I know there has been a lot of discussion on tires but cant find anything on two up . bike is not riden alot due to owning my own business . but mpostly riden to up , i am not a small person about 6ft. 235lbs . time to replace both front and rear tires not due to wear due due to cracking and was wondering what some of you run . bought bike last year 99 roarstar silverado with about 3500 mile only put about 2000 on bike last year . we enjoy riding in cooler weather thank you for any help. oh yes do want to put white walls back on bike. thanks

Avon Venoms here. I have the 'H' rated which are reinforced with a higher weight rating. I would have a car tire on back but I have to wait till I wear the rear Venom out.

I run the darkside, Less worry of cracks, all my MC tire got age cracks before tread let go or as it let go.
This is a pic of my tracks.

Ahhh Yes that would be a CAR TIRE!

But now it's a BIKE tire!

And THAT is a Rear tire on the front (More meat)
The set will last me at least 25K and up to 40K on the rear and 30K on the front,

How about that?

80% two up and loaded to the max!
Now, I won't even consider buying a bike unless it can go to the Darkside!
This tire does all and way more than an MC tire, Rain, curves, grass, Don't BS here on the clinic, go to the Darkside and read all about it from people who do it, Then decide.

Whitewalls are a matter of preference. If your going old skool cool, then ww for sure. They do give it that classic look as well. I switched to black walls due to the V&H short shot exhaust pipe I put on making the right rear filthy. They don't look bad.

I went with Metzler ME 880's the last time I put tires on mine. They are holding up quite well.



D J

On my Roadstar I put a Dunlop 402 on the front, and a Dunlop 401 on the rear. Yeah, I know they say "Hardley a Davidson" on them but what the heck.

I was a little discouraged with the ME880's wearing out on chip sealed roads in Colorado in 9,000 miles. My Harley Roadking we got 13,000 out of the 401 Dunlops on the rear, and it still had a little meat when we changed that one. We got 16,000 out of the front Dunlop 402.

We have Avon's on the Triumph Bonneville, they are like "duck tape", we got about 12,000 miles out of rear. Of course that is a lot lighter of a bike, but man will the avon's stick to the pavement going over to Silverton on the 550 in the pouring rain.

Michelin is making a new Kevlar tire that they are trying to push to Harley exclusive for a two year contract, and they are pushing it for the heavier road bike, but I personally haven't seen one, or heard any road tests coming back on them yet.

I just put new Metzelers on my daily driver -- 130/90 front and 160/80 rear.

They ride well and give confidence, except in tight turns where I am concerned about scraping too much and losing her.

When they wear out I may try Avon Venoms, but most likely will go Darkside.

MS1700 reports great stopping power with the CT on the rear which is what I want.

The factory tires are weight/speed rated 67h front and 71h rear. Going higher than those ratings can't hurt as far as weight ratio, but may give a stiffer ride. I recommend a few salads and a few sit-ups. LOL

Yes, Superior stopping power! (On the Darkside)
My biggest complaint of my RS was that the back brake locked up in a quick stop. But the CT has such traction that it grabs really good no matter what you are on, you can still get it to slide but it slides straight instead of winding.

Also superior in the rain, on grass and mud, Snow yet to try.

All the Bennie's they talked about on the Darkside forum have been realized.

I have had my DS tire on now for about 3K miles and not one time have I wanted a MC tire. I been through everything but snow. You won't see a MC tire on my MC unless someone else owns, it.

It did take some getting used to, (I was giggling the whole time) Just as they said getting the tire pressure right for me was 1st thing and it took 1300 miles to nail it. I have 36 front and rear. That's my spot, I can bang into curves faster than with any of the MC tires and I can come out of the curve faster too. A lot of it is just the confidence that I'll have traction, With MC tire slamming into a curve too fast and then braking might get you into a rear skid, With the CT you just slow down fast to the speed you can and let er flow and bang the throttle on the way out hard as you can, you can't spin it.

Let me stress this. Your NOT going to get anywhere near the sidewalls of the CT!!!!! The factory little nipples are still untouched on my CT. (The ones on the sides) You can drag the floorboards, you can't get onto the edge of the tire. It always try's to stay flat to the road. You can get on the right or left half of the tire tread, but that's it.

And let me stress this, Not rolling the bike rear on a tire is what you have to get used to. You can actually feel the radial working and there is a transition point when attacking a curve that you have to get comfortable with so you don't freak out. Once you hit it a few times and realize your stuck to the road like a slot car, you will begin to experiment with it. And when you get to that point AND have your tire pressure dialed in... Look out! Your officially a Darksider and there is no going back.

It's hard to describe the comfort of being darkside, knowing you will have traction, the ride, the looks, the treadlife (30K+) no cracking, And I can plug this tire on the road. It really rides nice, More flex in the rear so that's a give in.

So to summarize, It took 1300 miles to get broke into the Darkside and boy do I love it.

We can tell. I have to change the rear over the Winter... I'm seriously considering a DS tire. I had been researching the matter quite some time ago, watched all the YouTube videos and said... that's for me!

I always gotta try doing something different than the others, but has already been tried and proven.

I'm thinking of going with the American General Alti-Max. That seems to have gotten a lot of good reviews.