Best tires for a 2009 GL1800?

[RoadDawg]

Wow....so many different opinions on tires posted in the site.

I likely will have to replace my tires on my Wing in the summer...currently have 13000KM on them and figure I have about 5000 remaining.

I usually ride one up, weigh 160 pounds, like riding the twisties.

Have the OEM Dunlop 250s now and experiencing cupping.

Looking to also add the Centramatic wheel balancing system when I change the tires.

Looking for a top quality tire, good mileage, quiet, good road adhesion.

I have Dunlop E 3's on my Valkyrie...good mileage but quite noisy. Dealer is recommending E 3's for the Wing but I am not convinced. Have seen posts on Metzlers and Avon with Avon seeming to come out on top. Would anyone happen to have some background on the various tires and what might work best for the Wing? I am sure I am going to get lots of opinions on this post.....

Thanks,

[thrasherg]

I fitted the Avons and love them, trouble is I have not tried the other makes so have nothing to compare against.. I also have the Traxxion suspension front and rear and with the avons can have a lot of fun in the twisties!! There are many scratches on my under carriage from aggresive cornering.. Love the Avons, but the others are probably good as well.. I am sure you will like the Avons.

Gary

[WingAdmin]

I put a set of Avons on my 1100 this past spring, and I absolutely love them. Low noise, grippy, wear well, good mileage. I'll definitely be buying them again in the future.

[cbx4evr]

I'd like to try the Kenda Kruz.

[RoadDawg]

Someone mentioned to me a while ago that the Avons were good "grippers" but you did not get much mileage out of them.

Also.....Pirelli tires were suggested but I have never used them. I have Michelins on my vehicles at present.

Thanks for your help guys.

[flash2002]

I had Avon on my Valkyrie, very good tires, had 14000 klm on them, lots of tread left. When I bought my gold wing it had Metz tires, the front had a funny wear to it, so I went with Avon, big difference. If you want them to last, you have to keep an eye on the tire pressure .

[myYellowbird]

13000 miles plus another 5000 that really great miles on the tires you have. From what i am finding it depends on your terrain and were you live. I live down here in florida we don't have the curve worvies. Its pretty much flat highway with alot of back roads, hot weather hot roads with lots of rain. We wear the tires flat on the bottoms. I know many riders like the metlz or the Dunlop's elite 3s. Have family up state New York love michelin so i kinda think about were you live. Myself on my next change i will visit the darkside with a metlz on the front.

[RoadDawg]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions regarding tires.

[Lefty]

I fitted the Avons and love them, trouble is I have not tried the other makes so have nothing to compare against.. I also have the Traxxion suspension front and rear and with the avons can have a lot of fun in the twisties!! There are many scratches on my under carriage from aggresive cornering.. Love the Avons, but the others are probably good as well.. I am sure you will like the Avons.

Gary

Gary,

I'd seen someplace/another forum where guys were saying that Avons take a pretty high tire pressure and that the bike rides a little rougher than with other tires as a result. Have you noticed anything like that with your Avons?

Thanks,

Dom

[myYellowbird]

I am a firm believer in higher tire pressure i am riding at 41psi on both my tires and also run high in my vehicles. I know i couple of riders in our group who have avons there not happy wearing to fast. Need to ask them what pressure there running. Many tires preform better on higher pressure.

[thrasherg]

I fitted the Avons and love them, trouble is I have not tried the other makes so have nothing to compare against.. I also have the Traxxion suspension front and rear and with the avons can have a lot of fun in the twisties!! There are many scratches on my under carriage from aggresive cornering.. Love the Avons, but the others are probably good as well.. I am sure you will like the Avons.

Gary

Gary,

I'd seen someplace/another forum where guys were saying that Avons take a pretty high tire pressure and that the bike rides a little rougher than with other tires as a result. Have you noticed anything like that with your Avons?

Thanks,

Dom

Hi Dom,

I do run my tyres at 41PSI rear and 38 front as the wing is a heavy old girl.. I have not tried any higher, but it handles great at that pressure and so far I have done 6000+ miles and the tyres still look like new, no cupping on the front and the rear hasn't squarred off (yet!!). I will easily get another 6000+ miles from the tyres.

