| Author | Message | ||
     Spectroff |
So I took my bike in for some FE vibrations. They ended up holding my bie for 3 days and changing the front tire, which fixed the problem. However, they didn't call me before they put on a new tire. I would have liked to been called so I could ask for a different tire than another Dunlop. They ended up taking off labor, and cutting the tire cost to 100 (from 120). So now I have a 2 week old Dunlop in front and my rear is in bad shape. Seeing if anyone has experience with mixing a Dunlop front and a mixed rear with success. Appreciate and respect your opinions. Thanks. | ||
| Pso |
I think I would tell them I did not want the lop on the front or rear and to please switch it out to ..... Buell switched away from lops last year. Do you think that perhaps your dealer is attempting to dump excess inventory? | ||
| Chainsaw |
Seeing if anyone has experience with mixing a Dunlop front and a mixed rear with success. I have used a Dunlop front with a Pirelli rear with zero adverse affects on my XB. Currently I'm running a Dunlop rear on my Sporty with an Avon front. My rear tire was showing cord in Paducah, KY returning from a road trip. I was happy the HD dealer could replace a tire while I waited, but Dunlop was the only brand they carried. | ||
| Froggy |
I personally wouldn't mix tires if possible, you never know how it could affect handling. | ||
| Aldaytona |
Put on any premium rear tire, mixing with a Dunlop front tire won't cause any adverse handling. Some guys are using Conti "heart attacks" and Avons, now that's flirting with disaster................................... | ||
| Djkaplan |
Why don't you just put another Dunlop on the rear? | ||
| Spectroff |
Chainsaw: Diablo? Have searched extensively on the subect. Seems to be a 50/50 split among riders. I'd be willing to mix tires if someone has had experience with the specific combination. | ||
| Spectroff |
Why don't you just put another Dunlop on the rear? } Concensus is Dunlops blow. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I believe the consensus is a Dunlop front tire will accentuate the XB's tendency to tuck and stand up in corners. You're stuck with the front again anyway. I doubt any tire you could mount in the rear would change this tendency. If you didn't have a problem with it before, I doubt you'll have one now. | ||
| Slamber777 |
l just went through a set of OE Dunlops. They were sticky enough and handled well. Mileage suck @ only 2900 miles. They say the Diablos do improve the handling some. Ok. l had no probs with the 208's. l think the dealers are trying to clean out the Dunlops, though. l couldn't pass up a killer deal on the 208's from a dealer. They will be carrying Pirelli Diablos for the Buells from now on. Interestingly enough, that same dealer said HD is dropping Dunlop as OE for what he thought was Michelin. That should send shudders through the chrome crowd. | ||
| M1combat |
Actually I think it's the rear Dunlop that causes that tendency. It's a "flat" profile compared to other 180/55 tires. Here's what I would worry about... The Dunlop isn't as sticky as the current crop of good tires (Metzeler M3, Pirelli Diablo Corsa III, Dunlop Qualifier, Michelin Pilot Power). If you put a sticky rear on the bike you'll have an imbalance of available grip biased towards the rear. This means that the front will slide first. That's EXACTLY backwards from what you want. IF a tire slides you want it to be the rear. That said... If you CRASH because a tire let go  , you want it to be the front. I wouldn't mix them. If you are going to just ride around like any sane individual should until you can replace both tires I wouldn't worry about it too much but no having too much fun. Replace the rear now (I like the Metzeler M3) and be careful until you replace the front as soon as you can. Don't try to get two rears out of a front in any case. The rear can slide around all it would like to as far as I'm concerned... The front needs to stick like it's glued together velcro with a strip of duct tape and some bailing wire wrapped around it. | ||
| M1combat |
They dropped Dunlop for Pirelli (Which is the same as Metzeler). | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Actually I think it's the rear Dunlop that causes that tendency. It's a "flat" profile compared to other 180/55 tires." If this is what you believe, I won't change your mind. It's just that every tire eventually get's a flatter profile on the rear (unless it's a track only bike). Seems like the tuck during cornering and braking would eventually be a problem with any brand of tire you used if it was a flatter rear profile that caused it. I don't ride an XB, so this isn't exactly something I have first hand knowledge of... but do they all eventually have this tuck and standup quirk, regardless of the brand of tire? | ||
