OK, so my wife calls on her way home and says she pulled to the side of the road after the bike started handling squirrely.  I arrive in the rescue wagon to find a totally flat rear tire and no way to fix on the spot.  Lacking a trailer our only option was for my wife to drive comfortably in the Limo while I nursed her “Scavenger” the 3 miles home at 10 mph.  It was quite a pump fighting the bars to try and stay straight while the rear end snaked every which way.  Well, finally we got home and discovered the culprit – an embedded nail.  Ever notice most flats are on the rear as the front tire kicks up the impaling object first.  I got some tips on this site and pulled the rear wheel after removing axle, spacers, adjusters, brake cable, belt covers, belt, rear light / plate assembly.  Quite a pain without a center stand.  The stock IRC had over 4,000 miles so I decided to replace it with something better.  The Kenda 140/90-15 seemed an economical choice but first I had to remove the OEM tire.  Well, my hat off to you folks who do this at home – no amount of stomping, compressing the sidewall, levering, cussing helped and I slunk down to the dealer – my last resort.  They had all the automated equipment necessary so I swallowed my pride and let them take care of it.  The labor cost was very reasonable at $15.00.  Naturally the Kenda wasn’t in stock but they had one Metzler ME880 140/90 HB15 REA at $112 so I agreed in the name of expediency.  Actually, this is one nice tire and I checked here first to be sure there were no clearance problems.  Now I like it so much I just got to have one on my bike too!

If you have a place to tie the handlebars between 2 objects & a block a bit taller than the muffler bracket is off the ground, you can jam something under the muffler bracket, stand the bike up & the rear tire is off the ground. Tie the bike off & voila..

I just logged in to take a look at tire recommendations and saw this post. I was alarmed that the brand new IRC tire the dealer had put on my bike when I bought it was bald down the center after only 4500 miles. They claim that is normal wear, but being my first bike and used to cars that get 50 or 60 thousand miles to a set of tires I'm rather alarmed. Speaking to the local cyclegear.com storefront, they recommended a Metzeler ME880 140/80/15 as the correct replacement. That differs in size from the one talked about in this thread. Is that the correct size? What should I expect in life span from that tire? I primarily use the bike for freeway commuting.

Thanks,

Stuart-

I just found out the dealership where my bike is currently being serviced went ahead and ordered Dunlop 404 140/90/15's for me (without talking to me first..) before I make an issue of their non-communication, anyone have any experience with these tires? Does the slightly taller 140/90 have any meaningful effect on fuel economy/ handling?

Thanks,

Stuart-

Dunlops are all I've run so far on my bike front and back. I do high mileage road trips on all kinds of highways and they've been very nice. They stick to the road well, rain or sun. I haven't tried ice yet, but . . . The 140/90 will throw your speedo off by 5%-10% but should also up your real mpg fuel usage as well.

If you're hauling a heavy load you might want to set your shocks all the way up or get some that are a bit longer, especially if you're going to use bag braces for saddle bags. It can get a bit tight in there particularly on the drive belt side. I put a nice groove in the side of one of mine before I noticed what the bouncing up and down did for the bolt head clearance back there.

Jack

Jack_650 wrote on 08/18/08 at 11:17:06:


i generally change tube at same time so i don't worry about the pinch

dunlop 404 is a good tire, cant go wrong.

A couple of 2X4s & a piece of rope & a short chunk of a 4X4 & there's a bead breaker. No holes to drill, nothing permanent, just wind the rope arount the 2   2X4s loose enough to give yourself some leverage on the 4X4.. aint rokkit sighence..

I recently had a rear flat on my 8500 miles original equipment tire. Fix a flat only got me about 2 miles up the road. I put a Shinko (?) 140-90-15 on. Liked it so much I went ahead and replaced the front going one size bigger as well. I was hitting the forward bolt on the right hand saddle bag support. Just took the bags off for the summer. Need to grind the bolt head down almost flat and get ready for winter. I read on the forum that the bigger front tire would fit but it didn't. just cut some plate steel just wider than the fender mount bolt spacing and appx 1 " long. A little flat black paint and the fender is back on. Can't go wrong on the bigger tires. More stable on the freeway and rain grooves all but go away.