Tire Recommendation Harley Wheels & Harley Tire Issues Discuss Tire Recommendation in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; Looking for a recommendations on new tires for my 05 Heritage Softail Classic. I have the stock Dunlop still on and at 10,000 miles, the rear tire is still OK ...

Looking for a recommendations on new tires for my 05 Heritage Softail Classic. I have the stock Dunlop still on and at 10,000 miles, the rear tire is still OK but will need replacement soon. Most of my driving is around town, highways, back and forth to work, some low mileage trips on weekends. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Dave

[frisco-rigid]

Hi Dave

Question first-----
Is there some reason you WANT to get different tires or are you just kinda fishing for ALL ideas.?

The reason for asking is this-----
If you have No complaints with your current tire brand and it seems to be giving you decent mileage, perf, handling, etc etc., then you could always consider just sticking with it..

You will get a hundred diff opinions about tires from a hundred guys..
All the major Manuf's tires are good..
For instance,, I have run almost every brand since the '70's and see little diff but I seem to keep going back to Avon & Metz..

One thing I would sugg is resist the temptation of getting V-rated tires cuz the mileage will drop Considerably and being an HD you'll Most-likely high-center on frame, footboards, pegs, kickstand, etc etc. long before you'll be able to lean it deep enough into a turn to take advantage of the extra stickiness.. Stay with H-rate..
Just something to think about..

Thanks for the help. Yes I was just fishing around to see what the thinking was. Yep I am the type of rider you stated and agree stayng with the H series. Been happy with the stock Dunlops and the mileage is good from what I am reading. Guess I'll stick with the stock tires. Thanks again

Dave

[Monkeyboy]

I've found with the stock Dunlops I get a lot more "wiggle" when going over grooves in the pavement so I switched to Metzlers. The wiggles are probably related to tread patter more than the particular make of the tire though. The Metzlers tend to stick better in the turns but, it's all a trade off. I got much better mileage from the Dunlops but less confidence in certain situations than the Metzlers.

I may be wrong (yes, it's happened before!) but, aren't the "H" & "V" ratings related to speed rather than their ability to stick like they are for car tires?

[Bigincher]

You are correct, MonkeyBoy. 'S', 'H', 'V' and 'Z' are speed ratings for motorcycle tires. There is no chart for "stickiness". However, the type of material used in construction varies for the higher speed rated tires, and often can be interpreted as a level of stickiness.