info stock tires/garbage

[flavor]

I've been lucky enough to put 4500 miles on my new 2007 leftover in the past 6 weeks. But, I recently noticed a little shake in the handlebars at 35 to 40 miles per hr when taking my hands off the bars. I went to my local, might I add reputable and knowledgeable dealer, to pick their brains about the shake. The answer that I got is that the stock tires are garbage and that I wouldn't get many more miles out of them. They said they are starting to scallop. That just plain sucks.
I'm going to try to last as long as possible to get my money's worth. Going to get either the elite III's or metzler 880's.

[waterman]

I have a rear elite III going on this week. We shall see how they are.

[rickmeister56]

i put 12000 miles on the stock (front) bridgestone w/o any problems. i always ran 38 lbs of air. on the rear bridgestone i got about 9000 miles out of it with 40 lbs of air in it. my 2 cents

[billmac]

Originally Posted by flavor

I recently noticed a little shake in the handlebars at 35 to 40 miles per hr when taking my hands off the bars.

What a response for a dealer! That little shake at that same speed each time is a typical tire balance issue. Left uncorrected, it will cup the tire.

In the future, I would not feel comfortable with anything that guy said after that response to your concern.

That's my 2cents.

My 2007 has 3200 miles. Same tire as yours. No shake, no cups.

[Top Cat]

I'm with billmc on this one. Go to a different dealer and have the front tire balanced or put some dyna beads in it. then pump it up to 38 pounds. See if that dosen't cure your problem.

[macmac]

I think the dealer was being honest... Stones bite..... All stones bite so far as i am concerned.. I put them on a sprots car in the mid 70's and hated them, I rode out a set on a 1500 Nomad and hated them and again on a 1600... I still hate them. They just suck, moan, they are no good in rain, no good in sand and no good on wet grass.

They don't even feel good enough to me to build any sence of confidence. My advice, is burn that junk off ASAP and get real tires... Al most no one get over 7,000 miles out of that rear junk Stone, so don't expect to do better.

The front isn't as fast to wear out, but it too is total junk.. I just replaced my rear with a Dunlop SP Sport in 195/60 R 16, and will have a Dunlop Elite III for bikes on the front next week.

[ringadingh]

Try Metzelers, youll like them a lot.

[dkdixie]

Originally Posted by rickmeister56

i put 12000 miles on the stock (front) bridgestone w/o any problems. i always ran 38 lbs of air. on the rear bridgestone i got about 9000 miles out of it with 40 lbs of air in it. my 2 cents

That's tremendous!

You must ride some flat roads.
I got 5050 out of the rear stone and will probably get around 7500 out of the front

[bigdog]

Well, I've read posts on how bad the Bridgestone tires are from half a dozen different forums. All I can say is this, I commute, attend rally's 2 up, Patriot Guard missions, day trips 2 up, etc on my Nomad and don't see the evil in these tires. The original rear lasted 12,400, the 2nd rear went 11,900 and was changed then due to a nail. The original front was changed at that time with 24,300 on it. Neither my wife or I are light weights so it's not like there's no weight on it. And no, I don't ride at full throttle, do burnouts or try to see how fast I can get from point A to point B. I didn't buy the Nomad to see how fast I could go, but to enjoy going. If I want to try and break land speed records, I get out my '75 Z1 900 which had Dunlops as OEM tires and those did suck. I may try the Elite 3's next time, but I really can't fault the 'stones.

[bigdave]

i agree bigdog i have 6000 miles on my stones and have had no problem with them. i have ridden in the rain with no problem and wife and i spent a week on vacation on the bike. looking at the back tire i should get around 10 to 11000 and front tire is not worn much at all

[dogdoc]

I agree my stones are wearing well, plan on getting 12,000 rear and 24,000 front.

[bomadgary]

Just replaced the stock Stones with the same. Had 15503 miles without an issue, except that the front was just starting to cup. As far as wet weather goes I ride in the rain without a problem and during a just completed 4053 mile road trip on the stock Stones I had almost 50 miles in a driving rain/hail/wind storm with no problems at all. Needless to say the Nomad's performance was perfect, as expected, and drew many compliments, even when heavily bug spattered.

[rewindgy]

Man it must be nice to get that kind of mileage out ot the Stones! The road surface must not be as abrasive as up here in Canuck Land! I got 10,000 km out of the rear and now I got 18,000 km on the front and it is pooched! Not to wear bars but likes to shake the handle bars on decel. Put an Avon on the rear and at 8,000 km there is no noticeable wear and I have a new Avon front sitting in my office just waiting for next week to go on. Fully expect that the head shake will go away!

[ccmjr77]

I need new tires now. I am trying to decide what to go with. the stock stones now have about 9100 on them. The rear is showing wear bars and the front is howling like crazy. I don't feel any cupping yet and could just replace the rear, but I don't like the stones and will replace both.

[jeffm]

The original rear on mine got 9xxx. I replaced it with another stone it now has 9800 & looks like it will get another couple thousand or more. The front original now has about 18800 & i will be replaceing in a couple weeks. It did not start howling until about 17xxx miles. I run 40 & 40 in mine. I think i will put another stone on the front.