Hello All,

Does anyone have any experience with off brand tires for their Harley?

Shinko
Duro
IRC

Just curious about milage and traction.

 

I have never understood how people could spend SO MUCH on other areas of a vehicle and then decide that the tires are the area that they want to save a few bucks. Measure the contact patch of the tires on your bike, do you want to trust that few inch area that makes up the only part of your bike that actually makes contact with the earth to an off brand? Sorry for the soapbox, this is just an opinion I feel strongly about.

 

with so many good deals on the internet, why take a chance on off brand tires? i just bought tires from jake wilson...free, quick delivery and no sales tax on top of a great price.

 

Got a Shinko on my 10 speed. Been on there a long time.

 

As a general rule other brand tyres tend not to give such good ride quality, grip or tyre mileage. I don't use them, as those are qualities that are important to me! I use Avon Venoms on my Glide.

 

I didnt think the HD tyres were to badly priced really , why change something if it works .

 

That's a different matter! There are better tyres out there than factory Dunlops, depending on what one wants of tyres. The factory has never fitted truly great tyres, only ordinary ones.

 

Thank you all for your replies, I am looking for some research information, there appears to be a lack of information on all tire brands. I guess the question I should have asked is: does anyone know of a website with manufacture statistics for all tires. i.e. Consumer Reports

I am new to this, the last time I had to worry about this was in 1990 when I owned a Kawasaki ZX7. Metzler was top because someone told me that, not because of my own personal knowledge, I am trying to hone that knowledge.

 

You may find occasional reports in bike magazines, but I have never seen a definitive report on a wide range of tyres. Consider what you are asking! Pretty well every tyre brand offers a variety of tyres to fit Harleys and there are a lot of different tyre sizes in Harley's range of bikes.

As for Metzeler, not much has changed since you had your ZX7! They are currently one of the most popular tyres for Harleys, along with Avon and Dunlop. I suggest you save yourself a lot of effort and choose from those three! Search on any of those brands and browse recent threads to get happy owners' impressions.

 

I had Duro's back when I used to ride Metric bikes and they were a good bang for the buck, never heard of a tire failure with them. The Shinko's are Yokohamas. I have friends that have them and are really happy with them, you will probably hear bad things about them from people that have never used them and don't have any facts about failures or personal experience with them either.
From the Shinko website:

"Established in 1946, the Shinko Group began as a manufacturer of bicycle tires and tubes in Osaka, Japan that today has become a burgeoning manufacture of rubber products.
In 1998 the Shinko Group purchased the motorcycle tire technology and molds from Yokohama Rubber Co., and began production of these products under the Shinko Tire brand. With manufacturing based in South Korea and design based in Japan, the company has seamlessly combined Japanese engineering and design principles with South Korean production and quality control standards. Today Shinko Tires produces approximately 200,000 motorcycle tires per month."

Regards,