I was in the same place when I mounted my tires last month. Ive only had the bike a year, and had not been in to it yet, and didnt look like any one else did either. I was wondering what to do, but since the rubber was still a little soft [only 10K miles on my 02 California] I just cleaned it all up good, and used some grease to lube it all up. At least now its not dry/rusted, and can work how it was intended to. Ill revisit it next tire change...