K11 Owners Group

[ken]

I have been running Dunlop sportmax tires, getting around 10,000 miles out of them.

Today I went in to get a new front....Dunlop no longer makes this tire in the front of a K1100 size.

Is the Metzler or Uniroyal comparable? Do you think there would be a problem running the Dunlop on the back and the Metzler or Uniroyal in the front?

ken
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Ken in Denver

[Mystic Red]

I wouldn't see a problem mixing brands. And Michelin makes a front to fit in the Macadan. Excellent tire. Should switch to radials, IMHO.
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Scott Hespelt, '94 K11LT
K11 OG #466

[ken]

OH yes, the Dunlop is a radial. That seems to be the problem, is no one is making both tires in a radial. That is great news.

Or so the sales guy said.

Thanks
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Ken in Denver

[Scott_Anderson]

Ken, with the LT stock rims you don't have a whole lot of options to get both front and rear in a radial from the same mfgr. There are some out there, just very few. The rear appears to be the odd ball size. Now if you were to put an RS rear rim on the bike there are more options out there for matched brand sets.
I know that I run mixed mfgr for radials on my '95.
Last year I ran a PR2 on the front and an Avon AV46 rear.
Now I have a Metzler Z6 on the front and stayed with the Avon on the rear again.
I replaced the PR2 with the Z6 after I picked up some road debris and punctured it.
_________________
Ride safe.



1995 K1100LT 0302044
2017 FLHTK Ultra Limited
Garmin StreetPilot 2820
Garmin Zumo 550
Garmin Zumo XT
"One who does not ask questions is ashamed to learn" Danish proverb
1997 K1100LT 0302488(R.I.P.)
1997 R1100RT ZC62149(sold)

[Phil Marvin]

Hi, Scott,
Michelin has discontinued the Macadam 50 in most sizes.
_________________
Ride Safe,
Phil Marvin in El Paso, TX
'94 K75A/3
'95 K75RTP

[2xcelr8]

I run Avon front ant rear on my LT. AV46 rear with the newer Storm AV5? on the front. After I bought the Storm I read some older posts about issues with these tires. I now have over 8,000 miles on the front with no issues and many more miles to go.
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Doug
'96 K1100RS, '94 K1100LT, '84 Honda VF700F Interceptor (4 sale)

[Flying Duck]

Are you running a radial front and bias ply rear? Supposedly that's a no-no as the sidewalls have different flex patterns but I've heard of people doing it (on bikes other than Ks) are not having it be an issue.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a tire expert.)
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

[Jim]

Some of the BMW's came out of the factory with one radial and one bias-ply - but, if I remember correctly, the bias-ply was in the front and the radial in the rear. I think it was the F650 and F800 (or something like that).
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."

[Mystic Red]

[ken]

I will stick with the Dunlop in the rear....$65 a pop.....and buy one of the fronts of another mfg.

That is great news. Thanks.

Ken
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Ken in Denver

[2xcelr8]

[Jim]

After poking around the 'net on a bunch of sites looking at tires and prices, I finally decided to bite the bullet and switch to radials.

I ended up buying from Dennis Kirk, a rather large distributor/retailer. They were a little cheaper than some places, and a lot cheaper than a whole lot of places.

I got the Avon Azaro ST 140/80ZR-17 for the rear, and the Avon Storm 2 Ultra Sport-Touring Radial 110/80ZR-18 for the front. These are both W rated - up to 168 mph...

They did hit me with $5.00 oversize shipping for each tire, but even with that, they were still cheaper. Total $243.98.

I mounted the front tire in '07 - it's got at least 17,000 miles on it. The rear tire has plenty of tread, but it's that (now) five year old one Morton's sold me last year.

I'll be interested to see how many miles I can get out of these.
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."

[2xcelr8]

I have been buying my Avon tires here:
http://www.sporttour.com/
My previous source suddenly disappeared from the web. The rear tire that I bought from them in June was produced in March. You can't get much fresher than that.
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Doug
'96 K1100RS, '94 K1100LT, '84 Honda VF700F Interceptor (4 sale)

[Jim]