Schwinn Stingray NOS Tire and others

[mattjennl]

I have several NOS tires that have been stored since the 70's. No cracks, never used, seemingly in near perfect condition.

Question - how do I determine the manufacture date? I have 2 different tire styles that say SCHWINN STINGRAY. One says GRIPPER SLICK and the other is a STING RAY TRACTOR. There does not appear to be a date code, but not sure what to look for.

Any ideas?

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

I have several NOS tires that have been stored since the 70's. No cracks, never used, seemingly in near perfect condition.

Question - how do I determine the manufacture date? I have 2 different tire styles that say SCHWINN STINGRAY. One says GRIPPER SLICK and the other is a STING RAY TRACTOR. There does not appear to be a date code, but not sure what to look for.

Any ideas?

Either a 2 digit code on a small oval , a 2 letter code or a series of 3 circles quartered and having small dots in some of the quarters

 

[rfeagleye]

Here is what the date codes look like. It will only be on one side of the tire, but there are three potential tire manufacturers, so they might not be the same stamping on each tire.

 

[WCBL]

I have a couple Carlisle Stingray slicks that have an extra number or extra characters in the date area. One tire has the letter C, 10 and 0 in the small oval, and the number 5 to the right of the oval. The other tire has the letter C, 6 and 0 in the small oval, and two dots to the right of the oval. I can provide pictures if that will help. Thanks!

 

[rfeagleye]

I'm not 100% sure what the number to the left of the oval means. If I had to guess, it is the mold number. Maybe the 5th mold that they had for tires?

And for the two dots, I beleive that at some point after Uniroyal stopped making tires, Carlisle used thier plant to make thier tires. That is why some Schwinn Superior tires for Krates with a 1974 date code have UU after the date oval, it designated tires made in the Uniroyal plant.

But someone her will know more than I do I'm sure, maybe 60sstuff or koolbikes?

 

[koolbikes]

You decide? ... Earliest UU (##) #, I have found starts in 1979.
The "UU" are U.S. Royal and Uniroyal Tires made by Carlisle which ended bicycle tire production in 1987.

Read Below ...

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I have a few westwind tires and a Stingray Slik , I'm looking for info on how to read manufacture date. Is it as simple as month and year?

thecabe.com

Here is a ... UU (3 9) 4 ... March 1979 Schwinn Scrambler Tire Mold #4
I have yet to see a UU Tire dated in 1978 only the old C (12 8) and C (2 9)1979 dates.

 

[WCBL]

Hi @koolbikes I looked at a couple Superior 16" tires and they appear to be very late 1978 tires (almost 1979). The picture on the whitewall tire isn't very clear. It is C 11 8 1 and the black wall tire is UU 11 8 1. I guess they could be considered 1979 tires. Thanks.

 

[rfeagleye]

I think the whitewall Superior you have is a 1968 tire. Early Carlisle made Schwinn tires had a redish inner core to them, which your tire has. I think you have the other tire dated correctly as a 1979.

 

[WCBL]

I thought the whitewall was an earlier tire than the black wall, but I didn’t know enough about manufacturing dates for the different tire companies. You have to know enough about the manufacturers to know if it is 1968 or 1978. Thanks very much.

 

[koolbikes]

Hi @koolbikes I looked at a couple Superior 16" tires and they appear to be very late 1978 tires (almost 1979). The picture on the whitewall tire isn't very clear. It is C 11 8 1 and the black wall tire is UU 11 8 1. I guess they could be considered 1979 tires. Thanks.

View attachment 2002455

View attachment 2002456

Too Kool! ...This is the earliest dated UU (# #) # yet, UU(11 8) 1 ... November 1978 ... Anyone with an earlier date?