Wheels on the bike go....

[rman]

Bald

Hi,
I have a tire question. My front tire is going so I wanted to play it safe and replace it before something bad happens. Unfortunately I am on a low cash diet for the bike. (SWMBO enforced)

My current tire size is 100/90-19
I can find tires in this size and am currently considering the Kenda K657 Challenger or the Kenda K671 Touring Tires.
I am also considering the Cheng Shin Marquis C833 or the Dunlop D404. But the Dunlop got a poor review for wet weather riding.

These all seem to fall into my price range from bike bandit. If anyone has any experience with these tires I would greatly like to hear your yeas or nays.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Rman,

If you'll do a search for "Tires" you'll find a recent thread(amongst many others) where folks provided some good info about a variety of tires, especially the ones you're looking at, and you may change your mind about what to get afterwards!

Also, go to the LINKS section, find the TIRE thread, you'll find a nice listing of several ONLINE stores that may/probably will provide you a better brand/model of tire at a better price than what you'll find at BikeBandit!
T.C.

[fredintoon]

Wrong budget

Hi Rman,
tires are not bought with the the bike budget, that budget is for leather & chrome stuff. The shoe-sole-sized patch of rubber where the front tire touches the road is the primary thing keeping your frail body off the blacktop and out of the mortuary. Tires are a safety item and are bought with the household budget, if need be, ahead of other things. Buying hamburger instead of steak for a while will more than save the cost difference between a good tire and a mediocre one.

[TopCatGr58]

Well,
After doing a little searching on BikeBandit, they are actually offering competitive prices for the Dunlop 404's!

Several folks have put them on their machines and have felt they were working well. They have the same tread pattern as the pricier EliteII's, but perhaps with a little less tread depth and material composition! At $46.00 they are a better buy than the Kenda's or ChengShings!

Just imagine how hard it can be to handle a sudden decompression of the front tire at speed! But if your life insurance is paid up, then maybe SWMBO has a point!
T.C.

[JWSanders]

I'm running the 404's and they seem to work well. I can't give much on their wet weather performance though. Have rarely ridden in the rain. They were definately competitively priced though.

Just make sure to get the ones that dont have "Harley Davidson" on them.

I'm using Cheng shin's on my little bike, and are happy enough with them. Doubt I'd go with them for the big guy though....

[rman]

Too many tire opinions.

I did the search on tires and have read countless tire threads. It seem that I am now leaning towards the Dunlop 404's. They are very well priced and still seem to be decent as far as traction and tread life. I would feel more comfortable if anyone has tried these tires in the rain but I will probably move on these tires soon.

[Codger]

Wheels

I am running 404's on mine and with no complaints. Have run cross country and through some major downpours with no problems. Good tread life too. Hard to beat for the money.

[mason79]

bridgestone spitfires, awesome stick, wear yet to be seen, from what i have read here, 20k miles fronts and 10k rears, very affordable

[Dragon Tamer]

Have a 404 on the front of the Dragon, 15K on it and no perceptible wear yet! Had it wet MANY a time and no complaint there either. Slid one time on some wet leaves on the road last fall but I don't think any tire will stick to them. Just went and looked at it, darn thing does say Harley Davidson on it, don't know why I never noticed that before!

[malber]

I had to replace the rear tire this year and went with the 404 despite the price. I used to have a Kenda back there that had one plug in it. Wet weather performance is much better than the Kenda was. Or maybe I just have more confidence with a tire that I know is 100%. It even survived someone rear ending me and forcing the fender under itself with no gouges in the tire. Going to get a 404 for the front in a few weeks.

[JWSanders]

Originally posted by Dragon Tamer
Have a 404 on the front of the Dragon, 15K on it and no perceptible wear yet! Had it wet MANY a time and no complaint there either. Slid one time on some wet leaves on the road last fall but I don't think any tire will stick to them. Just went and looked at it, darn thing does say Harley Davidson on it, don't know why I never noticed that before!

Some sandpaper is in order. Blasphemy!!

Your bike will thank you. It may even go faster afterwards!

[trbig]

Again... I'm the oddball out here... but I had a Cheng Shin on the bike when I bought it, and necessity (Like you.. NEEDED a tire and didn't have the money really for it) had me put another Cheng Shin on. A new tire of ANY type was better than what I had on. The tread looks to me like it's backwards from what it should be, but it has done VERY well in the rain, and the composition of them makes them very gripping in dry weather. Ive ridden in some pretty nasty stuff, and the back would hydroplane before the front did.

That being said, if the Dunlops and the Shins were the same price, I'd go Dunlop... they just weren't when I was looking, and there was a 2 week waiting list since they had just gotten over their company strike.

I can only speak for the back tires on this, but the Dunlop I had wasn't nearly as good as the Avon Venom I am now running. The Avon's are considerably more though.

Tod

[81xsproject]

Dude, do yourself a favor and spend a little more scratch on something better than Kenda. I only got like 3k out of mine.

[Dragon Tamer]

Some sandpaper is in order. Blasphemy!!

JW,
Yah, I know. Now that I know that it is there it does feel like blasphemy. Funny thing about it is that a couple of the guys I ride with a lot ride road swines and they never noticed it either. Damned if I am going to point it out to them! I would never hear the end of it until I changed the tire! Good thing it is black on black. I was up in way north Wisconsin in spring of '06 when I noticed that my front tire was a little low and found a small nail in it. We plugged it but the puncture was too close to the sidewall for comfort and when we got to the next town I found a little independent bike repair shop open on a Sunday afternoon and lo and behold he had a tire the right size. So I had him put it on and have been happy ever since until I took a closer look at it. Pobably would not have looked twice until you posted your first reply in this thread, so if someone does notice it I guess I am just going to have to blame you (LOL)!
I have always liked the Dunlops and have more miles than I can remember sitting on top of them and never had one let me down on its own, just don't remember if any of the others had the HD emblem on the side or not! I also last year late had to change out the rear tire and could not get my usual type and had to out of necessity use a Dunlop "Qualifier", didn't think I would like it as the tread pattern was different than I was used to. Still looks funny to me but the Dragon sat right up, noticed, and told me that it REALLY liked that tire!!! So I am on my second one now. Moral of the story, I guess, is get what the bike likes, not what I like!

[JWSanders]

I just happened to notice when I ordered mine online that they had the blank, and the bleak (HD) version. Just glad they said there was a difference...

I've a friend that will only run those qualifiers on his crotch rocket. He swears by their sticky. Their rather pricey though.

If I ever get this set used up (not going to happen this season, I'm afraid) I'll likely go with the Elite III's. I keep hearing nothing but good things about them. When I got these I was on a budget...next time I hope to not be.