Harley tyres for grip...

Yessir that’s what I’m going for, looking forward to trying them out.

I see a sneaky addition to your bike list there... can you tell me what you think to your Tenere 700...?
Only 500 miles, got it at Thanksgiving. Planned TAT last year, considered KTM, but 50 years of Yam stoneax reliability history with me swayed it.
Rips 85mph on expressways effortlessly, had it going 100mph on a gravel railbed, rock steady.
It's a big bike.
 
Only 500 miles, got it at Thanksgiving. Planned TAT last year, considered KTM, but 50 years of Yam stoneax reliability history with me swayed it.
Rips 85mph on expressways effortlessly, had it going 100mph on a gravel railbed, rock steady.
It's a big bike.
You sell it well!

Dya mean big as in tall? Or big as in heavy?
 
A shame. Not shameful !

A shame because you made it sound really good, and I’m in the market for a dual sport or maybe a ‘sensible’ adventure bike... but I don’t want heavy.
 
Tiddler? Maybe...

CCM made a bike called GP450. It’s a full on ‘adventure’ bike but without all the shit and a focus on lightweight.

It is 70kg, or 154lbs lighter than the Tenere.

I think the Tenere is a great tool, it’s rejects all the fashionable BS that most other ‘adventure’ bikes fall for.

At 205kg it’s a lot lighter than the GS or Africa twin etc. But it’s still heavy enough to cause trouble off road.

I’m still pondering ....
 
Tiddler? Maybe...

CCM made a bike called GP450. It’s a full on ‘adventure’ bike but without all the shit and a focus on lightweight.

It is 70kg, or 154lbs lighter than the Tenere.

I think the Tenere is a great tool, it’s rejects all the fashionable BS that most other ‘adventure’ bikes fall for.

At 205kg it’s a lot lighter than the GS or Africa twin etc. But it’s still heavy enough to cause trouble off road.

I’m still pondering ....
CCM keep promising to bring out a GP600, light as per GP450 but with the 600 engine. Might be a while though, alternatively, don't you fancy building your own?
 
CCM keep promising to bring out a GP600, light as per GP450 but with the 600 engine. Might be a while though, alternatively, don't you fancy building your own?
That’s interesting Al, I emailed them about that actually but all that followed was silence....

Build one?! Not really matey, not this time, just wanna buy and ride. Got plenty of other sh*t to wear the spanners out on !
 
That’s interesting Al, I emailed them about that actually but all that followed was silence....

Build one?! Not really matey, not this time, just wanna buy and ride. Got plenty of other sh*t to wear the spanners out on !
That got me looking.....the 701 Husky or the 690 KTM, slightly lighter. Think I mentioned, I had a 690 when they came out, never keen with all the plastics and found it too much of an animal when excited but good to through around. Choices, choices.....
 
The trouble I’m finding Al is that a lot (most) of the lighter bikes are very ‘enduro’ focused, meaning they‘re little more than road legal motocross bikes, which means they’re far more manic / hooligan than I’m looking for.

The GP450 was very close to what I have in mind, the GP600 would be even closer, it’s just a shame it doesn’t exist !

My youngest daughter wants a unicorn... can’t imagine where she gets her ways from... !!
 
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Well, boyz, feedback time...

I went for the Avon Cobra Chrome tyres in the end... what an amazing difference! They roll in much easier, much less effort / concentration required and much more planted / confidence inspiring feel in the bends. They make the bike feel 100lbs lighter somehow !

Very happy.

Not tried ‘em in the wet yet though...
 
A friend brought his Road Glide by with a pair of new stock tires to be levered on. The front was no probs but the rear was so stiff and hard that both of us 200+pounders could not get the bead broken with my NoMar bead breaker. He had to take it to someone with a car tire changer with a motorcycle adapter. I once tried to break the bead on a small car tire with the same machine and it was also impossible. IMO, H-D are mounting car tires with rounded treads. Standing on a dismounted rear, my weight would not squeeze the beads together as it would with any normal bike tire.
 
A friend brought his Road Glide by with a pair of new stock tires to be levered on. The front was no probs but the rear was so stiff and hard that both of us 200+pounders could not get the bead broken with my NoMar bead breaker. He had to take it to someone with a car tire changer with a motorcycle adapter. I once tried to break the bead on a small car tire with the same machine and it was also impossible. IMO, H-D are mounting car tires with rounded treads. Standing on a dismounted rear, my weight would not squeeze the beads together as it would with any normal bike tire.
The thing is, most of their customers seem to value 40k miles out of their tyres. Whereas for me that’s just fundamentally wrong.

I also believe that what I call better / more agile handling, your trad HD owner is likely to call instability.

So think what I’m saying is that HD are serving their customers with what they want. Well, most of ‘em at least.
 
I give credit to Harley dealers and their employees for falling over backward to satisfy customers. They likely heard a lot of bitching about rear tire life and those rounded car tires were the factory's response.

Years ago, hitting the bike shops on the weekend was a thing to do. An old-line Harley dealer who in the end refused to build a new shotglass-and-underwear boutique out by the Interstate, bought out a small failed Norton dealer, so I would get some Norton parts from them. One day I walked in to get something and the owner was standing behind the counter. He said,"You know, the worst thing about being a Harley dealer is dealing with all these f^(#!n rednecks!" Years later, they became a Suzuki franchisee, and I would patronize them for Suzuki stuff. One day I went in to get a head cover gasket and some plugs to do a valve set/tuneup and the same guy was behind the counter,20 years older, 40 lbs heavier, all gone gray and wearing thick glasses. He looked at me and said,"You know, the worst thing about being a Harley dealer is dealing with all these f^(#!n yuppies!"

So their customers have been on their donkeys forever, even when he clientele changed.
 

Cracking british built tyres, i have them and confirm they are good
 
I wish I could get 40k out of a rear tyre the most I ever get is about 13k km and that's pushing them past their limits.
 

Cracking british built tyres, i have them and confirm they are good
Yup, put Avon’s on my Harley and they transformed it !
 
I wish I could get 40k out of a rear tyre the most I ever get is about 13k km and that's pushing them past their limits.
To my mind 40k out of Motorcyles tyres (especially big, heavy, powerful Motorcyles) is just plain wrong.

Nothing is for nothing at the end of the day, so the above can only be achieved by sacrificing grip!

I know it’s not wrong for every Harley rider, some seldom stray past a few degrees from vertical! But for any ‘normal’ rider, it has to be wrong to have rock hard Teflon tyres in my book…!
 
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