| M1combat |
No. The front tire wears as well so they stay somewhat balanced. The other thing is that the standup tendency doesn't really present itself until maybe 20 degrees of lean. By that time you've "mostly" rolled off of the part of the tire that gets used the most on a street bike. Just as a data point... If you hang off well and exercise proper form the original D207's work "ok" aside from the fact that they don't stick to wet pavement and they over heat and get greasy WAY too quickly. Also... I could be wrong . This is just how I see it. Wyckedflesh mocked up the profile of a Diablo and a D207 a few years ago and the front D207 was pretty similar to the front Diablo. The rears were very different. The rear D207 was a LOT more like a 190/50 tire in that it was a little shorter in the center and not as curved as the Diablo. I believe the XB's preference for a more rounded profile tire is due to the steep rake angle. Other bikes effectively have a "wider" front tire while using the exact same front tire due to the steeper rake of the XB. When you go to a rear tire that's somewhat flatter (like a 190 or a 180/55 D207) I believe it essentially ends up as an imbalance between the width of the front and rear tire. With a flatter profile the contact patch will move to the outside farther per degree of lean. Imagine a tire that is nearly flat... You're at the edge of it at two degrees of lean. Now a tire that has a profile like a half circle... You're at the edge of it at 90 degrees of lean. Now figure that you have to deal with two profiles, rake angle and lean. You roll a bike over with a rear profile that's "too flat" compared to the profile of the front tire. The rear rolls further towards it's edge than you really want. This means that the front tire will turn further towards the inside of the turn to get farther towards it's edge so they're both happy. This causes the bike to want to stand up a little. This is why hanging off helps . Let the bike stand up a little, but keep the combined CG low and it works alright (excepting the traction and heat issues with the D207). Could you solve the problem with a flatter front profile? Yes, but then you're closer to the limit of the tire at a smaller lean angle. No one wants that ... especially at the front . | ||
| Chainsaw |
Chainsaw: Diablo? Yes, Diablo rear, Dunlop D207U front (since discontinued). I've mixed and matched tires on both my bikes to the tune of about 40,000 miles combined, mostly because of availability/time issues, or wanting to try a different brand. I've yet to have a front and rear wear out at the same time! I've yet to notice ANY handling difference on either bike. Of course, YMMV. | ||
| Dentguy |
I think you should talk to the service dept. again about putting on a tire without your consent, but it may be too late. Personally I wouldn't mix brands front and rear if you are going to ride it hard. Manufacturers make them to work together. The way the belts are laid, compounds etc. But plenty of people do it and say it works great. A lot of the standing up in the corners on the XBs seems to be from front braking while in a turn and tire brand could make it better or worse. As for a stickier rear than front, if your not loosing the front in a turn now a stickier rear isn't going to suddenly make it loose unless you're carrying more speed due to a stickier rear. On the subject of tire wear I have 8300 miles on my Uly original dunlops. The rear is done in the middle (very flat and not from burnouts) and the front wear looks good, but a little cupping and it still drags the pegs in the twisties and doesn't want to stand up. Off the brakes that is. Good luck with it. | ||
| Aldaytona |
I've mixed tire brands (like compounds) for years, standard bikes, and sport bikes, for all kinds of reasons with no problems. But I'm not Valentino Rossi either, I do feel confident he could tell the difference, I couldn't. | ||
| Jaimec |
When I mix tire brands I find I can correct any incompatibilities by wrapping the tires in teflon tape. | ||
| Spectroff |
Anyone else running a Diablo rear / Dunlop front? | ||
| Skully |
LOL! Jaime, you're a nut. | ||
| Kyrocket |
Teflon: The New Duct |
