I have 12,000 miles on an 06 Wide Glideand the tires are bald, and need to be replaced. I would appreciate anyone chiming in, this is what I understand so far:

I've read all the threads of tire type and have concluded based on posts that Metzeler ME880 Marathons are the way to go. I have spoked rims so I have tubes. I think solid wheels are probably better, but they are too expensive. Plus, I like the look of the spokes provided they are clean. So, the spoked wheels have to stay.

I now have MH90-21 on the front and a 160/70 B17 on the rear. I looked at the Metzler website and thought I would go with the Stage 1 upgrade. i.e. bolt-on bigger tires with no other modifications necesssary.

http://www.us.metzelermoto.com/media/m_06_vtwin.pdf

According to their chart I can go with a 90/90-2154H TL on thefront and a 170/60R1772V TL on the rear. Both are classified as TL or tubeless. In the fine print under TUBE INFORMATION they write "Metzeler tubeless tires may be fitted with Metzeler tubes on standard TT (tube type) rims."

In the tube table they offer several tube sizes.It looks like the closest would be: for thefront a 3.00-90/90-21,and for the rear they offer a 160/70-190/50-17.

I need to order these off the internet and don't want to order the wrong stuff. Do those tires and tubes make sense?

Thank in advance
malcolm

 

hey man..I'm not gonna go into tire sizes or try to answer your questions because I really don't have the answer...but I will try and address your comments about spokes vs solid wheels.
It's kinda a long story, but I had a V-star 1100 before I got my harley. One of my biggest issues with that bike was the spoke wheels...basically because of the issue of flat tires. As you know, spokes are a bit more of a problem if you get a flat....so I wanted to upgraded to some custom wheels for that bike. But when I saw that most of the custom wheels on the market were over a grand a piece, I started thinking about finally investing in the HD I always wanted. Go figure that when I decided on a harley, I picked one that came stock with spoke wheels....doh!!!

Anyway, I always knew that I would eventually upgrade the wheels on the harley....especially the rear...reason being that I've gotten flats before and they were always in the rear. I ended up getting the chrome deuce wheel for 06 dynas, and I get nothing but compliments. Best of all...it wasn't overly expensive. I think I paid somewhere around 850 bucks. I also got the wide tire kit (which is an SE dunlop 180)....that jacked up the price a little...but in the end, I'm very happy...and it still looks perfect with the spoke wheel up front. I still have the option of a custom front wheel...and that will happen in time. But for now, I'm very satisfied, and I didn't spend a fortune getting there.

I know you said you weren't interested in wheels...but I figured I'd just share my experience.

Good luck man.


Todd

 

I apprecate that. I'd probably change over to solid wheels if they weren't so expensive. I need to look around more and see what's available. I understand the flat tire, spoke wobble, "tubes", and all the other baggagethat come with laced wheels. By the way - nice bike!

 

My tires are bald, and I need to understand motorcycle tires a little, so here is what I am finding out.


Here is a good chart for understanding tire size codes. The front and rear tires on a Wide Glide arein different codes.

http://www.dansmc.com/tirecodes.htm

Here is a good chart for wheel sizes:

http://www.hdwheels.com/Product.htm

To the best I can figure out is both the front and rear stock tiresare bias ply. Metzeler is recommending putting a bias ply on the front and aradial tire on the rear. This is supposed to be dangerous except that Metzeler states:

"Mixing radial rear tires and bias ply fron tires is allowed only when fitting a stock Harley Davidson with the proper custom width wheels for the tire application (see application chart), OR when fitted by a cusom manufacurer (i.e. American Ironhorse), OR if listed in this fitment chart."

I think I'llgo with the doggone 90/90 TL54H and the 170/60R11172V TL tires. Now, I'll see if I can find theright tubes. Metzelerthinks tubes are abig deal too.

 

I bought those Metzelers from these guys,
http://www.cyclegiant.com/index/181/, and although there may be cheaper places around, I got both Metzeler tires and Metzeler tubes for less than the local Harley dealer quoted for the rear tire alone.

I took the wheels off today, and it's fairly easy. I took the upper/rear exhaust off to allow axle removal. I just took the whole thing off since I didn't want to struggle pulling the slip-on off and maybe breaking a stud on the head. The connector for the O2 sensor is under the seat. It turns out the exhaust nuts on my head were loose. I have had rear O2 sensor CEL, from time to time, and wonder if there is a connection there. I left the sprokets and rotors on the wheels since they want to balance them as a unit. Mounting and balancing is $10 per wheel.

When I disconnected the shocks, the swing arm lowered enough so it may be possible to reemove the axle without removing the tail pipe.

The manual also says to remove the rear disc brake caliper. I found it can just be slid off the rotor and placed aside on the swing arm when the wheel is removed. Remove the rear bolt on the chrome belt guard and just swing it up.

 

I finished the tire installation and it went well.I would study the manual before you start putting things together. There are some things you need to know for example, putting a 7/16 drill bit into the hole on the front axle to locate the right fork (that must be a Harley tribal custom). One thing I would recommend is totake a black marking pen andnote on the spacers the location were you took them off andput an arrow on it pointing to the outside. The manualsays one side is chamfered but I didn't see that. You can see the imprint of the inner race on the spacer if worse comes to worst. Howevermark each one like this (LF > ect).

Ialso spent alot of time aligning the back wheel. But, since the swing arm is mounted to the trans/engine that is rubber mounted to the frame I don't know if this was a fool's errant or not. Regardless, my rear wheel is definetly aligned perfectly with the swingarm, but beyond that who knows. I also adjusted the belt.Take lots of time when installing the exhaust pipe. Don't just start the nuts on the head and jack the pipe into place. Turn the nuts a little at a time and giggle the pipe to allowthe end of the pipe to seat perfrectly into the gasket in the head.

Ibought the Stage 1 upgrade tires from Metzeler. The front tire looks bigger and Idon't think you could go much bigger without modifications. However, the rear tire looks pretty much like the stock one, and thereis alot more room for more tire. It's much easier to lean the bike over, but I don't know if thatis the Metzelers or just new tires without a flat running spot in the middle.

You will need an assortment of torxs, metric allens, blue loctite, and torque wrenchesin addition to the usual wrenches and sockets. I didn't keep track but nothing unusual is required. An 11/8 socket works on the rear axle, but as someone pointed out it is probably a metric (28 mm I think).

I bought the tires from cyclegiant in orange county. The guy that does the balancing there is very detail oriented and good. The back tire didn't require any weights and the front only requred a little one. He said Harley mounted the front tire wrong in the first place.Mounting and balancingwas $10/wheel at Giant. The Harley dealership wanted $80 to mount and balance.

I also mounted Accutronix forward controls with the 3 inch extensions and matching grips,but will start a separate post on that.