No... I didn't ask a tire out to the prom. I recently discovered that by Federal law all car AND motorcycle tires sold in the USA have to have a date code stamped into them, so you can check your tires to see how old they are.
For tires made in 2000 and newer, there is a 4 digit number stamped into an oval at the end of the DOT number. (This is on one sidewall). There may be some letters with it and those denote the factory in which the tire was made, but it is the 4 numbers we are looking for. The first two digits are the week the tire was manufactured and the second two digits is the year. So a date code showing 3714 was made the 37th week of 2014.
Older than the year 2000 had a 3 digit code. The first two digits are the week and the third is the year. But you don't know what decade except for the 1990's, and that code is stamped into a diamond shaped field instead of an oval. So a code of 151 is the 15th week of 1991.
If it has a 3 digit code without a diamond shaped field it could be from the 1980's or earlier and I guess you will never know for sure.
The whole moral to this story is that you don't want to run an old motorcycle tire even if it looks good. 5 years or newer is the standard, and most tire manufacturers warranty their tires for defects for 5 years. 5 to 10 years may be risky due to chemicals in the tires drying out or becoming ruined due to heat, UV light, road chemicals and so on. You've all seen tires with cracked sidewalls. Anything over 10 years and you are looking for a Darwin award.
Something you might run into is buying a new motorcycle tire that has been sitting on the shelf for 5 years or more. If you buy a new tire it should be fresh. Or you buy a used bike that looks like it has good tires on it but in reality they are 7 years old. You can use this info to get the price down on the bike because you will have to put new tires on it.
Tire manufactures sometimes take tires back from retailers that are outdated but if that size and style of tire doesn't sell it gets dropped, and it becomes hard to find tires for your classic bike, maybe cutting down the choice to only one or two selections.
I've heard that some outdated tires end up on Fleabay and are sold as new, you need to watch that. I see used tires on Fleabay and I'm thinking it would be best to avoid those lake the plague.
All of this works on car tires also. Now get a flashlight and go down to the garage and start checking this out. When your wife asks you wtf you are doing just tell her that you think the cat is under there.
