| Author | Message | ||
     Titusand |
Why is the Dunlop so bad? Granted, I have only 300 miles on a motorcycle now, so i have nothing to compare it to, but I have the stock tires and the bike takes off, it brakes, it goes around corners, I've run it on the highway.... I don't know... what's so different about the Pirelli's really? I'd like to know. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
With you being a new rider I can say on a level that you would notice is that the Dunlops are on the hard side and follow every groove in the road. If you take them off and try the Pirelli's, the grooves disappear. You also might notice that the Pirelli's have a much smoother ride. I'll let others add to the list! | ||
| Ezblast |
The Pirelli build confidence, the Dunlop disappoint - their limits quickly found. EZ | ||
| Ezblast |
Frankly - they can even be dangerous. The Dunlops I'm speaking about. EZ | ||
| Sycho |
General question to any who've tried all... Which is the better handling of the Pirelli's?, and which is the best for longevity? Choices MT-75 -- ST66--Diablo. | ||
| Monzaracer |
Honestly I never had an issue with my Dunlops, my rear was new when I bought the bike and it had 2725 miles, the front tire made just shy of 15k miles and even with lots of wear it handled deep water, like 4 to 6 inches. Does it handle better with Pirelli, yeah but the difference is from an 06 bike bought in 08 with original tire on front, to a pirelli front. My next rear may be either a Michelin 140/70/16 or one of the shinkos. | ||
| Ezblast |
lol - this has been answered in the tire section! EZ | ||
| Titusand |
15,000 miles on the front tire? And from what I read about 5,000, but I am presuming its the back one. Harbor freight has those tools, and those balancing beads are cheap. That equipment plus those beads means total freedom from a bike and car tire shop- wow, I think I'm going to buy those things. | ||
| Kustomklassix |
I've been running Cheng Shin Barracuda's for the last 1500 miles or so and having had the 'Lops for the first 2500 miles, I can say that they are a huge improvement and cost less than the Pirelli's and are overall quite good tires. The one's I have are ALMOST stock sizes, but I will check and post back when I get home and can look at them. | ||
| Kustomklassix |
Ok, so got home for lunch and had a look. They are officially Cheng Shin C6000 Barracuda-V tires. Front is 100/90/16 (I got the 90 for the extra miles I'll get out of the taller tire and it must be working because it basically still looks new with very little wear) and the back is a 130/80/16. The 130 fit with 0 issues and room to spare. I really like these tires because they warm up fairly quickly, seem to wear pretty well, stick to the road good enough to drag footpegs doing 55+ onto the interstate, and do amazingly well in the rain (they were designed for "great capability in wet conditions") and came with a wallet friendly price tag. I hope this helps give some other options and opinions for tires!   | ||
| Ezblast |
The Shinko's do look promising. EZ | ||
| Titusand |
Are they Chinese? | ||
| Ezblast |
The Shinko's are Japanese made in Korea. EZ | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
I think the question was: "Why is the Dunlop so bad?" For off topic tire discussions please post here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/201 64/20273.html?12 | ||
| Ezblast |
Dunlops are inferior to the Pirrelli - period, and in comparison are dangerous. EZ | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Well he did ask why and I thought maybe the general population could share their experiences. Its helpful and a little more insightful than just "ditch them". No, I'd never run them again (or Kenda's), but I've seen at least one guy race on them (a regular contender for 1st place) and he didnt crash and he did well. He did replace them with Pirelli's though. There are worse tires than Dunlops and when a superior set of Pirelli's can be had for $120, why would you run less tire for more money? Not all Dunlops are bad. But on the Blast they are. Without too much effort (IE: Speed), I could get the rear Dunlop to slide in a turn. Fun, but not confidence inspiring! | ||
| Titusand |
uh, yeah, sliding in a turn is not what I want to do at this stage of my riding...! | ||
| Swampy |
Dunlops are more expensive, plus they are the official tire of H-D(spit) | ||
| Conwaybrew |
I found the rear sliding to be disconcerting at worst and fun at best - they really like to slide across manhole covers (why the traffic engineers put them in the turn lanes I have no idea). But I switched to the Pirelli ST66 since I mainly use the Blast for commuting (touring tire) and like them much better. | ||
| Titusand |
I did my 2nd run ever on an expressway. Part of that road has those parallel etchings, which apparantly help with rain. It caused the bike to dart slightly left and right. I wonder non-Dunlop tires might help? | ||
| Conwaybrew |
Probably not. The grooves that you're riding over tend to do that to bikes and even light cars - I drove a Saturn on an expressway like that and it felt the same way. It's more of a feeling than an actual movement and takes some getting used to. But, I there aren't many roads like that where I live so I don't know if the Pirelli's will help smooth out that feeling in all honesty. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
YES!See my first post: "the Dunlops are on the hard side and follow every groove in the road. If you take them off and try the Pirelli's, the grooves disappear. " The MT75's are good to make them disappear, the Diablo's a little better. Almost any other decent brand besides Dunlops handle the grooves much better! | ||
| Conwaybrew |
Always trust Erik's advice!  | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
PS ALL the freeways here are grooved so you find out real quickly what works and what doesnt  You also tend to bounce down the road like there is a dip every 3ft (besides the other drivers). Pure joy | ||
| Sycho |
"the Dunlops are on the hard side and follow every groove in the road. If you take them off and try the Pirelli's, the grooves disappear. " I Concur, lol. When I had the Dunlops on mine Freeway or Expressway riding was hazardous. And I had just recently watched a rider go end, over end, over end, due to losing control from speed wobbles. Now with the Diablo on the rear and the MT-75 on front, I can cruise at 85 and feel confident that it will not track or wobble due to rain grooves. I don't know if they are still on sale but I got my last set pretty cheap from a place called Parts411.com. (hope it's okay to post that) It'd be worth it to buy a set of tires now and have them installed when you have enough cash to do so. | ||
| Titusand |
I did a simple test: I pushed a fingernail into the tread on the tires of my Chrysler van and then into the tread on the Dunlops... holy smokes, the rubber on Dunlops in comparison is like a hockey puck! | ||
| Truthnexile |
Well that's a good explanation. With the OE pos still on my front end I avoid any kinda road debris, loose gravel, or cracks in the road with ferver. I figured there had to be a better way to go as far as improving handling and stability. Doesn't take much to feel the bike getting "squirrelly" in a variety of conditions. Will have to try a pirelli on the front. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
You wont be sorry  |
