For all of you who have had problems with the 2009-2010 D-407/D408 tires.

Good news, I spent a half hour bsing with the Dunlop man at the Cycle world bike show.
Dunlop is releasing a new tire the "American Elite" No word on price, or release date.... but I thought you folks would like to hear.

Oh??? and that was the only thing worth wile at the show.... lots of vendors... but every iten was at MSRP... didn't see any deals... and I was looking

 

Why would I give Dunlop any more money?

I am on my second set of D407s in 11,000 miles and they are shot. I only bought them again because nothing else is available in Australia - the 408s arent even here yet.

I am going to metzler radials as soon as there are done (about another 1000 miles). The Metzlers dont have the weight rating but have a higher speed rating.

 

I've never gotten over 5k miles out of a set of motorcycle tires (on my BMW's and Kawi). Are harley tires supposed to last longer?

 

5K miles!!? You've got to be kidding! I have 7k on my DunlopD407's and the look like they will go another 7K.

 

Me too. I've ridden BMWs since 1986 and have gotten from 3000 to 5000 miles on average from tires (front AND rear) except for one year when I took a trip to the west coast. That set had about 9000 miles on it when I replaced it.

On my 2007 Road King the Dunlop 402s last 5000-6000 on the rear and 10-12K on the front. On my 2009 Ultra, I had 7000 miles on both tires when I replaced them because I was going on a trip. Probably they could have been run another 1500 miles, but the front was cupping pretty badly.

I'm inclined to think that my poor tire mileage has a lot to do with the road surfaces on which I ride (southwestern PA). If it were due to extreme riding habits (smoky burnouts, say), then my gas mileage would also suffer, but I do pretty well on gas mileage. I know that some people obtain phenomenal tire mileage, but I think it's nearly impossible here. I've even experimented with one of my commuter bikes (a BMW) by riding it back and forth to work on a route with fewer stops and straighter roads. I was able to improve tire mileage by maybe 1000 miles.

 

Thanks skootch, they told me same at Biketoberfest. I have had a front tire replaced under warranty for cupping at 10k, will get another because they replaced it with a 407. My rear tire had 14 k when replaced, still had about 3 k tread left but was going on long trip. I am happy with teh 407/408 so will need to see what otehrs think about teh new tire before I jump.

 

Went to the show in Greenville also, it was dissapointing to say the least!!

 

A few miles from my house there's a little one man HD Repair shop. The guy is in his mid to late 60's and rides all year round. I was talking with him and he told me had a BMW (mid to late 90's model) and it was the best riding, handling, performing bike he ever owned. He loved it but he said he only got about 5000 miles out of a set of tires. He felt this was not exceptable and came back to Harley.

 

I got 19,480 miles out of the original set of D407's on my '09 RK. My commute is long distance and all freeway for 65 miles each way, so optimal mileage for any vehicle. Tires, brakes, clutch, motor, etc experience very minimal wear despite the distance.

Now that original front D407 started cupping fairly early. I don't recall the mileage when it began but I watched it and just kept riding on it. Never felt any handling problems, it was just a little noisy if you listened. I still had a teeny bit of tread left on that first set when changed, so could have broken 20k on them but didn't.

Now this new front D408F (with the reversed tread) has 7500 miles on it and is wearing perfectly - zero signs of cupping or abnormal wear. Lots of tread left so will easily make it into the high teens from what I can tell at this time.

The rear tires (the original and now this second one) have both worn very evenly throughout their lifetimes. I've been very impressed with the rear tire in particular on the new Touring models.

On my '05 EGC I used to get 28k or so on a front tire and around 13k-15k on a rear tire with Dunlops.

 

dealer just put 408 on my front rim no questions.