[CruiserNewb]

I have a couple questions that I hope I can get a little help with. I have searched through the forums but cant really come up with the answers I am looking for. I bought my 2014 Valkyrie brand new and have right 9,000 miles on it. I just got my front tire replaced today, it was way overdue. Wear bars, what wear bars? Well I went with OEM because talking to various dealerships, everybody was against bias tires flat out, and going with a radial in a slightly different profile and width I got mixed feedback. I have read so much on here and really would love to hear honest feedback from some people putting the miles on these bikes.

First, is 9200 good on the front OEM? The back still seems to have decent tread on it, so I will see how long I can get out of it. Second, when it comes time again, which would be the better route to go? OEM, same size Bias, or slightly different size radial.

On to the brakes. While replacing my tire, service told me I really needed brakes. The showed me, and yea.....its time. Paper thin. Is 9,200 miles early for pads? Anybody had to replace theirs yet? Should I stick with OEM or off brand sintered from online? If this is early for pad wear, and I just riding too hard? This is my first cruiser as I have been on sport bikes in the past. Just looking for any info.

Thanks so much.

 

[vetman27]

you got 9200 miles out of your rear tire?!?!

I've only got 3000 miles on my bike and original tires. like most of my previous bikes, the front has moderate wear, just a hint of cupping, but the rear is pretty squared off with 1/4" chicken strips (unused tread at the edges), and will be done at 4 to 5000 miles. that's 95% two-lane hiways, solo (170 lbs), carrying maybe 25 pounds of gear in a tailbag. my front pads usually go 20,000 miles. maybe alot depends on where and how you ride.

 

[turboyoshi]

OEM sucks, most valk riders switch to something else. I only got just over 6k miles on both front and rear. I will never use OEM tires again. On my last bike I got over 15k miles on metzler 880's but I went with michelin commander 2 on the front and pilot 2 on the rear for this bike. Only got about 3k miles on them but right now they still look almost new. I certainly expect to do better than 6k though but even if I only got 6k miles, I'd still use them again because they feel a lot better on the road than the dunlops. Dunlops got squirrely when riding over tar snakes and we got a lot of those here in GA. It might not have been a big deal but I hated that feeling like my back end was gonna slide out from under me any second.

Not sure on the pads, haven't had to replace mine yet, only got about 9k miles total on this bike.

Not sure how much this affects tire life, but I always start braking rear first, then front while trying to maintain even pressure on both brakes.

 

[stlouis1]

My 2014 Red Valkyrie just turned 11 months last week, 9025 miles. I was at the local Honda dealer and had them measure my tread depth on both tires. I still have 3/32 on the original front OEM Dunlop and 5/32 on the original OEM Dunlop. As they say, your mileage may very. I, for one, am impressed with the wear on both tires and when the time comes, I intend to replace them with OEM.
Now the brakes, I didn't even think about, I'll have then checked this week.

 

[vetman27]

I've had good luck with Metzelers, I guess a Pilot will be my next victim...

 

[goldstar903]

It seems that some people are moving on to the Dunlop Roadtech III's. Much better mileage.0

 

[bscrive]

I have 18k miles on mine and the pads on the right are like new and one of the pads on the left side is half as much as the other. The sliders were caked with brake dust, so the one pad wore down because of the sliders. The pad was sticking.
So, you must be hard on your brakes. >