ahamay wrote:
I purchased a brand new Continental Milestone radial for the back of my 2008 R*. Ever since it was installed there was a vibration that was different from normal. At first it was feeling like the front tire had developed a hop at certain speeds. The wife and I went for our 420 mile cruise to the Land Between the Lakes and she mentioned that something did not feel right about the way the bike felt on the highway. I took the bike to my favorite mechanic shop where I bought the tire and asked about warranty service on the tire. They took it up on the lift clamped the front tire and lifted the rear tire off of the lift. They slowly turned the tire and watched as the tire had an eccentric outer movement. Like the tire had been made off center. They ordered the same exact tire brand and model, installed it and put it on the spin balancer. They ran it up and it was even worse than the one they took off. The variation was over a one half of an inch! The mechanic looked at me and said I'm not going to put that P.O.S. on your bike. Brand new tire. I watched them unwrap it and install the tire. Still had all of the stickers on the tread. So if you purchase Continental tires be sure to watch as they spin them up for the balancing. So now I'm getting a Marathon 880 as a replacement and I only have to pay for the difference in the cost of the tires. You would think a tire company with a reputation like Continental the tires would be better quality than that. So watch out!
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WOW thats nuts,Conti is known for good quality tires for bikes and cars,thanks for the heads up.
BTW,i had a brand new Dunlop D-404 on front of my 06 silverado that made handleing spooky as heck,almost like it was on ice at times.
Yami shop could not see anything wrong with tire,tried reballance etc but no improvement ,i couldnt see anything wrong with that new tire either,put 500 miles on with no change or improvement in handling,had to get rid of it before it killed me.
I replced it with a bridgestone Excedra and handling issue was gone ,handled perfect and 9k miles later tire still has over 505 tread on it.
Regional rep for dunlop bike tires would not stand behind it at all one bit,bike shop would not back them up up either stating its dunlops issue.
I had to eat the $100 for the tire not counting the cost to remount & ballance new tire that shop could have done for free as good faith but no dice there either.
Terrible customer srv'c!!!
The stupid idiots lost possbile 10-15 more yrs of srvc work on my bike which could = 20x more $$$$ then the $100 that tire costs to refund me in good faith and they the shop could have fought dunlop to get the $$4 back stating no reund and they wont sell his products/tires anymore . Thats what i would have done if i owned thjat shop but i dont.
Well when i needed a new rear tire i bought it online and took it & bike to a local indipendant bike shop and had them install it .
I also now buy all my oil filters,plugs,air filter,yami accessories specific to the R* online too which over past 6 month has been at least $600-700 that they would have gotton if they didnt shaft me on the defective tire,the heck with that shop!
The local yami shop lost me as a customer for just about anything unless its for a psrt i cant get anywhere else with the bike down keeping me from riding that they have in stock that i would have to order and wait for from any other source,other then that situation i will not spend a penny there unless it benefits me.
Scott