I had a Pirelli Night Dragon on the rear and I really liked it. It also picked up a nail at Americade this year, so it was replaced with an E4. I dig it.
I've had mine for about 2000 miles and they are coming off, for me in south Florida they slip and slide to much when riding in the rain. I'm changing them next Friday and going back to the darkside, Yokohama Envigor in the rear and a Bridgestone G709 up front.
Last weekend while making a left turn and rolling on the throttle the rear slipped around and then about a hour later while coming up to a stop light under normal braking the rear locked up and skidded about 4 feet, no abs was activated just no traction to the road. I had to let off the brake and grab some more to get the bike to stop, again normal braking and I was not going fast , 45 mph with plenty of time to stop, so it was not a panic situation. That was enough for me to decide I did not like these tires.
It seems we are always in the rain down here and with 86k on our 07 Golding and now 65k on the Victory this was the first time this has happened to us. That day it had been raining off and on all morning and the night before so it wasn't like a fresh rain and oil on the surface , just normal wet roads.
To help prevent rear wheel lock-up, switch the brake pads to less grabby GG ones. That worked wonders for me. The stock ones were HH and are much too powerful for a rear wheel.
I have about 4k on the E4s now. The rear tire is pretty loose in the rain. Spins really easy and slides a bit in turns. The front has pretty good stopping power in the rain, have not pushed cornering it too hard as the rear is iffy when wet.
For you guys experiencing slippage in the wet, what type road surface? Concrete, Asphalt, Chip seal? Polished concrete and asphalt don't have much more of a drag factor(coefficient of friction) than gravel.
All asphalt roads down here, brakes are not to grabby . I did a ton of research on these tires before buying them on several forums , and it seems they work well for some and not so much for others. Over on the goldwing forums its the same thing as they have good and bad things to say about the E4. Keep in mind we ride year round down here and its either hot or raining, sometimes both at the same time. LOL. Rain don't deter us if we have a ride to go on as we do 2-300 mile lunch rides every weekend this time of year and 75-125 mile breakfast rides in the summer months. Down here if you are afraid to get wet you might as well not ride.
After all the miles I put on two bikes this was a first for me under normal driving conditions, I'm not saying I never locked up a tire or went sliding around a corner as we all can make our bikes do things when riding hard and playing around with the guys. As far as safety goes and with my wife on the back the E4's are coming off .
I also have been riding with a car tire over the years, mostly for the sake of having run flat tire. With that's being said I'm try to stay open minded to try other tires and that's what brought me to the Dunlop E4, long tread life , smooth ride etc. So for me its a no go and I see no reason to try different brake pads or change the way I ride to make them work or save money from buying a new replacement set of tires. With around 140k riding with a car tire of several different brands on the back and always a Bridgestone 709 upfront this is the combo that works for me, I never gave that setup a second thought when riding in the rain, on the interstate running 80-85 and then some , pulling a loaded trailer thru the mountains , lets not forget no loss of traction on several fall rides to the mountain riding on wet leaves.
So this is what the brown truck dropped off today, sad thing is I have to wait a week to get them put on. The guy that does my tires said he might be able to sell the E4's and if not I guess they will work for a tire swing :grin.
* These are the stock Tire size on the following bikes:
2010 - Up Front Victory Cross Country
2005 - Up Front Victory Hammer
2008 - Up Front Victory Vision
2004- 2012 Front Victory Kingpin
Aspect Ratio-70
Construction-Bias
Load/Speed Index-63H
Made In The U.S.A.-Yes
Position-Front
Reinforced-No
Rim Diameter-18
Section Width-130
Sidewall Style-Blackwall
Size-130/70-18
My last ride on the E4's was yesterday and just as last weekend under normal braking on a wet road resulted in a rear tire skid. The rest of the day was dry and I pushed it hard into a few curves and the tire sticks very ell on dry roads, however our roads aren't always dry. Can't wait till Friday to get them replaced.
I was having trouble avoiding that and replaced the stock HH pads with milder GG ones. Now the rear brake is much more controllable, even for trail braking.
Strange reading all the reports of wet slippage with the Elite 4's since Dunlop claims they are designed for superior wet traction and siphoning. :|
I've been spending a little time this morning researching my next set of shoes for the XC. I've been running on Avon Cobras which are amazing, their grip in all conditions is magic, as well as the tire's road general manners and noise. The problem with the Avon's is mileage. The XC tears them up, as much as I like the Cobra tires I want and need a higher mileage tire for the next set.
I haven't ran E-4's yet. I have a friend that loves them. No complaints with slippage. I have been running E-3's for years and at times do have slippage on the rear tire. When they first came out with E-3's they did grip better. But wore out much faster. A high mileage tire is made from a harder compound. That's why you get more miles out of it. So your going to have a trade off. Super good traction in all conditions and new tires every 6 to 8 thousand miles. Or not as good traction buying new tires every 12 to 14 thousand miles. It's your choice.
I'm using Pirelli Night Dragons which are super good traction but in Australia 8000kms is the best I can get, may stretch front to 10,000kms (5-6000miles)
That's running 3-4 lbs over recommended.
Tried an OEM E3 that was on the 18" front wheel I fitted in place of the skinny 21"er.
Got 15,000kms on it now and it's approaching the TWI tread wear indicators.
E3 has performed fine, even in conjunction with Night Dragon rear (outlasted one and almost 2 rear NDs)
Aussie roads are coarser, we tend to wear out any tyre quicker than you do there.
Of course we aren't on your smooth superhighways and I would rather take the mountain road option to get anywhere.
And we are upside down of course so the tyres have to work extra hard:devil
I am running Michelin Commander IIs and love them. Have not noticed any problems with traction or braking but I bought them just prior to dry season here in Florida
This is my first e4 that I just changed bout a month ago it had right at 16000 miles on rode it on dry wet and in the mountains and no problem with traction
I wanted to put a CT on my XCT but the E4 MT was A-OK. The PCV will replace the VFC and pairs well with the ATS and AF. I don't have an IAV, and I sold my DGD. I used to have HID but now they're LED. I love my ABS, it saved my BFA!
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