Dunlop Roadsmarts alert

Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
143
Location
Spring, Texas
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2003 ST1300A
STOC #
6077
Hey Tim, I've just seen this thread for the first time. I have a front Roadsmart with a 10 inch by 2 inch thread separation. Happened last summer when I was ~ 160 miles from home...ruined my weekend. PM me if you are interested in the tire and I will ship it you.

No more Dunlops for me...ever. The PR2's are just great!!
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
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885
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59
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Halifax, PA
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2006 ST1300
Well add me to the front Roadsmart list. My front end has developed a wobble at about 40 to 50 mph going into curves and my wheel weight I installed is still there.

I even tightened my steering head bearings thinking that was the problem.

Thankfully the tire is worn out to the wear bars with no visible separation. With the tire off the ground and spun I can see an undulation where a section sticks out further than the rest when viewed from the side.

OEM 020 Stone going on the front again next.

No more Dunlops ever again for me either.

Continuing saga............ I wanted to get a few more runs out of the tire, made about another 75 miles. Went to ride it this morning and found the front flat.

So I decided to remove it and mount the 020. I found that the steel belts have separated and one strand went through to the inside and one to the out side that's why it was flat.

I found the same bubble on the inside as in Simmons1 pic just not as long, maybe 2 inches. When you roll the dismounted tire on the pavement you can hear the steel belts crunching at the bubble area.

If I would complain to Dunlop and they gave me a free set I wouldn't mount them.

This does need corrected though.

The OEM 020 mounted with no weights needed and now the front is as smooth as new.

BTW: Front Dunlop went 8800 miles till wear bars.
 
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
156
Location
San Jose, CA
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2005 ST1300A
STOC #
889
I wish I had seen this thread a week ago. I got 11K miles on my first front Roadsmart. I'm on my second rear. No problems, the front was well worn, more so on the left side. I figured that was due to the crown in the road. I just got another front.
 

Jerseyst

Official Crown Royal TeSTer
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jersey
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st 1300
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8179
The dunlop rep sent out a shipping label for my roadsmart with the bubble and promised a replacement when they had them back in stock in mid June. Anyone ever heard from the rep and got a new tire? I have tried to call them 3 times with just a busy signal....
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Messages
100
Location
Tasmania, Australia
Bike
HONDA ST 1300
I brought my bike new with Dunlop Sportmax fitted.

I've only done 5000kls at this stage but I find the tyres are great. On riding the bike out of the showroom my first 5 kls was through light rain with the following 150 kls through torrential rain & heavy winds (unexpected to say the least). Needless to say I was concerned. I'd never ridden an ST 1300 before & with new tryes fitted had no idea how the bike would handle. I had no complaints whatsoever. The tyres hold well on twisties & seem to have no bad habits at all. Wear looks good at this stage but I've only 5000kls on the clock as yet. I'll post further on the forum further down the track.
Cheers,
Baz
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
647
Location
nowhere
When I was looking for new tires at the beginning of July, a parts guy at the local Honda dealer offered me a set of take-offs that had about 1500 miles on them for $100. They turned out to be Roadsmarts.

He told me that he bought them off a customer who had been on a trip with new Roadsmarts and had a ply separation at about 1500 miles into the trip. The customer received a new replacement under warranty, but had them removed immediately when he returned from his trip. He replaced them with PR2s.

After hearing the story, I passed on the Roadsmarts, even at $100 for the pair.
 

Steve Jones

Eschew Obfuscation
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
49
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
Bike
2003 ST1300A
STOC #
3920
Holy crap, these Roadsmarts are going to get someone hurt.

Just over 12,000 miles.

Riding 2-up on the freeway, I felt a slight vibration for a few moments, then it went away. My SmartTire said all was well. I wrote it off to a transient road surface issue.

A few miles later my wife said she wanted to make a stop, so I took the next exit. As soon as I tried to turn I found the front end was poorly responsive, I had to push hard to make the exit. I looked at my SmartTire display to see the yellow light was on and it was alerting me that I was down to 24lbs. It was 42 when I started the trip about 100 miles earlier.

Got off and saw this:




Here's a gallery of more pics. After you click on a picture you will see an option to view the full size image. Some scary stuff in the gash from that view.

Fortunately I was near a Honda dealer who had a trailer and time to come get me, as well as a replacement in stock. All told I was only delayed about 3 hours. Thanks Belleville Honda!

So, has anybody else reported this to the nhtsa? I think I'll do that in the morning. There are too many of these nearly identical failures from this one tire model.
 

Mellow

Joe
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12,000 Miles to me is a bit much.. the tire looked pretty used up... I'll probably trash any tire that I get to 10k on ... if I can ever find one .. LOL

Glad you were able to pull over and get a replacement, hope it wasn't another Dunlop..
 

