H-D "recomended tires" v stndard commercial

Thanks Skull, appreciate the reminder and I'll try to keep that good advice in mind. It's very tempting to start spending cash like it came easy at a Harley dealership. As it turned out, my bike's Stage 1 upgrade and baffles for my drag pipes worked like a charm. The dealer said everything else was fine. Just lucky, I guess.

When switching from the Dunlops to either Avon or Metzler, remember to keep the air up in those tires. With the softer tire compounds, going under inflated for as little as 300 miles can start cupping the tread real bad and you lose valueable milage very quickly. Check the tire company websites for tire upgrade recommendations and air pressures. Be religious about checking tire pressure weekly and you'll improve wear and mileage. Another tire that HD recommends is Bridgestone and they handle a bit better than the Dunlops. The compound is a bit softer, but not as soft as Avon/Metzler.

Probably a bit late here, but......I used venoms(Avon) on my '03 XL883C and found them brilliant - great grip, inspired confidence in the wet & over raised white lines. here is a link to fitments:

Avon Tyres Ltd - fitment .

AVON tires!? Great, I can order my toilet water and makeup at the same time! har har har:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

tires

jeez ,,,i envy ya'll,,,i run 64.00 maxxis,,,,cant afford those name brand thins,,, get same or better mileage as all others ,,,, but than i will go thru 2 to three back and 2 front a year,,, big money saving,,,and i have not been down because of a tire,,,, pops

Here's what I've seen over the years - the stock Dunlops last a long time but that's 'cause they're so hard - I call 'em "Rocklops". I won't ever get another set of those as they're nowhere near the other brands in ride & handling, especially in the wet or on rough roads.

Metzeler is the best combination of traction & mileage I've seen. They make some very soft compound tires that wear out quick, but the ME880 "Marathon" doesn't & the rear is more oval in shape for a bigger contact patch going straight & with a dual compound - harder in the middle for longer highway life, softer on the sides for better cornering. Most people use the 880 front with the same tread pattern & that's an excellent way to go, but I use the softer ME33 "Lasertec" which has a chevron-shaped tread & sheds water like a duck's back. Better if you hit tracks of sand or dirt on the pavement too & there's lots of that in this area from all the construction trucks tracking the sandy-clay soil out onto the roads from a building site. Muddy @ 1st but dries real quick - Rocklops will slide on it, the Lasertec cuts right thru.

The "canyon-carver" crowd likes the Avon Venoms which are available in a couple different compounds & the Bridgestone "BattlAx" tires which are softer still. Both are also rounder & corner quicker. One fella I know out in California who really hits the corners hard said he switched from the Bridgestones to the Avons 'cause the Bridgestones are so sticky that he can't slide the bike a little bit like he wants to & the Avons are just enough harder that he can. And one friend of mine who pushes his 1200S hard gets Chin-Shin "Barracuda" (I think they're called) tires which are about $60 each delivered to his doorstep. He says he's going to wear any tire out quick, the Barracudas are real soft for his hard cornering style, so he just gets the least expensive tires. (I'd rather not buy Chinese though).

I've run Avons before & liked 'em but my canyon-carver days are long gone, so I stick with the Metzelers 'cause they do last longer & still the ride/handling is VASTLY superior to the Rocklops. When I first switched, I found myself going thru curves 10 mph faster & it wasn't intentional, the bike just handled that much better. Another major deal for me because of the roads around here is the Metzelers don't follow grooves or other imperfections in the road & RR tracks don't affect them - the bike goes where you point it, no matter how bad the road is. Rocklops do follow road imperfections, rain grooves, metal bridge grating, etc. & that can be downright dangerous.

For example, many of the roads here are gravel/tar & with a lot of heavy truck traffic, there are 2 tracks where the gravel has been worn away, leaving a high spot with gravel in-between the 2 sides of a lane & also in the middle of the road. The tracks get slick in the summer & just changing from one side of your lane to the other upsets the bike on Rocklops & moving over to the other lane to pass gets dicey. And a couple places I go often there are RR tracks crossing the roads @ an angle - get your attention quick. But those roads do not affect the Metzelers @ all & changing lanes is no different than when you're on a flat section of concrete. And you don't even have to slow down for the RR tracks - the Metzelers roll right over 'em. On Rocklops, you'd darn well better slow down or you'll end up bouncing sideways.

When I got the '00 Sportster (stock Rocklops) I was able to do a back-to-back comparison 'cause I had Metzelers on the '95 - the only thing they have in common is they're black & round. The '00 bike rode like a park bench & I ordered Metzelers for it the next day.