I have to replace both tires on my Roadking after only 6000 miles..... What tires are getting better milage? I want the wide white wall but after that I don't care.

 

I'm very partial to D402 Dunlop. Last 2 I took off my 87 FLT had 15,000/32,000 (rear/front) and both still would have easily passed state inspection and there was basically no cupping. Tire pressure, rear wheel and swingarm alignment are all very important factors concerning mileage.

A lot of guys with later bikes (wider swingarms) are going to the E3 and they have a D404 out now in black or wide whitewall. Here's the Dunlop motorcycle catalog with all the specs etc.

http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog.asp

 

I've bought two rear Dunlop touring tires. The ones that say "Harley-Davidson" on the sidewall. I think that's the 402. Anyway, I bought the second one after I got about 12K from the first. I usually cord tires at 8K, and I could have done another thousand from the one I replaced as 12K.

 

I owned a Road King several years ago, and I believe I would get about 8 to 9 thousand miles on the rear tire and around 20 thousand on the front. 6 thousand mile does seem a little early to chage both tires.

 

I do ride hard but 6000??? I do keep a close eye on inflation, wheel align ect. The ones I have are Dunlops with the harley logo on them. I paid $30 bucks extra over some other tires they had because I wanted good tires. I'm not really impressed at all with them, they seem to wash out unpredictably and the front really went fast as soon as I had some desent pads on the front brakes.

 

Should be 2 rear tires to 1 front tire with 9-12,000 life rear with a big bike - Dunlop 402 WWW. Only have seen tires with soft compound or under-rated wear like that on a dresser, but check the ratings on the sidewalls just to make sure, so that isn't being overlooked. 402 WWW have been good and WWW limits your choices on your next set.

Hard to explain what happened but it is a roll of the dice on other brands also on which country their molded in, read some horror stories of a popular German motorcycle tire company that started producing tires out of a 3rd world country, I think their main export is cocaine, maybe they pack it in the tires and the tire quality isn't that important anymore. Check those load ratings on your current tires

 

402s are having some problems according to this: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/06/prweb2573444.htms

Suddon deflation from problems with the bead.

 

Avon Venoms

 

I've had a couple other people recommend them too but mainly BMW riders. How do they hold up? Stick well?

 

I love my Venoms, got rid of a good set of Metzeler ME 880's to install the Avons. Too many stories about the Brazilian made Metzelers failing and saw one fail myself on another bike. The Avon has a softer compound that the Metzeler did and definately grips,rides and feels better. That being said, I'm expecting less mileage out of them, but will pay that price for the performance.

Not sure what size you need, but FWIW a friend swears by and runs the police spec 130 X 16 Dunlops front/rear on his older dresser. He does alot of long mileage high speed Interstate runs and says they cost a bit more, but they are worth it. Might be worth looking into if they would work for you.