V-Twin Forum banner

Longest Lasting Tire Review

35K views 78 replies 31 participants last post by  amattox 
#1 · (Edited)
Lotsa talk about tires. Let's put the facts to it, to see if one tire consistently lasts longer than another.
1) Describe your bike (i.e. '01Heritage, '02 Fatboy, '03 Road King).
2) Type of riding (i.e. 1 or 2 up)
3) Area of the country you ride most in (i.e. Southeast, Midwest)
4) Do you ride mostly 2 lane, Interstate, or combination.
5) State the tire(s) you used, air pressure run, and the milage you got.

I've got an '02 Heritage, 1 up riding in the Southeast and ride combination.

Front tire is original Dunlop D402F, 36psi, still running @ 16,200 miles with 3.5/32" tread still on tire. Original tread depth was 5/32"

Rear tire - original Dunlop D402R, 36 psi, replaced at 8,400 miles with...
Dunlop K491 Elite II. Looks like I'm going to get pretty close to the same milage as the original D402R

I think I'm going to try Avon Venom X next
 
See less See more
#27 ·
I have 6,000 on my 402s, wide white walls. From the looks of things, I don't think I will get much more than 10,000 out of the rear:( Does the ME 880s come in wide white walls for my Ultra? It has to be the wide ones, love the looks. Does any one know if Avon makes a wide white wall to fit the Ultra?
 
#29 ·
1) 02 Electra Glide Classic
2) Mostly solo but 2 up at times
3) NE Fla.
4) Combination of two lane and interstate
5) Dunlop 402 @40 psi (original rear)

I have has the bike one year this month and put 13,500 on the original rear tire. It just started hitting the wear indicator. While the wheel was off I changed the brakes. Still has about one-third of the pad left. I'm putting on the same Dunlop that is coming off.
 
#30 ·
1 2000 Road King EFI
2 Mostly solo
3 St. Louis MO
4 Bar hopping-Two Lane and some interstate
5 Dunlop 402 36 psi front 38 psi rear
6 200 lbs.
7 Front has 17500 and still some life. This is the 3rd rear tire and seems I only get about 5000-6000 before needing to change. I am in the process of changing to the Conti tours front and rear.
 
#31 ·
donnie. Keep us posted on the Conti's. You doin' burn outs or something, at the bars? Maybe the 2 lanes in Missouri are as rough as the 2 lanes in South Carolina? 5,000 - 6,000 miles is really low, when you compare to the other touring machines in this thread.
 
#34 ·
I have an 03 Road Glide with originals and 6500 miles.
My rear is past the wear indicators. Front has plenty of mileage left.
I got the same kind of mileage on a 01 Fat boy. I put a Dunlap 150/80 on at about 7k and it needed replacement at about 18k.

Maybe some people run them thinner than I do? I start getting nervous after they hit the wear indicator.
 
#35 ·
good point shoveler. I change mine at the wear indicators also, if not just a bit before. As I stated earlier, I'm getting 8500 miles on the rear. Just this past week, I put on a Dunlop K491 Elite II, MU90. I think it's a 140 so I'll see if that gives me better milage than the Dunlop MT90, 130's. I also bumped the pressure to 38psi.
 
#36 ·
With running the 402's on the rear I was managing 11,000 miles. Last fall I put on a Metzler 880. Last week I changed the front 402 at 23,500, it still could have gone a few thousand miles, but was getting choppy. I also changed that out to a Metzler 880. Bike seems to handle much better.

Boris
 
#37 ·
Ed Y said:
1. 99 FLHT

Who has experienced a flat tire while running at speed and what happened? What brand of tire?

I've experienced 3 flats while riding, 2 rear and 1 front (all with either Dunlop 401, 402 or 491), all caused by nails of some type. Bike will feel mushy and steering is loose, slight swerving. Nothing dangerous and was able to slow down, pull off and stop. Also was able to ride 3-4 miles on a flat tire to get to next exit or back to campground. I've also seen the Dunlops tested at Talladega NASCAR track on Harleys with high speed induced flats and very little loss of control. I will not switch from Dunlops to something until I'm sure the other brand will do the same thing. I'm not saying Metzlers or whatever won't do the same thing but I have NO firsthand knowledge of that.
had one rear go flat while doing about 80 mph on I-95 in Miami. started as a slight waggling of rear end and progressively got worse as tire got flatter, after I slowed down I was able to ride it a couple miles till I got it home. was a Conti tour.
 
#38 ·
I've went thru twelve rear tires on Sybil in 116,000 miles.

