With a new riding season on the door step and the urge to try a new tire.. What tires do you ride-how many miles do you get on them and why are they better then the H-D OEM for touring......

 

From what I've seen so far, the OEM Dunlops are the clear winner for mileage. I have 13,500 on the rear so far, and it looks like it will go at least another 1500 or so. It handles kind of crappy though, because it is worn off in the middle and the shoulders are less round than new. If that is a concern, then it should have been replaced around 8-9000 miles.

 

Dunlops, change them every 10K, haven't had a problem.

 

I've got just over 11K on the Dunlops. Its time to replace the rear now.
You won't hear me saying anything negative about these tires. I've been really impressed.

 

Depends on the bike. Touring bikes get a lot more. My Fat Boy had 6000 on the rear and it was fine. The touring ones can get 12000-13000.

 

I have no problems with the Dunlops. I get 11-12k outta rears. I got 39k out of my first front. The second front had 25k on it when I took it off. It still looked great. I only replaced it because I had a new tire sitting around that was getting some age on it.

 

replaced my rear dunlop @9,000 for the simple reason it felt abit squirrly on wet roads,could have seen more mileage,i've always been one to replace both front and rear together for peice of mind,front had plenty of tread left,but nothing better than two new sneakers at once,they ride nice

 

the1 dunlop

 

Run a little less pressure in the rear tire to start off with,then go up to normal pressure as you get miles on the tire. This will help with the middle wearing out first.

Go easy on the rear brake. The rear brake tears the rubber off real quick.


If you put on a new tire on in summer and do a few 500 mile rides the high tire tempature cures the rubber.

 

I switched to metzler ME880s and got 11,000 miles on the rear before I changed it, and it still had some life left on the thread. I don't take chances with tires, so I change them when I start losing confidence in them, or when I am about to take a long trip. I wouldn't like to go looking for tires when out on a trip.