Dunflop tires?

[da prez]

  Recently I helped a Valker with his tires . The dunlop was cupped in on the left side (rear tire) as if it was underinflated. The actual tire was concave and the right half was somewhat normal. He went darkside and I suggested replacing the front. Dunlop paid for return shipping and eventully sent back an E-mail that the problem was not the tire  , but that his bike was out of alignment.
  O2S and I were at a car show where I met another Valker with an IS with the same problem. His bike was done ar a Honda Dealership. He will be over soon for me to do tires and the rear end.
  So,,,, my question is , where do I take the bikes for alignment. (giggle,giggle)
  I have not found it covered in the book or tech talk.

                           da prez

[sandy]

MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SAND IN THE WHEELBASE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT.

[Gryphon Rider]

The only thing that can come out of alignment, other than stuff being bent or swing arm bearings (unlikely), is forks/triple-trees/axle misalignment.

[Chrisj CMA]

Dunlop E series tires have done fine by me.  Wet or dry slab or twistys....never let me down yet and always over 20K miles.  Cupping is almost always caused by under inflation.  Just because someone always FILLS it to 44psi doesn't mean they are always riding on 44psi 

Your friend might do a lot more left turns than right or he may be much more comfortable leaning hard to the left with underinflated tires that could explain some of his inconsistent wear.

[Tailgate Tommy]

I'm on my second set of E3s (42F-44R) on my std with no weird wear or cupping. Seems like they only last 10k with our roads.

[Bighead]

Dunlop E series tires have done fine by me.  Wet or dry slab or twistys....never let me down yet and always over 20K miles.  Cupping is almost always caused by under inflation.  Just because someone always FILLS it to 44psi doesn't mean they are always riding on 44psi 

Your friend might do a lot more left turns than right or he may be much more comfortable leaning hard to the left with underinflated tires that could explain some of his inconsistent wear.

The most I have ever gotten out of any Dunlop or any MC tire period was 17k on a front an my street glide.
A tire on my Valk 10k Max and I can promise you I ride with correctly inflated tires.
It is beyond me some of the mileage claims I hear.

[F6Dave]

My 2 Valks have a combined mileage of well over 260,000 miles.  In the time I've owned them I've personally installed over 50 tires.  The old Avon Venoms gave me the best mileage.  One front tire had about 24,000 miles when I changed it, though I'll admit the tread depth was below the legal limit.  I had several rear Venoms last for about 12K.

The Cobras don't seem to last as long, especially on the front.  But they still do better than the Dunlops, Metzelers, and Bridgestones, all of which I've used.

[sixlow]

I have this same cupping left side only on rear, Metzler,  I bought this Valk back in February and rode for a day and a half before checking the tire pressure which was 20 psi front and rear. since then 42 psi is where i run them, I am not sure when i first noticed the cupping but i have about 7 thousand miles on them now and they had about 3 thousand  miles previous owner. I'd say they have 4k left but time will tell. I also have the 35 mph tire hop going on which i want to blame on the cupped tire, i have replaced the shocks with I/S shocks and new upper bushings, same hop. search on here doesn't come to any definitive conclusions. This is the first I have heard of another having the left side cupped rear and was hoping for a solution before i install my Austone.

[Chrisj CMA]

Dunlop E series tires have done fine by me.  Wet or dry slab or twistys....never let me down yet and always over 20K miles.  Cupping is almost always caused by under inflation.  Just because someone always FILLS it to 44psi doesn't mean they are always riding on 44psi 

Your friend might do a lot more left turns than right or he may be much more comfortable leaning hard to the left with underinflated tires that could explain some of his inconsistent wear.

The most I have ever gotten out of any Dunlop or any MC tire period was 17k on a front an my street glide.
A tire on my Valk 10k Max and I can promise you I ride with correctly inflated tires.
It is beyond me some of the mileage claims I hear.

lol...I could say the same.  Its beyond me how anyone (except Smokin Joe) could wear out a tire in under 10K when I always get 22 or 23 on the rear and a tad more on the front.

[0leman]

lol...I could say the same.  Its beyond me how anyone (except Smokin Joe) could wear out a tire in under 10K when I always get 22 or 23 on the rear and a tad more on the front.

I had two sets of E-3's on my Valk, one when I got it and bought one new.  Both were toast at 10K.  Front tires last between 10-12K if lucky.  I got 30k out of first CT, It maybe had another 2-3k left on it, but needed to do rear end work so changed it out early.   I don't ride like Smoking Joe.   Never rubbed her pegs and fairly easy one the starts and stops.  I believe it's the roads.   The chip coated roads eat up tires.   Not just Motorcycle tires but car tires as well.

[Radman]

Any chance it could be the rear bearings?

I was getting poor rear tire wear and burning through rear brakes until my mechanic saw that my rear bearings were toast.  Apparently there are three in the rear.  Since the change, my tire wear has much improved....as well as rear brakes.

[sixlow]

Could be a bearing problem I have cupping the left side rear, makes sense, but I have received the rear bearing kit and there are 2 not 3 ?  Anybody know if the bearing upgrade has 3 for the rear wheel ?

[Chrisj CMA]

Could be a bearing problem I have cupping the left side rear, makes sense, but I have received the rear bearing kit and there are 2 not 3 ?  Anybody know if the bearing upgrade has 3 for the rear wheel ?

There is no place for three bearings in the Valkyrie rear wheel.  Now if that kit was for a VTX, there is a bearing in the flange, that might seem to be a wheel bearing.

[KSDragonRider]

Dunlop E series tires have done fine by me.  Wet or dry slab or twistys....never let me down yet and always over 20K miles.  Cupping is almost always caused by under inflation.  Just because someone always FILLS it to 44psi doesn't mean they are always riding on 44psi 

Your friend might do a lot more left turns than right or he may be much more comfortable leaning hard to the left with underinflated tires that could explain some of his inconsistent wear.

