that
\r?\n> are firmly glued to the rims on my recently acquired 1971 Windsor Pro.
\r?\n> ( http://www-hsc.usc.edu/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> With this recent discussion on Tubulars, and my urgent need to FINALLY
\r?\n> jump into the scary world of Tubulars.... I was wondering if these old
\r?\n> tires are still usable ?? I think I need to unmount them (and with
\r?\n> super hard glue... perhaps that step will ruin the tires ??) then put
\r?\n> fresh glue on first..before I ride it. I was actually amazed that they
\r?\n> have held air so well since I picked up the bike last Saturday. And as
\r?\n> the subject line joked... they are holding FULL PRESSURE after a week !!
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Thanks for any tips.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Rich Pinder
\r?\n> Van Nuys, CA