Thanks fellas. I'll drop the pressure to 44 and see how it does. Maybe play with it a pound or two. It did seem to get worse the farther I went. I was thinking pressures but been a lot time since I wrenched on a bike so I figured ask and see if it could be anything else.

Appreciate it.

 

I'd go with scrubbing in the tire first, see how it is from there. After that, play with your pressures (keeping in mind psi will spike up when teh tires get hot, but may not be an issue if you are not an aggressive rider).

Curious how you decided to go with 38/48 psi. All data I find has tires at 36-38 psi fronts and rears. May be way too much air in your rear, which as mentioned earlier can lead to washout.

 

Yeah Sam
Awful Lot of people running the ME 88's
with good traction and service.

Double check rear wheel alignment for ***** n giggles.

 

Rubber ıs a funny thıng , a lot depends on how you rıde and what you want out of a bıke tyre , softer compounds wıll stıck better than hard ones but wıll wear faster but as a rule the better the brand , the better the tyre
budgets tyres are just that , and ı wouldnt touch them unless they were hıghly recomended , the orıdgınal stock tyres usually work very well ın my experıance , so ı tend to stay wıth those unless ı really hate the way they feel .
ı really lıke avon tyres though , ıve mostly rıden bıg trıallıes and found avons lıke the grıpsters fantastıc on the road , so check out a bıke tyre forum or get good advıce from an expert
good luck and dıtch thos dodgy metz asap .

 

Tire break in is BS, you guys kidding???Anyway, carry on...

 

From Dunlop's website, Q&A:

"When new tires are fitted, they should not be subjected to maximum power or hard cornering until a reasonable run-in distance of approximately 100 miles has been achieved."

Now whose the expert, Dunlop or you!

 

What tire to use really depends on how you ride. The stock tires are OK if you are a HOG type of rider, but for real aggressive riding, you'll want a stickier tire with a different profile. The tradeoff - stickier tires don't last as long.

And I agree with the others, your tire pressure is probly way too high. Drop it down and see what you think. No tire should be slipping on gentle curves.

 

Then you're looking in the wrong places. You need to look at the TIRE manufacturers recommendations for your bike, not HD's unless your using the stock Dunflops.
Metzler for instance, details all the recommended inflation pressures in a PDF document on their website.

 

Nobody mentioned it but higher pressure = smaller contact patch. Lower pressure = larger but less stable contact patch. The Metzler must not be as stiff as a Dunlop, I put a new tire on my 2007 1200C, a Dunlop D401, I've mounted 8 x 20 truck tires that aren't much stiffer than the D401. I think you could ride a Sportster with 10 psi and get away with it. That's an exaggeration but you get my point.

 

hi!
it’s the bike, not your tires. I’ve changed tires, suspension, etc on a Nightster and no matter what, you get that rear wheel slide. There’s a few HDs like that.

Hi fellas. Help an old dude out here will ya?
The old lady finally let me get another bike and I'm just loving it. I picked up an 03 1200 custom this winter for a song. It had been sitting awhile so I spent the winter and spring tearing this thing apart, cleaning it up, replacing stuff etc. New brakes, new tires, plugs, wires, got it all tuned up and running great. I rode the thing home and a few times before dropping any coin on it so I'd be sure it was a keeper. It is!

Took it out today for about a 100 mile ride and it was a bit disconcerting to say the least. I put a set of Metzeler 880's on it and noticed a difference right away. The back of the bike sits up a bit higher then it did with the original stock Dunlops. Nope didn't change the stock shocks or the preload. So took it for a ride and noticed the rear tire feels like it's slipping out a bit on curves. Stock tire sizes 130/90/16 rear and MH90/21 on the front as per the Metzeler website. Cold tire pressures are 48 rear and 38 front with max pressure on the tires being 50 & 40 respectively. No shakes, no wobbles, tracks smooth and straight. Just slips on curves. Not twisties but just nice easy highway curves. 50 was as fast as I felt comfortable. The old original dryrotting tires handled better and I ran the same curves on those at 65-70 easy.

Any ideas? With all the great reviews of the Metzelers I'm shocked to say the least.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]