New rear tire

[midnightventure]

Will be ordering a new rear tire for my Venture in an hour or two. Kind of shocked how much they have gone up. Going for a Michelin Commander II for 159 dollars. Anybody know somewhere cheaper? I could go for a Dunlop Elite III also. The 159 is free shipping.

[kyle]

welcome to the world of obamanomic$$$$$.

[biggfromga]

Just installed Elite 3's on mine this week. Smooth. Also went with Dyno beads.

[midnightventure]

Noticed the Jake Wilson banner here and checked it out. Ended up buying a Commander from them for 150.99.

[djh3]

For me at the time I ordered it best price was Jake wilson. I normally get my tires from Motorcycle super store. They will price match also.

[Miles]

I like the Michelin Commander II, hated the Dunlop E3's terrible service for me only 5,000 miles out of them.

 

I would really like to know what kind of bike you have that you only got 5,000 miles out of a set of Dunlop E3's. Since you do not state what bike it is that you ride, I can only imagine it must be a super sport bike. Not a Sport Touring bike, or a Touring bike, or even a Cruiser. Or...are you possibly running the wrong air pressure...off by a long way...to only get 5,000 miles from a set of Dunlop E3's???

 

Okay, Mike, I looked you up, and you have an '03 Venture. How in the world did you only get 5,000 miles on a set of tires on that bike????

 

On my '06 RSMTD, I currently run a matched set of Dunlop E3's, and I have at least 15,000 miles on these tires, and they still look very good. I anticipate that I will get at least 20,000 miles from this set of Dunlop E3's, and I run the proper air pressure in mine.

 

BTW, I usually ride my bikes at triple digits when I can, so I am not easy on tires, but very mindful of pressures and wear.

 

And, to midnightventure that started this thread...that is needing to buy a new rear tire for his '02 Venture...WHY would you allow the price of the tire to dictate which brand of tire you will buy? I can understand wanting to get the best price on "a" tire...once you had already decided on a brand, preferably to match the brand you have on the front tire. But to pose the question as to which tire to buy, based solely on the price of the tire...that...to me...is wrong. I want to put the very best tires I can on any of my bikes. I am never looking for the least expensive tire...just to have a tire on the bike. I do my very best to replace all my tires as a set...both the front and rear at the same time. If for some reason that is not possible, then I will replace the one that needs to be replaced...so that it matches the one that is still on the bike. If all you want is the cheapest tire you can find, then Shinko makes cheap tires. And there are other Chinese and Korean knock-offs that are cheap. I understand that not everyone can afford to put the best quality tire on a bike. But...can you afford not to ? Given that the tire has a very small contact patch to the road, which is your lifeline to the road, can you afford to have a $ 75.00 tire installed, versus the $ 175.00 that your bike was designed for?

 

The first question I would ask you is: What bike are you riding? (we know it is an '02 Venture)

Next: What tire do you still have on the front? (that is the unknown factor here)

Next: How many miles did you get out of that rear tire you are needing to replace? (you "should" get between 15,000 to 25,000 miles from this tire)

Next: How many miles are on the front tire? (another unknown factor)

Next: What air pressures are you running, front and rear? ( front should be 38-40 psi, and rear should be 40-42 psi)

 

If it sounds like I am giving you a hard time...possibly I am. It is because I care enough to say, stop pinching pennies, when it is going to cost you more dollars to make these kinds of errors.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Miles

[Miles]

 

You are correct it's a '03 venture that gets riden like a sport touring/sport bike just about every time it's out. 95% time two up always in the curves usually hard throttle and braking in and out of the curves. Set of fronts pads a year and two sets on the rear. Usually get about 12,000 out of a set Metzlers, I got 2,000 out of a rear Shinko. I have pictures somewhere.

 

Wait I will get told to buy a sport bike for riding like that. I have a FJR a Vmax and a full on track only bike R6. Before making the R6 a track only bike I could get about 1200-1500 miles out of tires on it. I ride a lot put 8,000 miles on the FJR since last Thursday (needs tires) a little over 22,000 on the venture this year not sure how many exactly on the vmax. I don't ride like grand paw no offense to any one, it's more like a teenager that just stole the bike. I'm pushing 70,000+ miles on this venture put over 200,000 on the 99 venture I had. I Think it a sickness

 

Stroker Ace...it is a good sickness though, eh? I hear what you are saying, and I would not suggest that you buy a sport bike. Given the bikes you already own, you have a nice selection of bikes to choose from for different rides. I too have owned an FJR13, and did a lot of riding on it. And, given my riding history , I don't know of anyone that would think I ride like a grandpa. (I know, you did not say that "I" did)

 

But the question then comes down to tire pressures. You did not tell us what psi you are running. Also, to go through brake pads the way you are...it "appears" you are doing more braking than is necessary. Rather than attacking the curves, power through the curve. Braking and gear changing can be done before entering the curve, so that you can then power through the curve, and use more traction, rather than loosing traction by braking.

 

This is not specific to you, but it always amazes me when riders on bikes similar to what I am riding go through brakes as fast as they do. Whether I was riding 1500 Wings, or ST1100's, or the FJR, or 1800 Wings...it always seemed that there were a few people that went through brakes twice or three times as fast as I do. I do have fellow riders

that can get the same mileage I do out of brakes, so this is not limited to only me getting good mileage out of brakes. But when a rider gets 1/2 or 1/3 the mileage from their brakes as I do, on a similar bike, then there is an error somewhere.

 

On my 1800 Wings (had 3 of them) I could average about 80K miles on a set of brakes...front and rear.

 

So, back to the point of this thread...mileage on Tires (tyres), what air pressures are you running ? There must be a reason you get so low of tire mileage, and I get really good tire mileage.

 

Edited November 25, 2012 by Miles

[Guest tx2sturgis]

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I would really like to know what kind of bike you have that you only got 5,000 miles out of a set of Dunlop E3's.

 

 

It's the burnouts man!!

 

They tend to shorten the life of the rear tire....or so i've heard.

Edited November 25, 2012 by tx2sturgis

[stroker ace]

It's the burnouts man!!

 

They end to shorten the life of the rear tire....or so i've heard.

 

 

Thanks, man I may have finally figured where all the smoke was coming from.

[stroker ace]

I'm done... thanks guys

[Wrench]

All "smoke" aside, you might also try American Moto Tire. My son has ordered from them a couple of times, and aside from a p.o.s. Dunlop 404 front that he only got 5k out of, he's had good experiences with them. The last tires I ordered was a set of Michelin Commanders from MC Pro, but that was 4 years ago and it looks like tires have gone up since then.