I just got this in today. What is this a car tire or a motorcycle tire?
The sidewall is 3" tall and it only has 1/2" of tread wrap.
It ain't safe for anything but a three wheeler.
What has Michellin built this for? It's supposed to be a Commander II rear motorcycle tire. I wouldn't put it on any motorcycle I own! How can you lean to make a turn on this tire?
It's going back right after the holiday weekend. We'll see about the $30 dollar shipping charge too.

 

I'm running Commander II's on my 07 SB and the Wife's 04 XLH 1200 C ... no problems. I'm scraping stuff on turns that never scraped with the OEM Dunlops. Yeah, the tread looks different but IT WORKS for us.

 

Maybe yours is different. Like the Commander II on my Dyna now. It has only a 2 1/4" sidewall with great tread wrap. And is an awesome tire.
This new one is absolutely the worst looking tire I've seen.

 

Go to Michelin's web site & check the pics out. Is the correct part # for your bike?
Good luck.

 

I think it looks deceiving because the bead is spread so far apart by the shipping cardboard. If you have a stock rim then the beads will only be 3 inches apart, that cardboard stretches them wider and flattens it out. I just mounted a 150/80-16 on my ride and there is more tread wrap than my bike will ever be able to use, more than the OEM Dunlop POS that was on there before. Had the same tires on my Sportster and they totally transformed the bike. Seriouslyd on't send those tires back you have no idea what you'd be missing!

 

John,
There's nothing deceiving about it except they changed something with this tire.
Like I said, I already have one on my Dyna. It has shorter sidewalls and more tread wrap. More than I'll ever need. The sidewall is only 2 1/4".
Removing the packing is not going to make the tread grow and replace 3" of sidewall on this latest tire.

 

Just installed Commander II on my rear wheel and it works well for me. I've put only 800 miles in it but it's good for me.

 

I have my second commander on now (38,000km on the first)

Mount it to a rim then post pics.

 

The 'sidewall' on mine is only 2-1/2 inches tall, yet as you can see, there's plenty of rubber that will end up as chicken strip.


The old Dunlop on the other hand has about 3-1/2 inches of sidewall.

 

John,
I see from your pic the Commander II has 2 1/4" of exposed sidewall and looks like an excellent tire. Just like the one mounted on my bike now.
This new commander II I just got is different. It's sidewall is as tall as the Dunlop 401 if not taller. And it's only a 130 width. The sidewall should be smaller on a smaller tire not taller.
The Donflop 401 is not their best tire I agree. You know thats their bottom of the line tire.

And no way this crap is getting mounted to a rim. It's too different from my first Commander II. It looks different in the box than the old one did. It's got a different shape.