I weigh 240, ride in Fl if it makes any difference, mostly solo but bike is usually heavily loaded and I have used Dunlop,Continental,Avon and Michelin Commanders. the Michelin lasted the longest ,about 15,000 miles. Avon venom x about 13k. conti's and dunlops were gone by about 9k. none of em were bad tires as far as road handling wet or dry conditions but being as I wear out at least two rears a year I like the Michelins due to the fact I can use 2 instead of 3 in the same mileage.saves me some bux. I mount and balance my own wheel assemblies, pay pretty good attention to em in fact and I think the Michelins are the ones for me. When I wear out the Avons on my 01 I'm going with the Michelins on it also.
 
#42 ·
86 model FXR (sold). Ran Dunlop 491s front and rear at 36# Got 17k out of both sets. sold it with a set of the same on it. Tire pressure and alignment are important. Watch the rear for proper wear and adjust air pressure cold to suit your weight requirement. If the front is wearing more on one side or cupping, check the alignment. The rear won't show improper alignment.
 
#43 ·
Thealien said:
Mike, I notice you have used everything but Metzelers, do you not like them for some reason ??
To Mark and Ed and anybody else reading this, only reason I never used Metzlers is I never got around to trying them, one of these days when I need both tires I might give em a try. Didn't used to matter to me if I had mismatched brands on bike but as I mature I try to keep em matched up brandwise so it takes me until I need both tires at same time to get around to switching. I think I wore out four rear tires last year between both my bikes,only used two fronts and the fronts last sometimes triple the life of the rear.
 
#44 ·
Ed Y said:
Mike:

Good to know about the Conti Tour. I'll add that to my possible list.
the conti tk16 and 17 are german made, seem to be a good stiff sidewalled tire. dont have the hardest rubber but seem to last about same as dunlops. for awhile I was buying them for about 80 bux delivered. I've got a contitour on front of Sybil right now, darn thing dont look like its even worn even though it has about 25,000 miles on it now. I need to change it soon because its getting cupped and it is starting to sing when I run it on hiway on curves.
 
#46 ·
SIDEKICK said:


the conti tk16 and 17 are german made, seem to be a good stiff sidewalled tire. dont have the hardest rubber but seem to last about same as dunlops. for awhile I was buying them for about 80 bux delivered. I've got a contitour on front of Sybil right now, darn thing dont look like its even worn even though it has about 25,000 miles on it now. I need to change it soon because its getting cupped and it is starting to sing when I run it on hiway on curves.
My FLHT is the 1st bike I've had with 16" front wheels in many, many years. I noticed when I picked it up that the front tire sings on higway curves. I've test ridden many a bike with 16" wheels here in the country on county roads but don't hear it. Just seems like some roads cause the singing and some don't. New Dunlop fronts do the same. I don't worry about it any more.
 
#47 ·
All:

Perhaps another variable to specify is whether you are running inner tubes with laced wheels or tubeless tires with alloy rims or "sealed" laced wheels.

Back in 1984 I had a flat tire during a road trip from San Francisco to Seattle on a BMW R65LS with inner tubes. I never found out the cause of the failure, but the outer tube appeared to have a "bulge" at a spot in the sidewall, and the leak in the inner tube was adjacent to this bulge. The failure could have been due to extra friction between the inner and outer tubes in this area, or the bulge could have been caused by the extra heating in this area of the sidewall.

I do believe that tires with inner tubes run warmer and after thousands of miles this could result in reduced tire life.

- PotatoHead
 
#48 ·
Hey PotatoHead's got a point. So many variables to think about. Here's one for you PotatoHead. I just put a new rear tire on my laced wheel, courtesy of a friend of mine who has the equipment. Was ready to put the tire onm the rim when I saw my buddy looking inside the new tire. I asked him what he was doing, and he said looking for a sticker that's usually inside the tire. I told him I already removed it, but I was curious why he was looking for it. He had 'heard' that sometimes these stickers cause a tube to go flat, as they get rolled and create a kind of pebble effect. Maybe???
 
#49 ·
US,

Your friend may have a point. I think the bicycle shops always add talcum powder to the coat the inner tube/outer tube interface. But maybe this is to keep the inner tube from getting "pinched" anywhere during the mounting process.

Another explanation might be to reduce friction between the inner/outer tubes when rolling.

I've heard that "stealers" recommend that inner tubes should never be reused. Does anyone know if there is a real basis for that recommendation?

Beyond charging for extra parts?

- PH
 
#50 ·
The reason for the powder is what you thought - to reduce the risk of pinching. I'll only assume, the reason for the stealer saying to use a new tube each time, is two fold. #1- to sell more, #2 - reduce the chance of a blowout, from a fatigued tube.
 
#51 ·
1. FLSTCI Heritage
2. 2 up, primary roads
3. Southeast AL & North FL
4. Mostly 2 lane riding, hate interstates but use them when I have to
5. Original Dunlap 6,700, Subsequent Dunlaps avg 6.8 to 7,2, Changed to ME 880 on last change out , right now at 4,500 on tire and its almost bald. 26K on bike, original front. Press. run 41 in both. Think back tires could last longer, but manufactures do not desire them to.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top