My favorites for my dyna are the Pirelli Night dragons or Metzeler cruise tech's.

I'm not a fan of the Michelin commanders ii's myself. Too hard, made for the guy cruises the interstates for miles on end. vs the night dragons and cruise techs that have better grip in corners and better rain handling.

 

I had the exact same experience. Except I didn't have any tread left on the rear after 5k miles. They're just too hard and actually wear faster because of their more slipping and sliding IMO. Especially if you ride aggressively with hard acceleration and engine braking. It was most noticeable on the 1-2 shift on hard acceleration, all other tires I've ran on my dyna you have to really try to get them to spin on the 1-2 shift. The commanders would light up and spin like you're getting ready for a drag race on the 1-2 shift.

 

runnning american elites on my low rider, and they've done pretty well (no real complaints), but next tire change i think im going to try some metzers just due to my experience with them on my old mans shovel. brand new and no break in, nice and sticky (even the older ones on my brothers sportster felt gripier than my new AE's)

 

Thank you everyone for the comments! I ended up with Metzeler. It will be here in 3 days, I already have my new bearings to go in at the same time, plus new semi sintered pads with a new rotor (purely cosmetic) - I found an all black rotor to match my color scheme so I figured why not. I'll swap the tire, bearings, rotor and pads this weekend and follow-up!

On a personal note, I almost ALSO bought a shinko 777 along with the Metzler just to try it. Meaning I keep seeing these tires everywhere and other bikers don't seem to hate them. I was contemplating testing it to help others then swap to the Metzler after 1,000 miles or so but I got to lazy in the end. Does anyone have real life experience with these 777s? I know they're cheap and safety is the only thing I care about but I like to help others in similar situations. Not everyone may be able to afford the more expensive tires so I thought maybe I could review them. After thinking it through, it quickly became more work and $$$ to spend on a testing tire that I didn't intend to long term use so I tossed the idea. I might get them for my next tire swap to test real life but after a lot of research! No way I'm putting cheap tires on my bike, at least not after being slammed in 1995 (on one of my restored shovels) from an 80 yr old bat. She didn't see or hear me so she ran the stop sign directly into me at full speed. After healing up (more than a year later) I got back riding and ended up owning 16 big twin Harleys over my lifetime with my twin cam dyna as my current (and probably final bike) so safety is paramount! I love my SG!

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I am revising my own dead thread, I ended up buying expensive tires and sure enough, they only lasted 5,000'sh miles before the tread patterns wore uneven. My bike is in PERFECTLY square (it's not a bike issue wearing my treads), the tire is square with the frame, and belt, and perfectly even as it should be per the manual, so it's not a bike square issue, nor a bearing issue, nor anything other than riding her every day (this is my 16th big twin over 30+ years riding) so I have plenty of experience and knowledge. That being said, granted the majority of my bikes were shovels, but tires are tires on rims, so the model doesn't matter. All that to say, I am going with cheaper options in the future as I ride far too much around the year to be spending a ton of money every 6-12 months. Yes, I live in NJ, yes, I work in NYC, so yes, I know I abuse the treads (tire) with the NYC riding in hot, traffic, with terrible roads (NYC SUCKS), but they should last a lot longer. I don't burn out, I don't beat on my bike, all I do is ride (year-round when there is no snow or downpours), so it's just not worth it to me, to buy expensive tires, when the cheaper ones last as long, and in my opinion, grip far better than the harder, more expensive tires.

I am not saying this to add in useless information, or to start any debates, but for me, more expensive tires are a waste (this is MY OPINION and MY RESULTS, with how I ride MY BIKE, your results may vary) so don't blast me (for my opinion). Shinko 777's grip better then every more expensive I bought and used/tested. I originally bought the more expensive tires, thinking I would get better traction, but the cheaper tires worked better with gripping in my opinion (rain).

 

OK

 

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LOL, I wasn't expecting that 😝

 

I'm curious. What do you mean by "the tread patterns wore uneven"?

 

Sorry, they're scaling, I meant to have a picture before I posted but I'm dumb and impatient. The treads are like scaled, uneven wearing but in the middle, and not in the sides where it would be (if not square or true with the frame), but it is true. I don't know how else to say it, between scaling and uneven tread wear (is my concern). I was hit in 95 and it was bad (80 year old bat) ran a stop sign directly into my ride side at full speed (50sh MPH), I was in paper and the works (thrown 100 feet, EC.). Because of my accident and my heart stopping twice in the helicopter to trauma (zapped me twice back to life), I take safety as my main priority. I can't die and leave my kids so I'm a little overly paranoid so maybe to someone else, it's normal and fine, but me, it's not cool. Plus I've had better luck, lasting longer with the cheaper tire (shinko 777 front tire). The front was a month or two bought before the rear tire, and it still has PERFECT tread (granted it's the front) but I don't burn out ever. I ride fairly modest, and never hit 6,000 RPMs or speed (I'm just giving background information). When I get done with work, I'll take a few pics and try to show the issue.

 

Hopefully these come through and you can see it. This rear tire was replaced in March of this year, 3/2024 (granted that was 10,000 or more miles ago), as I do ride daily but this shouldn't be so low this quick. At least in my opinion, it should've worn better, my front (shinko cheap tire) has no tread wears, and it looks brand new still (and changed a month or two after) but still, it's wearing far better then the 3 times cost tire so that was my only point.