I am on the verge of buying a 2010 Softail Custom. I had a 2008 and remember that I had to change the front and rear tire at 6,000 miles due to wear. Has this situation with OEM tires gotten any better in the last two years? What other tires are you guys replacing the OEM tires with that get better wear. I'm not an aggressive rider.

 

There is another thread about this but the tire wear you have seen in the past is still the same. Locally here in the Dallas area 5-7000 miles is the norm for the rear and a little more for the front. The indy I go to says to run 42 psi rear - 35psi front for a little better wear. The guys I bike with say the Harley tire last longer that others. Some here will have a different result than this and they will chime in also.

 

I have 9300 on my original tires (07 Custom).
But they are about done and I will be getting new ones this winter.
Personally I would like to get tires with a bit more grip than these, mileage be damned.
I'm not all that aggressive a rider, but even so I get a little spooked every time I'm powering through a wide turn and the bike starts skipping sideways over tar strips with both tires.

 

I ran dunlops for 20 years,Metzlers cured all the issues you mentioned, for me

 

Metzlers were the first replacements I thought of because many others have said much the same thing.
Mileage sux, but the grip is excellent. I can also get them cheaper from a local guy than I can HD replacements from the dealers.
One curious thing my local guy said was that he can't get the OEM tires that came on my bike.
Seems that they are some kind of dealer only thing, he can get direct Dunlop replacements, but they would not have the HD labeling on them.
Personally I'll trade a stupid label for some decent traction any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.


BTW that's a really nice ol EVO you got there, is that one of the HD custom paint jobs? Seems like I have seen it or another one very much like it before, might be someone who is or used to be on the forum, but exactly who I can't remember.
Probably just yours, but do you know of anyone else with a similar paint job?

 

Tread life is entirely too subjective. The same bike with the same tires will get 5K to 15K (I got 14K out of OE Dunlops on my Night Train and replaced with the same). Acceleration, braking, temperature, road surface, solo vs. 2-up are just the beginning of the list of factors that could play into tread life.