Recently added the 180 to my WG.

Oddly enough, the dealer never mentioned one thing about the 'kit' which includes some wiring brackets to keep everything tucked up nicely. I asked for the tire and they installed just the tire.

Thought it handled the Dragon and surrounding roads nicely. I'd like to put a slightly softer tire up front for some better gripping power.

Here's some pics for comparison:

(Left) Stock 160/70-17 Dunlop (Right) GT502 180/60-17

 

Looks good...

When I changed out the stock Dunlops with Night Dragons both front and rear it was a big improvement with grip and handling...but the 180 Night Dragon isn't much wider than the stock 160 Dunlop it replaced.

 

Love the look of the 180... Cant wait to burn the rubber off this stock tire (most people dont get much milage out of the stock tire, but i've got 8k and its still got some good tread left)

 

Yeah, Sniper77 put the Night Dragon on the rear. Rode with him two weeks ago. It seems to be taller than wider. Doesn't make sense but he said he liked the grip.

 

Not sure if you guys read one of my other threads about my 300mi test ride.

The service manager at the dealer was debating me on whether or not the tire would fit and said if it doesn't, you're going to pay twice to have another tire installed. I said "Fine because the tire will fit. It's 1 of 2 tires designed for that 17x4.5 oddball sized rim." The other being the Pirelli Night Dragon 180/60-17.

They also would not allow me to reuse the tube from my 160 and rim strip. I opted to reuse it because it was not leaking and not that old since my last tire change. The Owner of the dealer disallowed reuse...so the SM paid for the tube and rimstrip. He redeemed himself after arguing with me about the tire fitment.

It would be really nice to have someone in charge of the service area that actually has been a tech and worked on bikes. I don't know much but it always seems I know more than those personnel.

 

Personally, I would never put a used tube and rim strip into new tires. I'm sure they refused to do it for you, because of legal liability reasons. With sue crazy people out there, I cant blame them a bit.
Glad your SM paid for the new tube and strip. I'll lay money that a few of his "customers" bills will be padded to make up what he wrote off for you.

 

I just didn't see the reason to put a new one in. The old one wasn't damaged (i.e. holding air for over a year). It was never punctured or patched. So, unless damaged upon removal I'd bet money that tube/rimstrip would be fine.

 

I put the matching SE tire on the front and like it much better than stock. I know alot of people dont get good mileage out of the SE 180 but I got 7500 miles on mine so far and still looks pretty good.

 

What I read in a couple bike magazines....is that the heat generated can and does affect the rubber tubes to where they start breaking down and become less elastic and dried out... as the miles go by. Now if you only had say 1000 miles and decided to swap out tires, then you're probably fine. But I wouldn't want to risk failure of an older tube in a new tire, and I'm sure that's why the dealership refused to put in your old one back in.

 

Can I get more info on this? I thought I could go with any 180x17...

Thanks,
Dan