Posted to a Goldwing forum yesterday:
Thanks to my friend Ed, mounted and balanced in the comfort of his heated garage. And no wobble, at least for awhile . . . actually, the second set of tires I ran on this motorcycle, D250s, never cupped or wobbled. If only they had lasted longer . . . oh, well, maybe I’ll be lucky again. One hopeful sign is that the front wheel balanced out perfectly without needing any weights. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Some say it’s easier to dismount/remount the rear wheel if you pull off the left muffler. Ed thought we’d try doing it that way, and I’m here to say it was a whole lot easier. And then we went to put the muffler back on . . . maybe next time we’ll just work around the damn muffler!
Anyway, I know people love to rag on Dunlops, but I’ve had good luck with them. This is my first set of Elite IIIs . . . if they wear or ride significantly differently that 250s, I’ll let you all know.
Less than 24 hours later, at least a dozen readers have responded to my post with slams against Dunlop tires. One of them is a self-styled “darksider,” a guy who runs car tires on his Wing.
Yes, Virginia, there is a guy out there who bought a $23,000 motorcycle and is too cheap to put motorcycle tires on it. Actually, there are a bunch of them, if you believe what you read on the Goldwing forum.
I met my friend Ed through the forum, which I read for maintenance tips and techniques. Useful messages are increasingly scarce, though, and the forum has come to be dominated by old white guys who just want to slam Harley riders or pass on the latest Limbaugh/Beck/O’Reilly talking points. Of course, old white guys pretty much are the Goldwing demographic, so what can you expect? Here are some sample subject lines:
- Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year
- Here one
- First peak of whats inside a can of wooopass
- Another Harley riders sees the light
- More On Tigar
- To cool
- Can You Relate????????
- Memoriam: Global Warming Causes Everything
Yep, Grandpaw is alive and well on the Goldwing forum!
And before you bother to point it out, yes, I’m old, and white, and a grandfather.
How have those Dunlop Elite’s been working for you since you made that post? Have you liked them enough to continue buying them? It’s sad to see forums like that where most people are horribly ineducated about proper maintenance and parts for their vehicles – not to mention that they’re proud of it.
Veronika, thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for the comment.
I loved the Dunlop Elites. Couldn’t tell much difference between them and the Dunlop 250s, which were also excellent tires. One Dunlop 250 front tire cupped badly after about 6,000 miles, and so did one Dunlop Elite front tire. Other tires of the same brand and type did not. I think by now I’ve run three sets of Dunlop 250s and two sets of Dunlop Elite IIIs on the Goldwing, plus two sets of Bridgestones. The Wing came with factory Bridgestones. After they wore out I switched to Dunlops, but these days I’m back to Bridgestones — not because I turned against Dunlops, but because Bridgestone prices are significantly lower, and they last about the same. I just ordered a new set of Stones for $250 after the Honda Direct Line discount and factory rebate, and that’s about $100 less than Dunlops. BTW, I still feel just as strongly about the darksiders. It’s a good thing Honda makes such a reliable motorcycle, otherwise they’d all be walking (or on crutches).