Mellow

Joe
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I am beginning to believe these ST's are harder on tires than we are willing to admit.
Valkyrie owners also have had issues with Dunlops... used to call them DoneFlops due to all the delaminations that occurred.
 

Steve Jones

Eschew Obfuscation
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12,000 Miles to me is a bit much.. the tire looked pretty used up... I'll probably trash any tire that I get to 10k on ... if I can ever find one .. LOL
It had just a bit left before the wear bars when I started the trip. I had (have) a set of new tires that I was going to install when I got back. I don't think I've ever gotten 12K on a front before... but it sure wasn't worth it.

But worn or not, unless you've gone THROUGH the wearbars there is no excuse for a tire to have that sort of failure.

Glad you were able to pull over and get a replacement, hope it wasn't another Dunlop..
Sadly, it was. All they had. A Sportmax D220F ST. I haven't heard of them trying to come apart... so I'll probably leave it on. It certainly tracks the rain grooves well :)
 

Mellow

Joe
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I understand... if you aren't into the wear bars then you have no reason to be considering a replacement as THAT is the manufacturer's indicator of replacement... apparently, Dunlapse have a new one now in addition to the wear bars - a wear hole... :shock:
 

okckeith

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I understand... if you aren't into the wear bars then you have no reason to be considering a replacement as THAT is the manufacturer's indicator of replacement... apparently, Dunlapse have a new one now in addition to the wear bars - a wear hole... :shock:
LOL! Now that is funny!
 

Steve Jones

Eschew Obfuscation
Joined
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St. Louis, Missouri
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2003 ST1300A
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3920
I hope everyone who has had one of these has reported it to the NHTSA. It's painless. The only things you won't know off the top of your head are the DOT number from the tire, your VIN, the bike mileage when you installed the tire, and the bike mileage when the problem occurred.

You can do it by phone at M-F 8-8 at (888) 327-4236, or anytime online at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm

Since Dunlop appears unwilling to step up and handle this, apparently we need to do it. Before someone gets killed.

Here's the text of my complaint:

The front tire on my motorcycle, a Dunlop Roadsmart size 120/70ZR-18, suffered a catastrophic failure while traveling on the freeway. Visual evidence suggests the belt separated under the tread, then split the tire carcass resulting in about a 3 inch gash and a rapid loss of pressure. It does not appear to be the result of hitting a road hazard. Luckily I managed to get the motorcycle off the road safely. I have detailed photographs of the failure at http://usmotogpfans.com/pix/main.php?g2_itemId=117. The tire is being held at a motorcycle dealership who did my repairs, Belleville Honda in Belleville IL.

The failure looks nearly identical to this one experienced by another rider using the same tire model, brand and size: https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1001288&postcount=33

And several others:
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=999875
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1000715
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1096975

This exact tire model and size appears to be prone to these catastrophic failures. The manufacturer has been made aware and has thus far taken no action.

I hope the NHTSA can force some response before someone gets killed.

BTW, your web interface does not include the correct tire size, so I was not able to enter the right figure. It was 120/70ZR-18. The closest your site allows me to enter is 125/70ZR-18, which doesn't exist in this tire model. I entered it anyway, as there was no other way to get past the screen.
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2008
Messages
22
Location
Columbus, Ga.
I've been running Dunlops on my bikes for about 20 years now. I've never had a problem before. With their apparent lack of concern over this, they will just have to find someone else to give them money.

Just registered my complaint with NHTSA. Thanks for the link Steve. Mine wasn't a catastrophic failure thank God.

I know this might not be PC but mine was manufactured in France.
 

Mellow

Joe
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Not a PC issue at all... it's a fact... It's really got nothing to do with where they are made and everything to do with the company's view on quality control, assuming that is the issue... no one really knows what the real issue is.. if the company does, they'll probably just fix it and not admit to anything...
 

rjs987

Robert
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Just getting around to looking up on what tire I want to replace my rear tire with. It's just down to the wear bars so time to change it out. It is a Dunlop Arrowmax D103. I've had no issues with this one. It was what came on the bike when I bought it last year about this time. I've put 7400 miles on the bike since I bought it. Had the dealer put a new front on as part of the deal, an Exedra since that's what they had, but the rear was only maybe half done. Don't know how many miles was on it before I bought the bike.
I guess I'll not be going with Dunlop for new. Thinking about Avon instead, even though they cost more than Exedras.

I used to use Dunlop Elite II touring tires on my GW a few years back and they were the best for me back then. No problems with those at the time, usually was able to go about 20,000 miles on those before needing to replace. Liked the Pirelli tires on my Burgman 650, went about 11-12,000 miles on those. Will find out about what I like best on the ST.
 
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