Kenda tires bad - Dunlops Good

[tab1324]

So, I'm glad I got peoples thought on the Kenda tires.... That's what my bike has on it... Bought the bike for the price of the tires. $200 with new tires. But after a minor crash, and some interesting looking rubber on the tires, I've been thinking about a change. It seems that people have confirmed my thoughts that the tires are really living out there lives as erasers in tires bodies.

If I could figure out how to post photos I'd put some up.. I've only got about 1500 miles on the tires but they're looking... well.... interesting. looks like the rear tire has a horizontal split in it that goes almost all the way accross the treads. The front, tright down the middle, has some rubber that looks like it's splitting away from the other side...

So, I got a price on Dunlop D404 tires for about $110 for front and rear. Should I buy em? The Elite 491s were about $200 for the set as well as the GT501s all from Dunlop. The D404 sounds like a decent tire for the buck. Anyone have thoughts or practical use of them?

Tom B.

[Geezer]

I don't know about the 404's but Dunlop's a generally very good tires. I don't think you can go wrong with a pair of them.

Geezer

[graybird78]

dunlops good

my dunlop 491's are great tires. very good in wet weather. have been told to be carefull of types of tires i use on my bike. these bikes are no light weights.should buy tires for speed rating and the amount of weight they can handle.have been told by many diff people,and mechanics. my 491's have 16k on them no signs of cracking or separation of tread. they were on the bike when i bought it 4 yrs ago. but do need to replace after this riding season.


graybird78

[rover]

There was a D-404 on the rear of my F when I bought it. So far, no complaints, but I haven't used it much yet, or put it through rain or hard, tight turns. The D-404 is OEM for the new Yam 1100, so should be a pretty good tire. I have always used K-491 in the past, just love those tires. donelsoncycles.com sells them for; MM90/19 front, $64.50, rears, depending on if you have a std or spec, MT90/16. $84.50, and MT90/17, $86.50. The 491's fit and are very good tires both for dry and wet traction, and wear very well. If you mount and balance your own, Donelson is a good place to get tires and other things. Dealers usually charge a lot if you carry your own tires in for mounting and balancing. Your choice.

[dbyers]

Okay I may get reamed for this but I resently bought some Maxis matched tires from JCW for my XS1100. I can't remember the price for the pair but it was around $120.00. I took the tires to a local dealer and paid another $22.50 per tire to have them both mounted and balanced on the rim. So far with about 50 miles on them and some light wet roads I really can't complain. They're not Dunlaps but they are rated for heavy bikes and look great. The shop that installed the tires liked them and said they were good tires but warned me to take it easy for the first 100 miles until they had some wear on them. As a matter of fact I had to sign a paper stating they told me that. The only problem I had was installing them back on the bike. Maybe it was me but the only way I could get them on was to deflate the tires. With them inflated I couldn't get them to give enough to fit between the fork or the back. They are the stock sized tires so I really didn't understand why I had a problem. Hope this helps

[xj11DAN]

I have run dunlops for years on all of my street bikes, the D404 is a great tire on wet or dry asphalt. I believe the D404 is replacing the k491 as soon as stock on the 491 is gone ( or so my tire guy tells me, I usually get around 15k on the front and about 10 on the rear but i have a really rough stretch of pavement i ride daily to get to work. I tried Kenda tires on my Intruder (i was broke) but it was not a good choice, here in the hottest part of the summer the tire just fell apart, 2k miles and it was bald.

[Bill__Woods]

Spend the extra cash and get the 491's. You only have 2 tires on your bike and your life depends on them. Save the cheap tires for the cars where you have seatbelts, roof, and airbag.
If you are going to be doing a lot of hard ridin, buy Metzler's.