Gary

[pau7220]

I also had the Dunlop D series (JUNK!!!!!!!) as OE on my 2009.... Couldn't wait to get them off and in the landfill!!! Switched to Bridgestones (on WingStuff'S recomendation)....... 7000 mi later I absolutely love them!! At least another 7000 left on them. Be very careful of other tires that are not "Dual Compound", they WILL NOT handle "Twisties" as good...... GUARD RAILS AND TREES HURT!!!!!!! Read these tires properly..... there will ALWAYS be an uneven edge where the hard center compound meets the soft edge compound.

[2008retiredplb]

I also have a 2009 GL1800 and have 17K on the D250's that came on the bike. I will get at least 20K before they will have to be replaced. That is the most miles I have ever gotten on any set of tires. I ride often with a Aluma cargo trailer or a Bunkhouse camper and two up, with a combined weight pushing 400 lbs.

I also have a 2001 GL1800 that I have had 2 sets of Elite 3"s and they were very noisy. Did go up to the 70R rear tire which corrected the speedometer, but it raised the bike about an inch higher. Not sure if I will keep the 70R's when they need replacing. I run 38-40 psi front, 41-42 psi rear, and check it often.

My experience is, you may get a little higher tire mileage on the Elite 3's. When I replace my tires on either bike, I'm going to try the Bridgestones. I did have a 98 Honda Shadow 1100 Classic A.C.E. touring bike with Avons and I liked them quite well.

I also installed Centramatic Wheel Balancers on my 2009 at 6K and think it was one of the best investments I have made on the bike. Not only do I get better tire mileage, but better handling also. I am thinking of installing the balancers on my 2001 now.

Right now I am thinking of triking the 2009 but don't like the fact of possibly losing my Honda factory warranty and my extended warranty. If I do trike it, the balancers will go on the 2001, and new polished SS will go on the 2009.

[hollandlaw1]

I'm going to go with the E3s. I've read a lot about them. One of the things I like is that the circumference is almost the same as the original 250s. That will keep the speedometer perfect like it is right now.

I have Metzler 880s and my VTX, but no radials are available for the Wing.

Reviews are all over the place on tires, with the E3s, Avons, Michelins and Continentals seeming to be the best.

[RoadDawg]

Thanks for all of the tips....so many different opinions on tires it makes one's head spin. Alsmost like asking "what is the best oil to choose"??

I have the E3's on my Valkyrie and they are good tires but very noisy.

Have never used the Bridgestone, Avons or Michelins although have always used Michelins on my vehicles, although cannot seem to find the right Michelin tire for the bike? Likely going to add the Centramatic wheel balancers when I change the tires so that may help a little.

Decisions....decisions!!!!

[gildco]

What reason(s) compel any of you to keep OEM (Dunlop 250s) tires on your GWs? One comment indicated that the OEM 250s have given very good mileage, but other comments show that many of you have switched brands. My 2008 GW Air had only 150 miles on the odometer when I bought it six months ago, and now has about 2800 miles. Tire wear is even, no cupping, and stickiness is good. I follow OEM recommendations for air pressure.

I would be interested in hearing your opinions.

[2008retiredplb]

What reason(s) compel any of you to keep OEM (Dunlop 250s) tires on your GWs? One comment indicated that the OEM 250s have given very good mileage, but other comments show that many of you have switched brands. My 2008 GW Air had only 150 miles on the odometer when I bought it six months ago, and now has about 2800 miles. Tire wear is even, no cupping, and stickiness is good. I follow OEM recommendations for air pressure.

I would be interested in hearing your opinions.

I know that different types of riders will have very different mileage for each different type of tire. If you accelerate fast and brake hard all the time you will find tires wear out quickly. If you take your time accelerating and use engine braking along with your brakes to slow down and stop you will get better wear.
The cupping may come from under pressure tires and tire balancing. I did get the cupping with my Elite 3's (maybe around 3K to 4K miles) without the centramatic balancers. But I have very little cupping with my D250's (17K miles) with the balancers. When the tires get near worn out they will have some cupping. What I did not like with the Elite 3's was the noise. Will be trying Bridgstones to see if they are a little quieter next tire change.

