Agreed. I run one and it does handle great with no signs of wear yet in the few thousand miles I’ve had it. It was hard to find but that may have changed. I finally found it at Summit Racing.

 

I had a great experience with a Cobra front tire on my 2014 Breakout. Very lightweight, and handled terrifically. With the Cobra tire on the front, and a Pirelli on the rear, that 2014 Breakout was completely transformed in its handling behaviour. On the latest (2023 and 2024) Breakout 117, HD apparently realized that their earlier tire choice was crappy, and provided MUCH better tires (Michelin), and I had no need to change to anyhting else while I owned that 2nd Breakout.

Jim G

 

You want to have good lateral traction in the front tire of a trike as it turns via traction not leaning. You might get higher mileage with some unspecified deep tread tire, but is it worth your life? For me the OEM Dunlop sucked as a trike front tore, as several times of spirited riding the twisties it plowed straight as I accelerated out of the turn. Michelin C2 was much better, and the Cobra trike tire was the best. And it was a great looking tire. I sold the trike after putting about 5K miles on it, and it seemed to be wearing well.

I looked, there are no well known & respected car tires that will fit the trike front, so I didn’t consider that an option worth my life.

 

Nope. Not worth it.
I would run a car tire if the beads matched a bike wheel's bead, but they don't.
​​​​​​I'll look at the Michelin.
I know I only have maybe 1,000 miles left on this tire, but I'm not going to hurry to decide.
I'll find the right balance between cost, traction, and longevity, and the make a well-researched choice.

 

Well sirs-
I ordered a tire last night.
Time will tell if I made a good choice or not.
It is a Shinko SR999 Long Haul 130/90-16
that is rated 80H.
Designed for heavy touring bikes, the load rating is
992 lbs. at up to 130 mph.
The Tri Glide will never see more than about 90 mph, but during hard braking the front tire gets pretty heavily loaded.
It's potentially a great trike tire.
After I get it mounted, and put some miles on it, I will let you all know how it fares, whether good or bad.
Thanks for your valuable responses!
P.S.- Would you mount it reversed or not?

 

Go for it. I hope it works out .
if it’s a front tire I would mount it standard, if it’s a rear tire I would mount it backwards.

 

It is a rear tire for heavy tourers.
I would like to run it forward so the tread pattern runs normally, but I do understand the reasoning for mounting reversed.
Anyone with experience using a rear tire turned forward on the front of your trike please share the results.

 

Are you a member of trike talk by any chance?

 

That's the kind of valuable input that's helpful.
I live in central Florida, and ride in the rain a lot.
Thanks!

 

Yes, I am a Trike Talk member.
I have been discussing tires there also.