How long can tires be stored?
Schwalbe tires can generally be stored for up to 5 years without issue. Store them somewhere cool, dry, and — importantly — dark, since UV light accelerates rubber aging. Under good storage conditions, tires can often last even longer than that.
If a tire is mounted on a wheel and the bike itself is being stored, keep the tire inflated, or hang the bike up so the tires aren't bearing weight.
A bike left standing on flat or nearly flat tires for an extended period can damage the sidewalls, the same way riding on chronically low pressure does. This result in Fatigue (1) or Aging cracks (2) on the sidewall.
Fig. 1 shows the typical fatigue cracks, which arise from low inflation pressure. A few large cracks in the upper area of the sidewall. In comparison the second figure shows normal aging cracks (due to old age and/or poor rubber compound). These cracks are rather small and distributed evenly across the whole sidewall. In practice the transition between these two crack types is often seamless so that the cause is not always clearly visible.
Updated on: 08/12/2026
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