Metzeler ME880 Marathon are widely used in Germany to replace stock tires, also by HD dealers. They are available for rear and as a 120 for the front, too. And they do have a model clearance for the Breakout!

 

I changed my back tire at around 7500 miles if i recall correctly. It still had at least another 1000 miles in it until the wear bars. I have put just over 8000 miles on my Dunlop Elite 3 that I replaced it with and still good. I think I will likely get 9000 or 9500 out of it. Handles and corners just fine, and was probably cheaper than the Pirelli as well.

 

Honestly that front wheel looks excessive and not well harmonized with rear wheel which is the stock 18". Saw some Breakout with 23" on front (some also with 21" rear) and they're nice, but imho that's the limit.
Looking at the fork, seems compressed (probably shortened) and ride shouldn't be so comfortable. Some mods have a good balance between look and functionality, some simply don't...this 26" wheel seems to me to be more show oriented than ride effective.

 

My OM is in Thai and, whilst I can read Thai, I do so painfully slowly (no spaces between the words), so I don't bother.

 

Right, so i should get 10,000Km then.

The roads here are pretty bad and I live by a railway line that I have to cross several times a day and that is a hair-raising experience.

Add to that the "seams" where the roads have been repaired and the back tyre is dancing around like Fred Astaire, which is plain dangerous. I've nearly lost the bike a few times. All that said, I'm not sure a better tyre would actually help, as I don't think any tyre would handle any better on hazards like the ones we have here - unless, of course, you know different?

I'd appreciate any input you all may have on that. 👍

 

Having read good things about the E3 series, I changed to an E3 250 rear when my OEM 240 rear wore "just" to the wear bars at 5000 mi. That was just over 1000 mi ago. My Dealer wouldn't install the 250 owing, ostensibly, to this:

Anyhow, my Indy installed the 250 using Ride-On for balancing and the new tire rides and handles just great IMHO. I'm not an aggressive rider, but there's certainly a feel of greater cornering stability with the new E3 so I'm confidently leaning more and riding faster through turns with it installed. Winter is coming so I won't know if longevity improves until next season.

 

Sorry, what's "Ride-On" please?

 

A sealant & balancing chemical injected into tires.

Note that many shops don't like to work on tires that have such chemicals inside them. I suspect it is because it makes a heck of a mess when the tire is being dismounted.

Anorher product for dynamic balancing consists of "beads". I don't recall the name.

Jim G

 

Thanks Jim, I'm pretty sure we don't have that in Thailand and probably won't for some time.

How are the wheels balanced at the factory then, as there are no lead weights on the wheels?

 

I used to hear that too. Then our local HD Dealership started buying it in bulk and offers the option routinely to customers now. I bought a couple of tubes for my Indy to put in. Again, there was no issue.

I think what was initially assumed would be a messy problem has in practice turned out to not be the case. It balances tires perfectly, I do know that.