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[Midnight Rider]

What did you get? Bias Ply or Radial, and whats the difference? The stock Dunlops do follow the cracks in the road. I want to get away from that.

CVO...I've looked at tires/charts/load ratings until I'm crosseyed, read articles on various tires, looked on other forums, etc.  I've done a LOT of research on this subject.  I've decided to go with the Metzlers as most everything I've read says they do better in the rain, don't track the grooves, and fall into the turns better than the stock 402's.  Decent milage is also obtained, again depending on how you ride, and keeping the tires inflated properly.  They do require higher air pressures in them, but no sacrifice in ride quality.  The Dunlop E3 is another good tire, from what I've read and heard, but they offer limited sizes.

I'm changing wheels too, but here's what I went with:  Metz 140/90x16 Bias Ply for the Rear tire, and 140/70x18 Bias Ply on the front.  For my style of riding (two up 98% of the time, and all bags full on trips), the size/load ratings on this set up will be comparable to the stock tires.  The Metz tires tend to run a fraction of an inch wider.  Some people say that putting a radial on back and bias on front has caused a "wiggle", some have not.  What I'm putting on my SEUC is the combination Metzler recommends if you want to go with an 18" front wheel, but even if you stick with the 16" front and rear, the combo would be almost the same.  I am going to run 3.5" width wheels on front and rear, stepping up from the 3" stock.  So, the front tire will be a bit "fatter" than the stock 402.

If you look at the Dunlop E3 and Metzler 880, the tread pattern is very similar, so I think similar results could be obtained with either one.  I personally was not comfortable mixing the radial and bias, but that is just me...others have done so without issue.  IMO, the thing to look at is how much load you put on the rear tire.  The SEUC's are heavy bikes in stock form, and everything we add to them generally adds weight...I'm sure mine is tipping the scales at over 900lbs wet, perhaps a bit more.  Hope this helped and didn't confuse the issue further....

The down side of moving away from the stock 402's is they are almost always available through any HD dealer when on the road.  Metzlers may or may not be, but almost any metric shop will have them, so I'm not real worried about finding a tire, if that is ever necessary.

[CVOwner]

CVO...I've looked at tires/charts/load ratings until I'm crosseyed, read articles on various tires, looked on other forums, etc.  I've done a LOT of research on this subject.  I've decided to go with the Metzlers as most everything I've read says they do better in the rain, don't track the grooves, and fall into the turns better than the stock 402's.  Decent milage is also obtained, again depending on how you ride, and keeping the tires inflated properly.  They do require higher air pressures in them, but no sacrifice in ride quality.  The Dunlop E3 is another good tire, from what I've read and heard, but they offer limited sizes.

I'm changing wheels too, but here's what I went with:  Metz 140/90x16 Bias Ply for the Rear tire, and 140/70x18 Bias Ply on the front.  For my style of riding (two up 98% of the time, and all bags full on trips), the size/load ratings on this set up will be comparable to the stock tires.  The Metz tires tend to run a fraction of an inch wider.  Some people say that putting a radial on back and bias on front has caused a "wiggle", some have not.  What I'm putting on my SEUC is the combination Metzler recommends if you want to go with an 18" front wheel, but even if you stick with the 16" front and rear, the combo would be almost the same.  I am going to run 3.5" width wheels on front and rear, stepping up from the 3" stock.  So, the front tire will be a bit "fatter" than the stock 402.

If you look at the Dunlop E3 and Metzler 880, the tread pattern is very similar, so I think similar results could be obtained with either one.  I personally was not comfortable mixing the radial and bias, but that is just me...others have done so without issue.  IMO, the thing to look at is how much load you put on the rear tire.  The SEUC's are heavy bikes in stock form, and everything we add to them generally adds weight...I'm sure mine is tipping the scales at over 900lbs wet, perhaps a bit more.  Hope this helped and didn't confuse the issue further....

The down side of moving away from the stock 402's is they are almost always available through any HD dealer when on the road.  Metzlers may or may not be, but almost any metric shop will have them, so I'm not real worried about finding a tire, if that is ever necessary.

But Radial or Bias ply? What are the stock Dunlops? The elite II's can handle the weight, I saw 930 lbs! I'm not changing out my wheels. I ride mostly two up fully loaded. I want long distance comfort, no tracking and durability.

[Midnight Rider]

Bias ply is, as far as my research goes, the only thing available at this time to handle the loads you'll see with the SEUC.  The EIII's for our bikes are bias ply tires...constructed much LIKE a radial, but not a true radial.  The EIII is rated to 930...the stock 'lop is 908.  The Metz 880 rear I mentioned above is rated to 908, so no problems there either.  It's a bias ply also.  There's nothing wrong with a well constructed Bias ply tire...they just generally have higher sidewall configurations.  Both manufacturers have a nice tread design, with better wet road capabilities, from everything I've read on the subject.