[kongjie]

Well, here's the deal: when I first had the bike towed to a shop my friend recommended, I asked them to look over the whole thing, and to replace the tires. I actually even factored it in to the purchase price.

But the fellow at the shop told me that the tires look great. The bike has been garage kept the whole time, out of the sun, and he said they looked them over and they are still sticky and show no signs of cracking. He added that they were premium tires and one of the advantages of a lighter bike is that there is less impact on the tires when a bike sits for a long time.

The date code shows that they are indeed '06 or '07 tires and it was my understanding that you replace tires over 5 years old--just like you don't buy a used helmet--but here I had this guy who presumably knows a lot more than me about motorcycles telling me the tires were good to keep. So, I listened to him.