I know a couple psi makes a difference. When I had my last set of tires put on, (Elite 3s), the shop mounted them with 38 in each. I played around and found that the bike felt more stable and handled better with the front set at 36. I ran 40 in the rear, solo or 2 up again based on Dunlop's recommendation. When I had the tires changed, my front was slightly cupped after about 13,000 miles. When I have time to play around with pressure, I will. I may go 36/36 as Harley recommends and see what happens. My goal is to get the best handling and traction out of the tires as possible. If that means they don't last quite as long, so be it. I'd rather have excellent traction for 12,000 miles than decent traction for 15,000.

 

You got caught out in the rain, that is all! Do nothing until you have at least a couple of hundred miles on dry roads. All tyres come with a shiny surface as a result of the manufacturing process and until that is worn off will not give their best.

 

On a wet road you are asking for it if you play with it like that...Doesn't really matter what brand tires you have.

 

A couple of points on this, which you probably already know but if not maybe this will help.

All new tires are slick when they're new, almost like a coating on them and they can get a bit squirrelly on dry roads so wet I can imagine would only be worse. When you get a few miles on them, and maybe you did by later in the afternoon, they may be a bit better.


The other thing, how much standing water was on the road? I've had a rear tire "float" on me before wand it wasn't because it was worn out it was because I was moving along (probably too fast) and I went through a fairly deep bit of standing water. Best tires in the world will break loose in certain conditions.


I've had a few elites on my bikes and never had an issue, they work well in wet conditions and they wear great too!


I don't think you'll have any issues...... Unless you're doing 100 in a monsoon! Lol

 

Great tires. With any new tire you have to take it easy or you will have big problems.

 

New tires often have a mold release chemical to help them come out of the molds cleanly, take it easy for the first 500 or so miles until it wears off.

 

I too just put the American elite on.
Although it was dry, I rolled on the throttle pretty hard and dump the clutch. There was lots of smoke coming out the rear tire and she was getting a little Squirrley too but traction was great.
I imagine it's a lot worse in the rain. LoL
Sticker tires are always slick in the beginning And need to break in.

 

Rain riding 101 lesson 1 is don't whack the throttle wide open in the rain. Doing it going uphill just makes it worse.