Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Front tire question

This might be a dumb question, but I'm pretty clueless about tires. I took a nail in my front tire a few days ago. It's the Metzeler Lasertech that came on the bike new. I plugged the hole and it's holding air for now, but the tire's got about 16,000 miles on it and I was going to be replacing it soon any way. I'm leaving for Georgia Wednesday, and really don't want to be on the Interstate and the mountain roads with a front tire that I don't trust, so I need to replace it before I leave.

My dealer can get a Metzeler here for me...by next Thursday. The other local bike shops around here don't have the right size Metzelers, or it seems almost any other brand either. I found one tubeless tire in this area at a Honda/Suzuki shop that is a 110/80/18. It's a Dunlop D103F...it says Arrowmax on it. It's a year old from the DOT number. From searching on here, I've read about people using a Dunlop 404, but not this D103F. I've found it listed as an oem replacement tire for a Honda ST1300, if that means anything.

So, finally, my question: Will this tire work ok on my bike? Will any 110/80/18 tire work for me, or do I need to find the specific tires listed in the manual and on line here. Are there tires that are the right size, but are incompatible w/ certain bikes? (OK, so it's a series of questions instead of just one)

Thanks,

Will

dont see why any tire that size wont work. you can also go with 100/90 18 which i like how it handles and so do others on this site.

Frank

I've got a Dunlop 404 on the rear and a Michelin on the front. The people I talked to at 2 different shops said it doesn't matter if there are two different brands of tires on your bike as long as they are the right size. But at 16,000 miles, I would get a new one anyway. We want you arriving safe in Gawga, Will.

I just had a 120/90 maxxis white wall put on my front. I had to remove the fender bracket just in case the tire expanded a bit in faster speeds. Most people here have the brackets modified to fit over bigger tires.

And my tire is a tubeless which i still have the tube in. I did about 150 miles so far and no complains and it handles great.

Tom-did you remove the whole front fender or just cut the bracket? My 120/90 WWW is on backorder from bikebandit.

sorry for the hijack

Thanks guys. I'll probably get that Dunlop mounted and see how it rides. Or, might even call around about a 100/90/18 around here first. Paul, have a safe trip and see you in Georgia.


Will

Dunlop is good, Metzler is better and Avon is hard to beat.

Forget the Japanese and Chinese brands. They tend to go to one extreme or the other, so you get a tire that grips good but wears like it's made of Swiss cheese or wears like a regular tire and grips like armor-all.