E3's,air pressure and mileage report

[Brian]

Today I was talking with a friend and fellow valkyrie owner. His 97 tourer now has 115,000 miles and has be running E3's. He had the documentation showing the mileage on the bike when the tires were installed new, the mileage on the tires is right at 15,000 and still showing a lot of life left in the tread. This is his second set of E3's, the last set he got 20,000. When asked what tire pressure he is running he told me he runs the pressure listed on the frame which is 36 rear 33 front. His tires look like new.

Here we go again with a tire thread on E3's. I know I find this interesting since I have been ruuning 43 rear and 36 front. FYI, his front tire is wearing more on the left side too.

[John U.]

I wonder if he runs balance beads in his tires. It surprises me that he has no cupping at those tire pressures, but I have found that balance beads can help with cupping.

I bought front and rear tires and rims last year. The rear Dunlop had a lot of tread remaining and  some minor cupping but I figured he had run low pressure and maybe more pressure and beads would make the tire usable.
I balanced the wheel, mounted it, installed beads and raised the pressure to 46. The tire sang to me for a few thousand miles but the cupping is gone now, so is most of the noise and I'm still using the tire.

[Hoser]

That's not out of the question if he is a small guy and doesn't ride two up and drives easy.  I run 36-38 pressure on Dunlop bias ply tires, not E-3, and get 20k.  I weigh 160 lbs and ride solo.  Hoser  
These: American Elite rear, D404F front

[Brian]

There was no sign of cupping on either tire. I have riden with him before and can say that he is not all the easy on the throttle. Since we both hang out at the same dealership and are members of their riding club I would venture to say that if he uses anything in his tires it would "ride on". He mainly rides solo with most of his riding being long distance. He's not much on just riding around town. His wife rides her own wing. I would guess he weights 190. I guess this thread will have to sit idle a while to get these answers as I do not have his home phone number. The only time I see him is at the dealer or at our monthly club meeting. Sorry.

[flatsixrider]

I run E3's at just slightly higher pressure than your friend and get the same mileage he does.  I ride solo, weigh 220 and an not easy on the throttle.  My riding is a solid mix of straight and curves, my wear patterns suggest the same.  I am amazed at those who only get 5k on the E3.  Wonder what the key variable is.

[Brian]

It appears that I have over 10,000 on the front no cupping but the left side is getting close to the end. The right side still looks good. My rear E3 has 5,000 no cupping running 43# and using ride on. The tread depth new was .295, tread depth now is .230. Hopefully I will see 15,000 on this rear tire.
I weight in at 245# most of my riding is solo and I am not easy on the throttle when riding solo.

[vic]

I put a set of E-3's on my '98 Tourer right before Inzane.  Never had E-3's before but so far, no complaints.  It looks like the tire pressures your friend is using are within the specs called for by Dunlop which is shown on the following link:

 http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/fitment-guide/search?type=fitment&make=12&model=453&year=522&submit=

Right after I got the E-3's on my Tourer, I called Dunlop to verify that their max tire pressure figures for the Valk was correct and the tech I spoke with said that Dunlop extensively tests all of their tires  and their max pressure recommendations for a specific model/make of motorcycle are the results of that testing .  I'd be curious to learn what the variables are as well.....some seem to get great mileage from high pressures and others, like your friend, get great results from much lower pressures.  

[Brian]

Thanks Vic.  The Dunlop dealer rep that took care of me when I turned in a deffective E3 told me to run the rear at 43#. I had been running the rear at 40# when the tire started to seperate across the width of the tire.