I have a 2013 Road King. I did new front and rear tires Friday and Saturday. The bike came equipped with Dunlop 408 / 407. I got 11,307 miles on the rear tire, the front still had 3/32" remaining. I bought two Dunlop American Elite's from Dennis Kirk for $324 including shipping. I removed the wheels Friday night, jacked the bike up with a Sears ATV/Motorcycle jack. Saturday morning I carried the wheels and new tires to the local Honda dealer for mounting and spin balancing. $64 at Honda. BTW, I got a $40 rebate from Dunlop on the new American Elites. I reinstalled the wheels Saturday afternoon and took a 25 mile test ride. One hell of a cost savings IF you can do it yourself!!!

 

The Harley dealer wanted $300 for a new Dunlop 407 rear tire installed and they won't mount / balance tires they don't sell. Not a problem, the Honda dealer could care less...

 

Look at my post #10 at the receipt that I paid my dealer from last September. $300 and some change plus 2.5 hr labor @45.00 an hour for mounting and installing.

I am for sure going to learn to do this task myself. I just gotta make sure I trust my jack or buy a good one.

 

I have an overhead steel beam in my garage. After I jack the bike up and before I put a wrench on it, I tie the bike off with heavy rope to the steel beam. that way IF I am a clumsy oaf and tip the bike off the jack it won't fall and cause damage!

 

I truly understand that the dealer needs to make some money but I say to myself "REALLY" $794.00 for two Stock Dunlop's that will only last under 9k for me? They are the ones to blame for me shopping on line and wanting to do this job myself. They even screed up my brake caliper when they installed my rear wheel and I had to pay another $200.00 to a indy to figure out what the vibration was. The dealer could not figure out their own mistake or at least did not want to admit it.

I like to keep my money just as much as HD likes collecting it from me. LOL...I work for the Red Cross not wealthy by any means.

 

Great idea unfortunately not a option for me as I have wooden trusses in my barn . Even if I decide to buy a good jack which I think that I saw one on here from a sponsor for under 500 I really think it would pay for its self in the long run.

 

I left for a trip in June with about 50% tread on my rear tire. 700 miles in I was 1/16 above the wear bars (yes I'm overweight, plus girlfriend and gear didn't help). I ended up spending 275 on a rear tire (installed) in Colorado Springs. I was real happy with that because the dealer got me right in on a Saturday morning. I just didn't want to chance the tire going bad in the middle of nowhere.

If I were you I would change it myself if I could and pay just for mounting and balancing. Although the time before I paid 80.00 for the rear and 40 for the front, when I bought my tires online. YMMV

 

Take a look at americanmototire.com they have the Dunlop American elite in 180/65-16 for 188.31 right now. The only thing that sucks for me is I have to pay tax since they are based in AZ. Oh well, at least it helps the economy here.

 

After a flat tire last Sunday with the rear tire of my '06 Street Glide, that had the spoke wheel options as originally ordered by the PO, I decided to go with an American Elite replacement due to good reviews here. Paid $152 plus $8 shipping on-line, which I thought was a pretty good price. Removed the wheel from the bike and took it to an import independent locally, and he mounted AND balanced the tire for $14.00. What a deal, I gave him a double sawbuck for his trouble.


He informed me that he could sell me that same tire for $166.00 plus tax and mounting...next time, I'm just gonna give him a call, he'll have the tire the next day, and TCOB...would prefer to give my local B&M the business, even if I spend a few more dollars, and I give him the chance to make a few bux on the tire too.


His strategy of mounting and balancing tires for a reasonable amount of money worked well for him...I'll be seeing him every three months for a rear tire on my daily commuter scooter that I ride almost 200 miles a day on, four days a week, so he made a good customer out of me!

 

New tires! Take home the ones with some miles left on for future use.
If you need to change them while on the road, it will cost much more than to do it before the trip. And could take a day to get a tire in at some shops. Be prepared when taking a trip. Get a possible tire problem off your mind.




@ Gung-Ho,
I've been buying my tires online from several different places depending on the price when I need tires. Now running Michelin Commander II as the Dunlop's and Metzlers did not give mileage as advertised. I can't say about the Elite Dunlop's as I have not run them. I used to run Dunlop 492 but can't find them in BW. They would give some miles. The HD supplied one just don't hold up in my opinion.
The Michelins have not been on my bike long enough for a complete endorsement, but the tire profile is still round and the others would have become flat across the tread by now. Wet and rain performance show good characteristics as does tar snake following. So I believe the M C II may well be my future "stay withs".