Tire Choices

Seadog · Post by **Seadog** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:46 am

I'm temporarily at a standstill with engine work and have turned to the other items that need repair or replacement on my Dream that I can work on during the colder months. Right now, I'm getting quotes to refurbish my badly rusted/pitted wheels and replace the tires. The tires are a bit of a problem and I am turning to you forum members with experience.

While I like the look of whitewall tires, Coker Firestone is the only game in town (excluding the use of Port-a-walls) and I don't like what I've read about their performance. I am more inclined to choose function over form. The only other choices in 325x16 seem to be Shinko SR208, Duro HF308, Mitas H-05 and Dunlop K82 or K82TT.

Can any of you tell me of your experiences with these brands? Performance, stability, noise, ride, cornering, longevity? Does anyone know the difference between the Dunlop K82 and K82TT?

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

OldScrambler · Post by **OldScrambler** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:00 pm

http://heidenautires.com/vintage-motorcycle-tires/

You can get them in the US from Kevin at scramblercycle.com

Kevin is also a member on this board.......and he owns a CA77.

Seadog · Post by **Seadog** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 7:02 pm

OldScrambler wrote:http://heidenautires.com/vintage-motorcycle-tires/

You can get them in the US from Kevin at scramblercycle.com

Kevin is also a member on this board.......and he owns a CA77.

Thanks OldScrambler. I am familiar with Kevin and Scrambler Cycle; good guy. I've also read a great many tire threads on the forum and have seen the Heidenau tires on Kevin's white Dream. They're nice Classic looking tires, but do not come in the standard 325x16 size and I want to stay with that unless there's an advantage to going with 350x16 that I don't know about.

OldScrambler · Post by **OldScrambler** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:37 pm

Maybe someone would care to measure the width of an original 3.25 tire versus the 3.5........

I have found the difference between manufacturers will vary versus the advertised width.

I have several vintage and classic bikes in my garage. I have found that even the trusted Dunlop brand makes the K70 and K81 tires to LOOK like the originals but they sure don't wear like the originals.

Hahnda · Post by **Hahnda** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:33 pm

Personally I think the 3.50x16 tires just look better on the Dream. They fill out the fenders a bit more and don't cause any fitment problems. Added benefit to the 3.50 size? Nope, not really, just cosmetic. Sold plenty of them for use on Dreams. That said, the 3.25 Shinko isn't a bad tire either if you want to stick to stock size.

Hamamatsu Nippon · Post by **Hamamatsu Nippon** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:59 pm

OldScrambler wrote:Maybe someone would care to measure the width of an original 3.25 tire versus the 3.5........

I have, what I believe to be, an original Nitto 3.25 ribbed front tire from a Dream. It measures 3 9/16". Now that is unmounted, so I have allowed a bit for expansion when mounted.
I measure my new mounted Duro 3.25 and it measures 3 8/16". So they are both 3 1/2" wide. I'm using a vernier caliper so it catches 1 1/2" down the sidewall.