Dunlop, American Elite

[HMB Don]

I mounted an American Elite 180 on the rear of the Voyager back in April. This is a dual compound tire, which sounds good but sometimes it's all hype. After getting back from the AVA Rally the rear tire had 19,000 miles of wear. I ordered a new tire, began removing the rear wheel on the 1700 and to my surprise there was still a lot of life left on the old tire. 4/32 and 5/32, I was leaving on my trip to Denver which should be about 3,000 miles, the reason for the new rear tire.

This morning I'm in Denver and I checked the rear tire, and it still looks good, seems like I might get 22,000 miles out of the American Elite.

Now that the tire is worn in the middle, it does take more effort to get the bike leaned into a turn. There is some cupping that on some roads gets the handle bars to wobble, then on other roads no wobble. Yes that hum is there when I lean into turns.

My front E3 has almost the same mileage and is looking like it might go 24,000 miles.

How do I ride, on twisty roads I ride fast, Freeways slow 65 to 70 mph. I have done some top end runs on these tires, and when I rode back home from the Hill Country Tour I road at 80 mph for 2,000 miles.

Very stiff tire, I've had to reset all of my shock settings, on the front I have to get a set of Race Tech fork springs and gold valves.

[biggersm]

Hi Don

That is some incredibly great mileage no matter what sort of tire you are riding on. Since we now ride on a GL 1800 we have radials and some get over 15K miles even on Radial E3s (something for Trish to think about even if she has a Trike). I know about the Dunlop E3 "hum" while cornering and I'm not surprised that it exists on both radials and bias ply.

When we had the XII we had Metzler 880s. Sorry to say but they also had the tendency to square off and make leaning into a turn a little difficult. I slipped on Metzler 880s at least once and I'm glad that I didn't dump the bike and I don't have them on any motorcycle we own now.

Does Bridgestone make anything that fits a Voyager 1700? We have (radial) Bridgestones on our current GL 1800 and have ridden in rain more often than we care to remember. We have experienced flawless traction with the Bridgestones and for the record that includes riding through West Virginia and some other states on US 50 and all over Ohio during those frequent rain storms we had fun with during the Logan Rally. Some get 10-15K on Bridgestones (a fair trade off of miles versus traction).

Best of luck on whatever you decide to ride on.

[HMB Don]

Trisha
Has used E3s on the front of the Gold Wing Trike, mileage is on 12,000 best, they cup real bad. On the way back from the NY rally she needed a new tire and we stopped in Springfield, MO at Gene's Gallery. This is a large Honda Trike dealership, they mounted a bias ply, rear tire Michelin, turned for backwards rotation. Tire mileage improved, but begins cupping and flattens out at 12,000 mile. Which makes it harder to turn the handle bars, so even though there's lots of tire life left I replace the tire.

The front forks have been reworked with Race Tech spring and gold valve and emulator the Gold Wing uses both. It's all set up for a person that weighs 130 in riding gear, or very soft. So soft that when I've taken it out on road tests I bottom the forks on bumps.

Bridgestone offers two tires for the VV1700 the stock exedra and the exedra Max. The stock rear exedra gave me 5,800 miles of service, the Max is the same tire but has a deeper thread. My stock Exedra gave me great performance, but not tire life. On the front the Exedra was removed at 12,000 miles and still had life left. I replaced it with a Michelin Commander 2, good tire, but soft side walls. So the VV1700 would tend to wonder just a bit, but a very nice ride. But when riding hard on mountain roads it would take a moment for the tire to settle into the turn. I got 19,000 mile of life from the Commander 2.

[Kevin B in Illinois]

I remember telling everyone about the Dunlop American Elite tires when they first came out , after suffering through two horrible Bridestone Exedra (headaches) and one Dunlop K491 Elite XII (got 18,xxx miles out of it) on the rear. The Dunlop American Elite are designed for heavy Vtwin touring bikes to increase mileage. Glad to hear that you are experiencing the same results on the tires.


Kevin Braddy
IPVMC
President

[u p mike]

have a 2010 1700 havee 24,000 + on the bike. got 11,300 off of the original tire. replaced with an exedra max
and got 12,800. got 21,000of of the original front tire. so far am very satisfied with Bridgstone tires

U P mike

[HMB Don]

Mike, I like the way you ride. Because as much as I tried to get any mileage out of the stock rear Bridgestone all I could muster was 5,800 miles. Best is that the ride that the Bridgestone provide is nice and smooth, also there price is nice.

I've now got 24k, on my American Elite and today I looked and I think it might make it to 25k. My front E-3 is going to make 24k but not any more then that. I wearing the front tire on the sides, must be all of the mountain roads around here.

[EVAHank]

Hey, Don;
I checked the Dunlop website and found the American Elite under "Harley-Davidson tires'. There is a 180/65 x16 Blackwall there, and I'm wondering if that is the tire you got? I need to put a new tire on the back of the 'Grey Lady' and based on your report, this is the one I want to use. Also, have you had any clearance problems since you put it on (The stock size is 170/65)? Answer here or send me a pm, I want to make sure of what I'm getting before I 'lay my money down'. Thanks!

Ride Safe & Sane;
Hank & 'the Grey Ladies'

[HMB Don]

That's the one, no problems at all. Just that I couldn't mount the tire myself, I had to pay someone to mount tire, these are some stiff tires.