My Recent Dunlop Roadsmart Experience

[8_Ball]

I purchased my 2007 ST1300 last October. It was a pre-owned bike with approximately 16,000 miles on the clock. As of today it now has 18,077 miles. I have no idea how many miles are on my current set of Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart tires, but the tread looked to have quite a bit of wear to go before replacement would be necessary.

This evening I was riding home from visiting family who live an hour away. Cruising at 70 MPH I noticed a little vibration that seemed to be coming from the front end of the bike. This was very unusual, because my ST1300 is a very smooth bike, and I thought maybe I had a balance issue that had developed on the front wheel. The vibration increased very quickly and I decided that I needed to pull over to see what was going on.

Upon slowing down to stop, the front end seemed to be bouncing a LOT. I looked at the front wheel and tire, and at first look everything appeared to be fine. On closer inspection a section of the front tire seemed to be bulging...a section of the tread about 8-9 inches long. This portion of the tire was extremely hot...much hotter than the rest of the tire.

I arranged for a tow to get the bike home, and my 60 minute ride turned into a 3 1/2 hour excursion. The bike tow was arranged via my Road America road side assistance, which paid off big time, and the truck and crew that was dispatched did an excellent job getting my bike and me home safe and sound.

Now, after doing some searching and reading on the forum, I see that I am not alone in having a bad experience with the Dunlop Roadsmart front tire...I only wish I had paid more attention to the known issues with this tire. My tire was manufactured in August of 2008 which puts it in the time frame of the known tire issues.

At this point I appear to be beyond the end date to get a replacement tire from Dunlop...which is actually ok with me. Frankly, I don't think I could feel comfortable with a Dunlop replacement tire after this experience anyway.

So...I consider myself VERY fortunate to have gotten the bike off the road and safely stopped before the tire failed. I am glad that I was able to get the bike home in good shape...other than the failed front tire.

After looking around the forum, the Michelin Pilot Road 2's seem to be a popular choice for ST1300 replacement tires and I am leaning toward purchasing a set of them.

Anyone care to give their opinion on the PR2's or other replacement tires that provide good grip and good wear characteristics?

 

[JasonFJ]

I got 8,000 from a set of PR2's, and almost 10,000 from the set of Bridgestone BT-023's I just replaced today. The Michellins developed a rather annoying howl when leaned over once they were almost worn completely out, but that was really the only negative I can give them. Both are great choices.

 

[wjbertrand]

The Michelins are currently my favorites, can't go wrong. Had a Dunlop front fail on me in almost the exact way you describe, sworn off them now.

 

[akSTeve]

I just removed a Roadsmart with only 500 miles on it with that same date code and exchanged it with Dunlop. I sure hope that they have fixed their problem.

I am presently running a PR2 on the front as a replacement and it's working great. I am curious to see if it wears as evenly as the Roadsmarts.

 

[HillnTx]

Call Dunlop and see if they will still replace it. Call Rob with Dunlop at 716-879-8200, or Customer service at 800-845-8378.

If anyone else has a front Roadsmart with an 07 or 08 date code, you might want to get them replaced.

 

[Two Brothers]

Glad things came out ok. The Dunlop's are bad news on this. If you have a Dunlop on your bike please check it out. I think the time frame on getting them replaced is over with but you can try. It took a lot of yelling and screaming to get Dunlop to admit they had a problem. They have really damaged their name and lots of die hard customer have went to another brand. I worked really hard on getting them to come celan and express my opinon everytime I got to see someone in person or on the phone.

I took a local car tire Dunlop guy to get the help we needed on this. Phil seemed to get it to the right person.

GUYS CHECK YOUR DUNLOPS!!!

 

[peterz]

Just like Hillin said, call Dunlop, my Roadsmart was past the date,but they took care of it for me. If it helps, use your dealer if you can thats what i did

 

[8_Ball]

I ordered a new set of PR2's today from the Keel Brothers... I am going to go ahead and replace the rear Dunlop along with the failed front tire. At this point, even if Dunlop offered up a free replacement tire I would turn it down.

I am done with Dunlop tires after this close call...I can't tell you how fortunate I feel every time I think about how close I came to a catastrophic failure (at 70 MPH) on that front tire. I won't have a vehicle (2 wheeled or 4 wheeled) from this point on running Dunlops. There are just too many other options out there for tire choices for me to put any more money in the Dunlop tire company corporate pockets.

Having said all that, I also accept some responsibility for this occurrence, since I should have been more informed on the issues with this tire, including the fact that my ST was running a set of them. Hopefully this situation will cause me to be more informed and attentive to ST's in general and mine in particular.

And belated thanks to Keel Brothers for getting Dunlop to accept some responsibility for their failing front tires...but sorry that it took so much effort on your part to get Dunlop to accept that these tire failures were not coincidental.

 

[Two Brothers]

I ordered a new set of PR2's today from the Keel Brothers... I am going to go ahead and replace the rear Dunlop along with the failed front tire. At this point, even if Dunlop offered up a free replacement tire I would turn it down.

I am done with Dunlop tires after this close call...I can't tell you how fortunate I feel every time I think about how close I came to a catastrophic failure (at 70 MPH) on that front tire. I won't have a vehicle (2 wheeled or 4 wheeled) from this point on running Dunlops. There are just too many other options out there for tire choices for me to put any more money in the Dunlop tire company corporate pockets.

Having said all that, I also accept some responsibility for this occurrence, since I should have been more informed on the issues with this tire, including the fact that my ST was running a set of them. Hopefully this situation will cause me to be more informed and attentive to ST's in general and mine in particular.

And belated thanks to Keel Brothers for getting Dunlop to accept some responsibility for their failing front tires...but sorry that it took so much effort on your part to get Dunlop to accept that these tire failures were not coincidental.

Sent this morning they should be there soon. Thanks again Tim

 

[8_Ball]

Sent this morning they should be there soon. Thanks again Tim

Thanks for letting me know Tim...I will be on the lookout for them.

Steve

 

[8_Ball]

Ordered my new tires early on Monday morning...the tires were dropped at my front door late Wednesday evening. Hoping to get the tires mounted tomorrow, or Friday. With any luck, I will be back on the road before the weekend

Great price on the tires and exceptionally fast delivery..thanks again Keel Brothers!

 

[ndttech]

Put a set of Roadsmarts on last summer and have approx 12,000km on them (front was newer manufacturing date than the recall/replacement). Quick measurement shows 1.48mm left on the front and 2.80mm on the rear. This is the first time I have had a front tire wear down quicker than a rear. Think I am going to replace them with a set of PR2's....Don't want to take a chance on the PR3's considering the massive recall for the PR2 earlier adopters....

brian