Man, This is the second tire I have gone through this summer. I only seem to get about 3500 miles out of a pusher. I suppose I would get better wear if I were single and didn't have a monkey riding, and at $140 per tire that might happen, as my wife of 35+ years is starting to think this is a very expensive hobby. Misery loves company so please tell me that is about normal for a Harley 1440 with a sidecar rig running stock tires. ( Same lousy mileage for me with a Dunlop and Bridgestone). It isn't all about the tires either..replacing tires is a significant piece of work on this bike.
Hi Kevin,
what a shame with your tires. I can`t just believe what you are telling. What sort and size of tire are you using on your sidecar ? 3500 miles is just nothing. As far as I can remember, no one of my friends who are also riding different types of HD - rigs have that lousy mileage on sidecar tires.
On my rig the tires have a lifetime average of 30-35.000 km (which is equals 18 - 22000 miles).
But to be honest, I have mounted only car tires:
14" front wheel with a Michelin 165/65R14 tire
15” rear wheel with a Michelin 185/60R15 tire
and the sidecar has also
14" wheel with a Michelin 165/65R tire.
Have a look at the attached pictures and I wish you at least good luck to find better and long life tires for your sidecar.
BTW:
I have looked at your website http://www.jkwhitephoto.com. Your pictures are terrific. I can judge it because I am a semiprofessional photographer for more then 45 years. Congratulation !
The worst back tire I had once gave 2000km, never bought chinese again. The tcheck Mitas give on the orioginal Jawa 350 rig 9000-12000km on the back 12000-15000 on the front and 18000 on the sidecar, So possibly your allighnment does have problems. For big bikes its always more economic to change to car tires.
Sven
Man, that is poor. I get about 6-6500 on the rear Dunlop on my RK/TLE rig. Only about 25% of that is with a passenger however.
I agree that changing is a pain but the dealer wants about $75 in addition to the tire/balancing (about $250). I paid about the same as you for the last one - $145 - and it took me about 1-1/2 hrs. Actually I like doing it myself because then I know that torques are correct and belt tension is right.
If I didn't have white walls I'd go with a car tire.
scrinch - 9/21/2009 7:02 AM Man, This is the second tire I have gone through this summer. I only seem to get about 3500 miles out of a pusher. I suppose I would get better wear if I were single and didn't have a monkey riding, and at $140 per tire that might happen, as my wife of 35+ years is starting to think this is a very expensive hobby. Misery loves company so please tell me that is about normal for a Harley 1440 with a sidecar rig running stock tires. ( Same lousy mileage for me with a Dunlop and Bridgestone). It isn't all about the tires either..replacing tires is a significant piece of work on this bike.
Sounds to me like you need to look at your alignment of the motorcycle to the sidecar you could easily be getting 6000 miles to a rear tire providing you are not sliding around corners.
Is the tire feathering on the inside? meaning is there rubber slightly on the edge to the tire is there black rubber dust on the rear fender?first thing I would look at is your toe in if you have been taking it to a dealer pretty much most of them are clueless to seting up a sidecar rig.
I have a 01 roadglide with a california 3 double wide sidecar and I easily get 6500 to 7000 with 5/16" toe in on my rig.
When I first got it the dealer set it up per the sidecar instructions at about 1" toe in I was getting 1200 to 1400 miles per rear tire they stated that by not following the manufacturers instructions that should something happen that THEY would be at fault and as I recall Harley specs are about 3/4".
Check the alignment yourself first to see what is set at..............or bring it to Vermont next year
I've been chasing the same problem. 2,000 miles is the best I can get. It doesn't matter whether it's top of the line , cheap Chinese or even a car tire. The sidecar came set up with 15 inches of lead on the sidecar wheel. I recently moved the sidecar back 4 inches and found that my gas mileage improved just a bit. I'm hoping the the tire wear improves also. I'll post the results when I replace the new tire as it only has 800 miles on it.
that sucks,..I went to the darkside 2 seasons ago and still have the same BFGoodwrich T/A with 20 000kms on it,...looks like brand new,..$79.95 each,
155/60/15,...good luck, crawf.
Thanks for the feedback and thanks for the complement Nightrider.
I looked into a car tire last time around...nothing available for a Harley RKC. So the only option is to get a custom wheel made and I gather that runs about $850++ Just don't have the cash for that.
I did the setup myself and the bike rides sweet...very neutral steering, but I will recheck it all. One thing that I did not do is set it up with a passenger and driver aboard....Hard to be on the bike and at the same time check level and lean out ain't it ? I guess I can load some sandbags to substitute.
I just bought 2 whitewall tires on sale for $75ea including shipping. Figured what have I got to loose.
A regular Dunlop 402 on the rear of a Harley with TLE sidecar, if properly inflated, will generally go about 6,000 before it's tmie to think about another one. Front tires can go 15,000 or more and I've yet to really wear out a sidecar tire. I repalce them when they start to crack from dry rot. That's been my experence anyway. .
The rear tires generally wear down flat and square in the center. I guess a car tire would do more mileage.
scrinch wrote:
>>I did the setup myself and the bike rides sweet...very neutral steering, but I will recheck it all. One thing that I did not do is set it up with a passenger and driver aboard....Hard to be on the bike and at the same time check level and lean out ain't it ? I guess I can load some sandbags to substitute.<<
Like Lonnie said check the toe in. Use a straight edge on the rear tire and sidecar tire and measure just in front of th efron ttire and just to the rear of the rear tire. You can have far too much toe in and still have a very nice handling rig. Toe out you can feel but too much toe in rarely gives any feedback. The downside of too much toe in will be in tire wear such as you described.
Thanks Claude and all
I carry a passenger about 95% of the time so I wonder if that is a variable that is cutting the mileage.
I will recheck toe in and reset the level and lean out while loaded.
If I remember correctly 3/8 inch toe in is about right??
Harley uses 3/4" toe in and one degree inward lean as a starting point......You need to be careful checking toe-in as it's possible to get it wrong unless you use some nice long straight edges.
