TOPIC:

2800 miles and no problems or complaints. Though I have yet to get caught in the rain. I have the pressure set at 36 front and 38 rear. So far so good.

Thanks for the tire info. I'm useing Dunlop GT501's and sofar I'm happy with them. Mind you I'm not tearing up the corners wet or dry but for the laid back type of riding I do they feel stable and grip the road well.

I thought the Elite 3 was a radial... What sizes are you using and are they bias ply tires?

The E3's come in radial or bias ply. The sidewall information for both say 5 ply tread and 3 ply sidewall. The tread patterns are the same and the only way to tell the radials apart from the bias plys is that after the tire size but before the wheel size there is an R.
Example 130/70R18 This is a radial.
My front tire is a MM90-19 and the rear is a MT90-16. They are both bias ply tires. And I am using inner tubes.

I guess one of the things that confused me is the write up on SWMototires.com web site which calls the Elite 3 a radial... looking closer at the sizes, many are obvioiusly bias ply.

Does anyone have a chart that explains the metric to non-metric widths?... in other words, what the heck does MT, MR, MM equate to?

I would have liked to have tried some of these tires on my Voyager which has a 130/70-16 on the front and 150/90-15 on the rear... I didn't think about it earlier this week when I bought some Venom Xs.

I'll give it a go at making a conversion chart.
Front
Metric Alpha Inch
80/90 MH90 2.50/2.75
90/90 MJ90 2.75/3.00
100/90 MM90 3.25/3.50
110-90 MM90 3.75/4.00
120/80 4.25/4.50
120/90 MR90 4.25/4.50
130/90 MT90 5.00/5.10

Rear
110/90 MN90 3.75/4.25
120/80 MP85 4.50/4.75
130/80 5.00/5.10
130/90 MT90 5.00/5.10
140/80 5.50/6.00
140/90 MU90 5.50/6.00
150/80 MV85 6.00/6.25
150/90 MV85 6.00/6.25

I know there are a lot of other sizes out there but this is the only info that I have.

Man, it seems like you are running the pressure a little high...where did you come up with those numbers?

Just for my own curiousity, what kind of money are the white letter Dunlops going for? Those seem to be a "neccessity" for these beautiful bikes but I haven't been looking for very long.

Peace,
Rodger

The tire pressures I use have come from years of trying different pressures and from keeping notes on customers (I work in a bike shop) tire pressures. I find that with the newer tires that I get better traction and overall wear at those pressures. Or I did with the Dunlop ELITE 2's and Metzler 880's. We will see how the ELITE 3's do.
As far as whitewalls go, I think that the Qualifiers and ELITE 2's are about the only Dunlops out there and the ELITE 2's are being phased out.

Post edited by: zedheadmc, at: 2005/10/13 14:21

I personally use pressures based on the sidewall Max Load at x PSI. The reason it will be different is that a rear Avon Venom X max PSI is almost 50 PSI and a Dunlop is far lower... about 38 PSI or something along those lines. I look at max and back it down about 3-4 PSI from that rating for riding solo and about 2 PSI under for riding two up. I agree with zed that a bit more pressure increases tire life and handling versus the pressures listed in an owner's manual as I think they (KHI) likes them cushy and soft for ride quality.

are these new dunlops any better handling than the(Dont-Grips)that came stock on many of our z1s and kzs? ive allways been a metzler fan but they arent making my beloved me99s anymore,does anyone know if they are going to make a differant low profile 130x18 to replace it?

So far I'm sold on the GT 501's but before go out and I buy I'd like to hear from a few people who have them and if anyone knows of anything better (more cornering traction = better).