Tire issue?

[JimC]

I recently bought my first Valkyrie, it is a 98 standard and it has 8,300 miles on it with Dunlop E3's front and back that were installed about 1,500 miles ago. ( on the front the mold line down the center of the tire can still be seen)
  
I have an issue with the front end, I seem to be getting wheel hop as if the front tire is out of round or really out of balance. This happens at all speeds, but is much worse between 35 and 45 mph, and even more noticable on nice smooth roadways. The tires were balanced when installed by the previous owner. The tires are very noisy and I notice a vibration when laying into a turn, noticed  more when turning to the left than right. Jacking the bike up and spinning the front wheel I do not notice any vibration or looseness, nor do I hear any rumbling from the bearings.

ALSO, when I am slowing down, I have a shimmy in the front end. With very light pressure on the bars (one finger each side) the bike slows to about 45 and then as it gets below that speed starts to shimmy back and forth, not to the point of loosing control, but not good either. I have had a 1200 wing, and a 1500 wing so this is not my first big bike, but I have to think that this is not bike related, but a tire issue.

A search of the board brought up numerous problems or complaints on the Dunlap E3's, in fact there were nine in the last few months, many just like mine it seems.

Any thoughts other than replace a tire with only 1,500 miles?

Will the Dyna beads help something that bad?

If I replace the front only, any issues with running Dunlop on the rear and Avon on the front?

Has anyone had any luck from Dunlop with a warranty?

Thanks,
Jim

  

[SANDMAN5]

I'm not a mechanic, but some guesses would be...tire balance or out of round, steering
head bearing nut(?) loose, or it could just be the E3. I had one and can't imagine having
another. Scared me silly even on dry roads! Might try changing the air pressure a little bit
up and down to see if that makes a difference. Next time go with Metz 880 or Avon Cobra,
IMHO.

[sandy]

There's no problem using different tires as long as both are radials. With you low miles, I'd guess it's a tire problem too.

[PharmBoy]

It sounds to me like the tire is either out-0f-round or severely out of balance.  You might jack up the front again and check for an out-0f-round condition.  Is there a chance that any of the original wheel weights have been lost?  I am a big believer in Dyna Beads and run them in the Avon on the front and the darksider on the rear.  Whether or not they will fix your problem, I do not know.  However, I would either take it off and get it balanced or add two ounces of Dyna Beads before I bought a new tire, assuming that it is not out-0f round.  Some here would not run and E-3 if you gave it to them and others think that they are fine.  From what I have read here, they are not the best if you are one who wants to "drag iron" around corners, but they are probably OK for normal riding at normal speeds....JTL

[Strong Eagle]

You didn't mention air pressure.  Should be 40 in front, 42 in rear, at least a 2 lb differential between front and back, more if heavily loaded.

[solo1]

It sounds like the tire might have a bad belt. 

The noise,especially more so in a left turn, is, i think, due to the radial tires on the Valkyries..  The reason that the noise is more in left steering is due to the camber in the road.  Every tire that I've installed on the Valk does it.  My 750 Nighthawk doesn't have this noise with bias tires.
A slow shimmy with light pressure when decelerating at 45 mph might be unusual for a Valk, although both my GW's had the shimmy.  When I asked this question many years ago, I was asked why I used such a light hold on the handlebars since the GWs never did shimmy with a normal grip.

I never tried the Valk for a 45 mph shimmy when two wheeling it but with the sidecar on and the rake changed, It will definitely shimmy quite quickly now with a light  grip on the 'bars.

IMHO, most of what you said is normal except for the wheel hop.  Check that out.  Other answers here might differ.  You might also ask this on the tech board.

[VALKTERY]

jimC , When I replaced my origional dunlops with E3 'S  the tire noise was very noticable, I also had a wheel hop at about the same speeds you described.the tire had about 2500 miles on it when I had enough. contacked HDL where I bought the e3s ,they were very good , said return the tire and they would see if dunlop would warranty the tire, they did..but I replaced thr frt with a cobra instead, so I have a e3 rear and cobra front now, it handles great with that combination.. I didn't have any steering problems thoe as you mentioned...

[jad]

I had an E3 put on by a dealer a while back and it had a hop to it, I took it back and they just told me that it was in balance and there was nothing that they could do.  I finally went to a local guy that handles Dunlop and talked to him about it.  I ended up buying another one from him and he checked the tire out.  He said that it had a n excessive amount of wheel weights on it which was more than twice the amount he'd ever use on a tire.  He said that it looked out of round and sent it in to Dunlop who gave him money back and he gave to me.

What really made me angry was that the dealer just kept parroting  "it balanced" and would not consider anything else.  Well I won't be going to that dealer any more and I make sure to tell anyone I talk to, what happened so they can make their own decision.  "It balanced", you could hang a brick on one side and use enough wheel weights to "Balance" it out if you wanted to.  I think that it had 125 grams(not sure of the weight), and my guy said that he'd never use more than 65 before he went to a new tire after rotating it on the wheel first.

With the new tire, it's been fine. I have no problems with E3's on my valkyrie.

[franco6]

 :-\as anyone with these problems try dana beads for balancing? iam curious to see if its worth the change next tire around. meanwhile no problems with metzler front dunlop rear.

[Wizzard]

I have Elite 3's and love em. No problems whatsoever and have now about 9K on front and back and looks like I will get another 9k
Sounds to me like a bad tire (broken belt) or a severe out of round condition of some sort. Almost too much hop to be wheel balance at slow speeds.