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[sblair]

To my fellow SERG brothers and sisters!
   I have just over 8000 miles on my baby.  The other day I rolled it out of the garage and felt a little thump, thump, thump when moving it forward (motor off).  Went and looked and the front tire is cupping.  The trailing edge of the tire pattern is almost even with the bottom of the grooves while the leading edge of the vee has quite a bit of tread left.  Noticed not too long ago that I was getting a little more vibration in the front end. 
  Well. I rode it to the dealer and had service look at it.  The service manager said I had to buy a new tire (IMMEDIATELY!) and said it was due to not having good tire pressure.  I told them that the book states 38psi for the front and I check it every 2 weeks.  It helped that the service writer knows me well and therefore knew I was not BSing them.  They also threw out there that this may be all you will get out of the D407's.  I told them I get 16-20k out of the older rubber fronts and that this rubber is advertised as lasting longer.  I told them to call the factory.....  Well the factory is aware of the problem and is replacing my tire for free (I also have the tire protection).  Did not get the whole story but apparently they are reversing the tread pattern and have made some other changes in the tire.  Now here is the issue..... the tire is on backorder  so it looks like I will not be taking it on my trip next week!
   They checked the back tire and it appears to be wearing normally.

  So this is just a heads up to make everyone aware of a potential rubber issue.  Just be prudent and check often.  I just looked at my rim (front) and there appears to be little black specks so the tire is disentegrating pretty rapidly at this point.  Never seen this previously when cleaning the rims.

[Boatman]

Looks like Popper is having the same issue.

[jettjocky]

THanks for the heads up, I also purchased the tire protection. 

[RickC]

THanks for the heads up, I also purchased the tire protection. 

Ditto. It just makes sense...

[sblair]

Yes, but in this instance it is a HD warranty issue.  So you do not have to pay labor.  The down side is that you are at the whim of the MoCo as to when they want to send the part to you.  Thanks for listening.

[AXIL]

  what year is your bike ?

[Grizzly]

I believe this is a problem with all the '09 touring models.

We were just in Arizona for a month and a few friends flew into Vegas and renting Ultra's.  Out of 4 rented 2 had a similar concern.  At different times we stopped by dealers while on the road to have them check it out... Both said it is nothing to worry about!

I think NOT!

If I owned a '09 I think I would be swapping the front rims and tires back to the 16" D402's.

[sblair]

Yes this is about the new 09 rubber.  The D407's.  Fortunately, the MoCo is aware and from what I understand they are addressing the issue with a redesign.
  Also if things get too bad, they do make a D402 the same size.  It was on the previous years CVO Road King.  Not sure about the rear.  I do know that the MoCo asked about the rear but I am not having the issue there (yet).

[Highwaystar]

3600 miles and I noticed vibration on braking today...Low and behold the front is cupping and is getting worse. I'll have a talk with my dealer Tuesday

[Black Diamond]

This may not be an 09 problem. I have 407's on my 08 SERK. My 1st front tire was cupping badly at less than 8000 miles. Dunlop claims to have several compounds / layers on the thread of this tire to help with the cupping problem.
http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/infocenter_news_article.asp?id=212&monthYear=

I've had the new compound tires on for going on 9000 miles with no sign of cupping. But why wouldn't the 2009 SERG have this new version of the 407Fs? I noticed the 408s look just like the 407s with the tread mounted the opposite direction.

JW

[Twolanerider]

I would be curious to hear tire cupping reports (or lack thereof) from riders with the questioned tires who also have had the Traxxion Dynamics front suspension work done.  Can't help but wonder if simply keeping the front wheel on the ground so much more would help the problem.

[Highjagger]

Tomorrow i have the 5000miles service ( 8000km with 9200km on the clock ) , my frontend was wobbeling when let free the handlebar when getting slower less than 40 mph .
Checked the front tire - bad looking - i thought that this would be a normal use-look and will let mount a new one tomorrow , hope the dealer has one .
 I will tell him this story of replacing the front tire for free by the MoCo .

[Highjagger]

Just coming back from bringing my SERG to the dealer for the service .
 No front tire available , damn , he will try to get informations about the tires from the german hd-headquarter in Mörfelden , hope he will get one soon , mine is totally undriveable , wobbling front end .
And this weekend we have another " black-forest-tour " , fuc......

[jettjocky]

cupping problem I guess I can understand, NOT HAVING TIRES ON HAND TO ME IS NOT ACCEPTABLE ......PERIOD. When the day comes that while on a trip I can not have tires replaced is the day I say fairwell to MOCO.

[9 1/2 Beers]

http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=36170.0