How many miles on a set factory Harley tires?

    • 834 posts
    January 16, 2013 3:42 AM PST
    I am starting to notice that miles on my tires is directly proportional to my age.
    • 5420 posts
    January 16, 2013 5:01 AM PST
    I love it AZ!!!  Now that I think about it it seems like I get mileage of about 25% of my age...

    When I was in my 20s I got about 5,000 miles on my tires
    When I was in my 30s I got about 7,500 miles on my tires
    When I was in my 40s I got about 10,000 miles on my tires
    and now in my 50s I get about 12,500 miles on my tires

    Amazing



    • 3006 posts
    January 16, 2013 5:32 AM PST
    Interesting post, I am also amazed at the mileage your racking up.
    Which makes me question if I'm riding w/ ovr or under inflated tires?

    Yet I ride a metric bike,built in Ohio, a HondaVTX1300.

    Fronts 17" Dumwops stock D404's average abt 5-7000 miles,Rear 15" D's Avg-10000-12,
    both spoke tube tire rims.The front consistently wears down on one side first,not sure why tho I have heard theorys bout everything from turning radius's being shorter,riding road crowns,to an alien conspiracy !!! Oddly enough the rear tire wears normally,from the middle outward.
    • 1855 posts
    January 16, 2013 5:47 AM PST
    Don't know about my Heritage yet. At 5K miles they seem fine to me so far. My 2010 RK I had to replace both tires at 17K miles; 3 times while I owned it. My '98 WideGlide gets 10K on the rear and 20K on the front.

    Peace
    • 5420 posts
    January 16, 2013 5:53 AM PST
    blurplebuzz, That is strange for two reasons...

    First it is very rare to hear the front wearing before the rear, especially with the low end torque on these bigger bikes. Are you stopping really hard with your front brake constantly?

    And second the front tire wearing uneven. I would first check that ever thing is okay with the rim and the front end of the bike. Could be something strange like uneven fork/shock pressure on the right and left causing the tire to ride slightly tilted. Does the bike tend to veer off to one side or the other when riding?  Other than that the alien conspiracy sounds logical :-o

    I normally keep my tires inflated just a couple of pounds under the max air pressure rating except when I am fully loaded down, then I go to max pressure.
    • 3006 posts
    January 20, 2013 4:25 AM PST
    Lucky
    Fortunately I am not the only metric rider which has this experience with the front tire wear,and getting low mileage on the front.A lot of riders on the metric boards have the same experience.My next bike most likely will be either a Harley or Victory,dependin on my budget of course.

    My take on it? I have a single front front-brake caliper/disc which sits on the right side of front rim,I tend to heavily use the front brake for stopping,which I believe makes the rim transfer stress/stop/force to the opposite side of the rubber which contracts faster than the braking side.In turn creating greater wear on the side that wears down faster.
    The bike tracks decently enuff for me to take my hands off at low speed & ride w/no hands straight ahead.

    Tire inflation I run by the tire manufacturer,not by the Honda manual,which prescribes a much lower tire pressure than the one recommended by the dumwopsMost other riders with my bike run abt 38-40 psi front & rear respectively.
  • January 28, 2013 11:32 AM PST
    My "07 Streetglide has 50,000+ miles and I am on 4th set of Dunlops. Am averaging 12-15,000 miles and replace both at the same time. In my opinion, correct tire pressure is the key.
    • 58 posts
    March 4, 2013 2:06 PM PST
    I just replaced this front tire.  This tire was on the bike when I got her, 36K miles ago.


  • March 5, 2013 11:34 AM PST
    I think the older tires - like the ones we bought in 2000 - 2007 or 2008 got better/longer mileage than they ones they make today. When I first got my 2004 H-D Dyna I got 12,000 miles on my rear tire. Now?? 5,000 - 6,000 miles tops before the rear tire is almost bald (all Dunlop).
    • 58 posts
    March 5, 2013 11:51 AM PST
    I bought this bike in May, 2010. As I said earlier, I just replace the front tire with 36K on it. The first rear lasted me 11K or 12K and the second rear about 14K. AM on the third rear with 11K on it and it still has a LOT of wear left, but it is also one of the new triple compound tires. I am now running Michelin Commander II's front and rear.
  • March 5, 2013 2:55 PM PST
    ride it like i stole it so i wouldn't know what tire mileage is , every 4 to 6 months a rear and sometimes 3 a year , front about yearly.
    • 5420 posts
    March 5, 2013 3:45 PM PST
    I am thinking I may actually get better mileage on my rear tire now that I have the trailer behind the bike. When we packed for rallies and trips (which is probably 80% of my mileage) I normally have an extra 75 to 100 lbs of gear on the back of the bike. Now I can move that all into the trailer which when loaded correctly only has a tongue weight of 20 to 30 lbs, so I think I should get more mileage on my rear tire... right?
    • 844 posts
    March 13, 2013 2:53 AM PDT
    Sounds like it makes sense to me Lucky. Be interesting to see if that is true.
  • March 13, 2013 4:14 AM PDT
    Tire compound matters. How soft or hard it is.

    The Scorchers on the VRSCF don't look like they'll make it to 7000 miles.
     
    Also how fast you ride. How long you spend doing 'The Ton'. Plus how good is the pavement where you live. Here it sux bad, and I hit the 100+ mark and maintain it a lot.
    • 34 posts
    March 18, 2013 5:54 AM PDT
    I am in california now and have adarn good set of tires wil ge3t 7-9000 mil3w --prediction---Harley OEM tires--=-ytipee
    • 5420 posts
    April 30, 2013 5:19 AM PDT
    It is amazing how much a rough HOT road will wear your tires. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at looking at my tires and estimating approximately how many miles I have left on them - plus I know how many miles I normally get on a tire. Well I looked at my tires before heading to Arizona Bike Week earlier this month and best guess is the rear still had 3,000+ miles left... it had 6,300 miles on it.

    Going to both Arizona Bike Week and the Laughlin River Run and running around on rough back roads in 100°+ temperatures (where the asphalt was too hot to touch) just completely wore that tire out. 1,650 miles later the tire is gone!

    Looking back through my maintenance records I noticed that I change my tires about twice a year, getting 12,000 or so in the winter and 8,500 or so in the summer. I am sure it is a combination of the hot asphalt and the fact I take more back (rough) road adventures in the summer.
    • 58 posts
    September 7, 2015 8:36 AM PDT
    Now that the D407's have been on the road for a while, how are ya'll liking them? Just picked up an '11 E Glide with brand new rear tire.