Well, in the morning, I'm going to meet my buddy at the local HD dealership and ride another 50 miles down the road to the better HD dealership and get a new rear tire. Only got 6K out of the original tire. This seems like poor tire life since I don't hot rod the thing ( I think) and watch air pressure closely. I really don't see how some of you guys get 10K on a Harley (Dunlop) tire.

The good news is that I sure have had a lot of fun on that old tire.

What kind of mileage are you all getting on your Fatboy tires? Is there any kind of consensus on a better tire out there for Fatboys?

Howl,

Wolf

 

I run the Dunlop 491 series instead of the 401/402 series tires that come stock on HD. I seem to get a bit better mileage out of them.

6k is on the low side. Besides air pressure and riding style, tire alignment can have a tremendous effect on tire wear. Also, type of road surface, and temperature will come into play. Plus, don't forget load.

 

I get about 10/14 thousand miles out of my D402s.

 

Skip

If you check on the specs for that tire you're running, I think you'll find that the tread depth is a considerable amount deeper than the 401/402 tires, I wonder why the dealers don't tell of this and give people a choice.[:@]
Guess it's all about money!

 

Wolf,

I just had the tire on my 03 FXST replaced. I bought the bike used and I new that it needed a tire. The previous owner got over 10k on the D401.

 

Interesting! Often wondered about the differences, but whenever I've asked, everybody just shrugs their shoulders.

Find it strange that I can get a 491 off the internet 40 less than $90, but the HD shop special orders them for ~$150. Just got a tire changer and am getting ready to build a balancer so I can do my own. But I can get the 491s from a nearby Kawasaki dealer, mounted & balanced, for about $110 most of the time. At that price doing them myself will take a back seat to letting the Kaw place do it, while I sit in their showroom eating Southern Maid donuts.

 

Well, it wasn't time to get a tire. I drive by the truly incompetent local dealership like my first post reads and ride on down the road 50 more miles to the "better" dealership. Drive my bike into the service dept., they write out the workorder then find out the tire I told them I wanted when I made the appt. was on back order. So, they made an appt. to have a tire put on my bike and don't even know they have been out of stock for two weeks. WTF is wrong with some people? This just wasn't that difficult go get it right the first time. I guess in a Harley dealership one has to know exactly what question to ask at exactly the right time.

Question: Is there any such a thing as a decent Harley Davidson dealership!!!??? Damn it!


I just finished the morning with a nice ride in the countryside. Ranting and howling over and out.

I'll check out the 491. Thanks Skip.

Howl,

Wolf

 

Why not go all out, let your fingers do some walking and see if there are some indy shops around? Or call the local Honda-Kaw-Suz-Yammer shop and see what they might have?

 

That is a viable option. I'll give them one more chance. I really have held back my anger on this...just a little venting here. I tend to "go off" pretty quick. I did get a nice ride out of the deal, the rear tire is not in the danger zone and I'll just chalk this one up to being an honest mistake which I think it was. There is a decent indy shop down the road that I need to check out and if there's another screw up, they may get to sell and mount a tire.

Skip, I did check out the 491 tire you mentioned. You think it is a good tire for a Fatboy? It is supposed to be a higher load carrying tire. I never ride 2 up or carry a lot of stuff. How do you think it would do in those circumstances?

Thanks,

Wolf

 

Does anyone have an opinion on Metzler's vs Dunlops. And do the Metzler'a have comparable tires to the 491/2's or just the 401/2's? TIA, Art