2002 1500 Vulcan maintenance & reliability

[OmahaShadow]

Mac, I appreciate the feedback. Being brand new at this. I am looking to get tires and I was looking at the Avon Cobras, but I also heard from usranger that he had gotten michelin commander II. What about the michelin commander II? The bike has Metzelers on it now. Any opinion about those?

[zoom45]

Mine is a 2000 carbed 1500. I have over 97,000 on it now and maintenance has mostly been oil changes, brake pads and tires but I have installed a few clutch springs, drive shaft u-joint and the cam chain extenders. Had an electrical issue that ran me nuts until I finally figured out it was a corroded fuse in the start relay. I always use the Dunlop D404. The last set I replaced was a Dunlop D404 WWW front and a Cruisemax Rear WWW. So far I have 13,700 on the rear and plan on running it to 15,000 before I change it. I usually replace the front tire every other time. It usually gets around 18,000 on it. Great bike but I'm tired of running a 100 miles and need to stop for gas.
Zoom45

[macmac]

Originally Posted by OmahaShadow

Mac, I appreciate the feedback. Being brand new at this. I am looking to get tires and I was looking at the Avon Cobras, but I also heard from usranger that he had gotten michelin commander II. What about the michelin commander II? The bike has Metzelers on it now. Any opinion about those?

If you must have ft and rr mc tires I would pick Avon's hands down everytime. They stick better than anything else IMO, and are what mc tires are about. That stick causes them to wear a bit faster.

The oem bricks suck IMO, South American made metz suck too, and you can't make sure you bought German made metz before you buy. Michlin is Pirelli,n ok I guess....

I just don't like the way Nomads handle on mc rear tires..... IMO a car tire makes these bikes under steer, a slight bit, making them more stable than they are on mc rears where instead they over steer.

Every ripple in the road does something to Nomads and I hate that feeling, as if i am not in control and the bike is.

I don't like the way painted lines like you find at stops and cross walks are on mc tires either, I don't like the way rear mc tires treat hi way grind, that figure 8 patters when the interstate is under repair, which it always is in NH. and we have wire grate bridges here that let snow fall thru the deck that mc tires make me crazy on.....

The CT does all of these better IMO.

Under steer can be a good thing. A bike that under steers is a tad more sluggish to counter steer into a lean, and it wants to stand up a bit more, which means you in put a little more effort, but we are talking like ounces not 50 pounds.

And a Nomad can't really use rear mc tires well anyway, because before you can lean over far enough to use a real rear mc tire you are going to put metal on the ground first..

I put on my Dunlop Sp 5000 when the brick was more than dead. That brick was at 8,000 miles when it was dead but since it was late Fall and I had a few more days to ride, and i prefered fresh rubber in Spring i waited and ended up with 9,000.

Now the bike has 25,000 and that CT is still good and legal and will be for more than another season i guess. I might kinda like to wear that old Dunlop out so I might try something a little different maybe a 205 wide which is as big as a 1600 can take. Not sure about that.

AND when the Dark Side was first talked about 'here' I was totally against the idea. But I was aware of Goldwings using them. After some time passed i recalled that as a lad I remembered real mc tires with a square profile and that changed everything.

I did my home work and selected what has been a great rear tire.

I mated that at 13,000 with a another radial Dunlop 251 ft mc tire and that is still on the bike now too, but needs replacing in Spring.

However I work on other peoples Nomads at times.. I set up Flavors bike with intake/exhaust and a TFI, and setting up the TFI we switch bikes a while and hs bike had the same rear Dunlop as mine but he had the Avon Cobra ft mc tire and i really liked that feel, even better than mine.....

It was like riding a road magnet.... I just couldn't do anything wrong.

This is just my opinion though....