Bought a new Dunlop E3 tire over a year ago. Never mounted. Just been sitting

[backinthesaddle]

on a shelf. I turned it over a few times. Would it be safe to mount and ride on?

[klaviator]

I wouldn't hesitate to mount a one or two year old tire as long as there was nothing obviously wrong with it.  A number I have seen mentioned many times for the maximum safe age of a tire is five years.  I don't know how accurate that is but after a certain period of time a tire will start to "dry out" and will have less traction especially when wet.

[Nice Goat]

Look for the date code inside an oval.  Two-digit week followed by two-digit year, e.g., 1411 means that the tire was manufactured in week 14 of year 2011.