The most I have ever gotten out of any Dunlop or any MC tire period was 17k on a front an my street glide.
A tire on my Valk 10k Max and I can promise you I ride with correctly inflated tires.
It is beyond me some of the mileage claims I hear.

lol...I could say the same.  Its beyond me how anyone (except Smokin Joe) could wear out a tire in under 10K when I always get 22 or 23 on the rear and a tad more on the front.

The most i ever got out of a front tire is 12k and it was an E3.  I got 11k out of my shinko.  For rear tires, i got 6k out of my E3 before it was cupped on both sides and very very squirrelly to me.  For rear tires, Im on my second CT. I got 10k out of the first one, and hope to get maybe 12-15k out of my second one. 

I ride pretty hard on the throttle. My wife and I are normal sized Americans (muffin tops people) so with both of us on the bike, it is over 500# before we get any gear.  And if we are going very far, we pull the trailer.  I dont expect to get the mileage on my bike or tires as my friends with no body fat that ride solo and 10 under the speed limit.

I also change my tires early as well some times.  If it is just almost to the wear bar, maybe 1k from reaching it, but im doing maint anyway cause this is when i have time, i change that puppy out.  I would rather do it at home on the lift with the rest of the maint than on the road in another state.

I also have standards about what i will pay for a tire. Besides the E3 tires that where on the bike brand new when i got it, i have yet to put on a tire that was over 100 bucks delivered to my door. 
 

[Tailgate Tommy]

Dunlop E series tires have done fine by me.  Wet or dry slab or twistys....never let me down yet and always over 20K miles.  Cupping is almost always caused by under inflation.  Just because someone always FILLS it to 44psi doesn't mean they are always riding on 44psi 

Your friend might do a lot more left turns than right or he may be much more comfortable leaning hard to the left with underinflated tires that could explain some of his inconsistent wear.

The most I have ever gotten out of any Dunlop or any MC tire period was 17k on a front an my street glide.
A tire on my Valk 10k Max and I can promise you I ride with correctly inflated tires.
It is beyond me some of the mileage claims I hear.

lol...I could say the same.  Its beyond me how anyone (except Smokin Joe) could wear out a tire in under 10K when I always get 22 or 23 on the rear and a tad more on the front.

The most i ever got out of a front tire is 12k and it was an E3.  I got 11k out of my shinko.  For rear tires, i got 6k out of my E3 before it was cupped on both sides and very very squirrelly to me.  For rear tires, Im on my second CT. I got 10k out of the first one, and hope to get maybe 12-15k out of my second one. 

I ride pretty hard on the throttle. My wife and I are normal sized Americans (muffin tops people) so with both of us on the bike, it is over 500# before we get any gear.  And if we are going very far, we pull the trailer.  I dont expect to get the mileage on my bike or tires as my friends with no body fat that ride solo and 10 under the speed limit.

I also change my tires early as well some times.  If it is just almost to the wear bar, maybe 1k from reaching it, but im doing maint anyway cause this is when i have time, i change that puppy out.  I would rather do it at home on the lift with the rest of the maint than on the road in another state.

I also have standards about what i will pay for a tire. Besides the E3 tires that where on the bike brand new when i got it, i have yet to put on a tire that was over 100 bucks delivered to my door. 
 

"(muffin tops people)" 

[radwhopper]

I've never had much luck with Dunlops. I have nearly 200,000 miles on my two 1100 Shadows and never got more than 10k on a Dunlop. I guess I got the most (17,000) on a Bridgestone but it was like riding on  a brick. I like Metzellers the best but the price is outrageous. The best tire I've found for the money is the Pirellis. I think I might go darkside with my next Valk rear tire.

[Icelander]

I've got just over 2000 miles experience on my E3's that came with the bike when I bought it in August. Maybe 5000 miles total wear on the tires total. (31K miles on the bike as of this writing)

I'm running about 40 psi on the rear and 35 up front.

I've had the rear tire slip on me several times (one threatened to ruin the upholstery) since I started riding her.  I'm sure some of it is just learning to ride a bigger, heavier bike but I never had this problem with the Metzlers on my old XJ750 Maxim. 

What is your experience with the traction on the E3? So far, I'm contemplating going dark simply because of this experience even though I have a solid 5k wear left on this tire.

Kendall

[Tfrank59]

Thinking about buying a Bridgestone (front) tire for my 1998 Valkyrie tourer. Does anybody have experience or an informed opinion about that brand?  I think I heard that Bridgestone was the OEM tire on Valkyries

[O-B-1]

Does the shock absorber preload also have an effect on the wear & life of the rear tire?

I am going to loosen mine up when not riding two up from now on. Have been riding with them set to 5 all the time... I will try them at 1 unless riding two up and see how that goes.

[T-Bird]

If you think you might someday ride on "wet twisty roads"...Do not put on any Dunlop E-3s
I have inherited them twice on used Valkyries in the past, and if you are the least bit aggressive, they will bust your behind. The best I have found and use to this day, front & rear are Avon Cobras.
I get 8k-9k miles out of them, and always replace at same time. If you ride mostly "slab" roads, I would still buy Cobras.

[old2soon]

When I removed the E-3s that came with my Valkyrie I went D/S and a Metz 880 up front. The E-3s were still in good shape when I hit my first rain with them!  Scared the snot outa me. As long as I'm paying the bills on my Phatt Ghurl there will NEVER be any more E-3s on her. And as long as I pay the bills she will be D/S.  Think it was Smokin Joe that said if they were givin away E-3s he would not use them-my sentiments exactly.  RIDE SAFE.