Conti Tours.

 

All the major brands offer suitable tyres and we have probably covered them above. Take a pin, close your eyes......

 

Actually, in April I ordered a set of Metzeler ME888's for $298 shipped from Dennis Kirk. Metzeler was also offering a $88 rebate...total cost $210 to my door. Almost 2K miles on them and happy so far.

 

I've had a street bike of some sort for the past 35 years and my '09 RG and '17 SG are the only ones I didn't feel the need to swap out the stock rubber. The 407/408 combo works great in the wet or dry, lasts a long time, rides well and more than sticky enuf for the clearance we have....

 

have any other remarks on the contis? i know my uncle won't ride on mich comm 2's because they're "too hard" and don't soak up bumps that well. i've only ever used mich's so i can't compare. i'm also interested to see how they wear. it'll be very hard for conti to beat mich's.

 

great info folks..what michelin comm II's for rear of 01 dwg? if i go with FRONT 90/90 21 what about rear? thanks,,i defer to yous guys...

 

I want to share my recent experience with the Michelin Commander II tires.

I had them on all my previous Harley's and loved them. My Street Bob, Street Glide and 1200c all showed improved handling and performance.

Last week I put a set on my 15 RGS and it was completely opposite. The cornering ability was greatly improved but at high speeds my bike had a bad wiggle to it. I bought this bike new and have run through two sets of OEM tires with no issues. The bike was rock solid at any speed. I had the MCII's installed and the bike was scary to ride. I rode it to work 60 miles round trip and took it back to the dealer. They checked everything and said it was good. So the mechanic took her for a ride on the highway and when he came back he said there's definitely something wrong. He felt the same thing I did. So they decided maybe the rear tire was bad and put on a different new MCII. He took it for a ride and said it was just as bad. They replaced the MCII's with OEM Dunlops at no extra charge and the bike is back to normal. IDK why my bike doesn't like the MCII's but I wanted to share the info. I'll be running OEMs from now on.

 

I dont know what mounting costs are in other areas, but here in Ca. Cycle gear wants $50 per to mount and balance if you didnt buy from them, $30 if you did. With these kind of prices its not worth it to shop online if you dont do your own mounting/balancing.

 

Take this with a grain of salt, on my first Harley.

With that said, I replaced the OEM on the rear with the same Harley OEM.
Why one might ask? I would answer why not?

Darn tire lasted twice as long as ANY metric bike tire would. I replaced a bit early around 14,000 miles.

Darn tire has got me (and times me and my wife) safely home in all kinds of conditions, including one REALLY messed up trip last summer to my brothers house in Myrtle Beach.
3 hour trip took five hours, thunderstorms forming the entire trip, blasted by downfalls of rain and wind on the interstate, we just kept plugging away, rarely stopping but taking it slower for sure, even thought we saw a funnel cloud or two and at times, I was getting more nervous because of the wind blowing the bike...

Also the day we bought the bike, back in August 2014 while on vacation in the Smoky Mountains, wasnt a planned purchase, last minute on the last day of vacation, on a vstar 1300, we rode from Gatlinburg to Pigeon forge in the POURING rain, traded in the vstar at Smoky Mountain Harley (AKA ROCKY TOP HARLEY) and rode home on the Road King, never was on a Harley before, never test rode it, pouring rain, two up, mountain roads, brand new bike, luggage, just took it slow and easy in what seemed like forever until the rain let up 2 hours later.

So with that said, I thought, wow, 14,000 miles rear tire was getting cupped and saw no reason to change from the OEM Harley brand, to what, save MAYBE $100 on my 20,000 motorcycle?
AS of right now, bike now at 18,000 miles and I am just considering replacing the front tire, can make it the season, but I dont push bike tires to their last remaining tread since there are only two tires and I dont consider the bike a garage queen that goes out only on pristine days.

I AM interested as I think the Dunlop Elite is the same tire?
All I know, I want the same company because these tires have proven to me they are worth it. We can talk handling, ya da ya da ... the tires handle just fine and the Road King has great reviews on its handling .. its a touring bike, not a sport bike.
I need a reliable tire to get me through storms (that sport bikes wouldnt dare) and rough riding conditions with good tread life and why I have no reason to switch.

 

Ouch!! What tire were you running, and what caused the blow out?