[gildco]

I appreciate your input. Prior to buying this GW, I owned a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 900 LT that had Dunlops as the OEM equipment. I only got about 6000-7000 miles on the fronts, but I liked the way they held the road so much that I stuck with them when buying replacements. I found that the front tire wore down faster than the rear; so, I had two front tire replacements for each rear replacement. I don't have much experience with my GW yet, which is why I found the comments made on this board to be quite informative.

Thanks again for the response and ride safely.

gildco

[richieb]

I HAVE A 07 WING PUT 19000 ON THE DUNLOPS 250. PEOPLE TOLD ME TO TRY E3. I BROUGHT THEM. SO FAR I HAVE 5000 MILES ON THEM SO FAR SO GOOD.

[akilawolf]

Goodyear eagle gt-2 tires were the best tires ever made for a motorcycle. I ran a kawasaki 1300 six 290 miles from gila bend arizona to san diego california on a completely flat rear tire. It was necessary as there were no bike shops anywhere on freeway ten or freeway eight at the time. This model of tire had steel belts and a super thick sidewall that could support a fully loaded to 1200 pounds motorcycle without air. usually got about 10 k miles on a set. I have no idea why they stopped being produced in the mid eighties. wish I had the molds I would sell the design to dunlop and get the perfect tire back from the dead... I wish goodyear would start to produce them again they would outsell all other manufacturers..

[snackpak]

I have to get new tires in Apil. Still trying to make up my mind. So far E3's are the front runner.

[Bouvier1]

I have road tested Avons for the company I was a Police Constable at the time and owned a 2001 wing (short story son worked for Avon in UK and they wanted someone with a wing to long test) . I also did a Track week with thier wing. We took a 2006 wing around a track for 24hrs a day for 7days. The only time the bike stopped was to change riders/fuel and change tyres.
This says a lot about the bike never mind the tyres. There was no problems even when travelling up to 140 with hard bends.
Unfortunately I no longer have contacts within Avon so have to buy them. When I initially got my 2007 bike it had Dunlops on them and I found them a bit 'twitchy' on hard bends and round abouts (a traffic island if you don't know what one is).
Just to qualify my words I do not work for Avon and have no contact with them now - so not trying to get you to buy.
I have found that the tyres last about 12000 miles with normal riding but road type etc can make a big difference.

[bamadave]

Gildco- Prior to buying this GW, I owned a Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 900 LT that had Dunlops as the OEM equipment. I only got about 6000-7000 miles on the fronts, I found that the front tire wore down faster than the rear

I had a '06 Kaw 900 Classic LT before buying my '03 GW 1800 six months ago. 6-7k miles not good at all on your front tires. I had 18K on the OEM Dunlop front and 11K on the OEM rear Dunlop as well as another 11K on another Dunlop rear.

2008retiredplb, Flash 2002 & Roadawg- Just got my Bridgestones 709 and 704 today from jakewilson.com. PO and several other on the gl1800riders.com site seem to talk good about the Stones. I will be finding out this year how they do longevity wise and overall.
Roaddawg, this will be my first time using the Centramatic wheel balancers.
Flash2002, I agree 100%- "If you want them to last, you have to keep an eye on the tire pressure" .

[RoadDawg]

Great info so far everyone......amazing the diffrence in opinions....kinda like "what is the best oil for the bike"!

Thanks....have some good info now to make an informed decision....will also be adding the Centramatics when I buy new tires...they seem to be worth the price.

[2008retiredplb]

Great info so far everyone......amazing the difference in opinions....kinda like "what is the best oil for the bike"!

Thanks....have some good info now to make an informed decision....will also be adding the Centramatics when I buy new tires...they seem to be worth the price.

Thats right RoadDawg,
Now about that Oil. We should start another thread.

The only oil to use is AmsOil or Red Line and full synthetic in either brand. Lets see where this goes. Ha, Ha.

The bike that I started with Synthetic oil. Sure wish I had it back now. Needed to sell in order to get my first wing.

My current bike.