RoadSmart IV

[NobodySpecial]

I recently put on a set of Dunlop Roadsmart IV tires on my 2004 ST1300 ABS. I really liked the RoadSmart III's (which are running around $250/set right now), but despite the substantially increased price (roughly +50 percent) over the III's I wanted to try the IV's. So far, I'm very happy with them. They scrubbed in beautifully.

For comparison, I've also run these tires:
40,500 - Pirelli Angel GT (180/55 rear). This is what was on the bike at purchase time.
42,500 (+2,000 miles) - Shinko Verge 011. Terrible. One tire was out of round, causing significant handlebar wobble. Replaced with new Pirelli Angel GTs. Used for a long Road Trip.
50,175 (+7,675 miles) - Continental RoadAttack 3
55,500 (+4,825 miles) - Dunlop RoadSmart III. Installing these was OK.
60,150 (+4,650 miles) - Bridgestone T32 GT. Installing these tires was painful.
64,900 (+4,750 miles) - Dunlop RoadSmart IV. Installing these was easy.

Impressions. The only one I wouldn't run again is the Continental. The Continentals started to seemingly disintegrate near the end of their life, and the Angel GTs cupped really badly. I replaced/refreshed the suspension at roughly 60K miles. Most of the riding is a mixture of around here and (typically) one road trip of 1,500 - 2,000 miles. Sometimes more.

I really like how the Dunlops feel. The Bridgestones are a bit stiff and you can really feel pavement issues. I have no loss of how things feel but the ride is better, in my opinion, with the Dunlops. I will say that the Dunlop RoadSmart III's are pretty sensitive to tire pressure. I have them on two bikes (plus the IV's on a third bike), and the difference between 38 psi and 42 psi in one of the smaller bikes is night and day. I run the RoadSmart IV's at 40-41 psi currently, but I'll try 42 psi shortly. I run/ran the III's at 42 on ST1100 and ST1300. The RoadSmart III's have been - so far - the most evenly wearing tires. However, looks can be deceiving. The T32 GT's looked like they had a boatload of tread left, but I'll replaced them w/2mm rear and 3mm front. So far, I have always replaced both tires at the same time.

My preference order as of today is:
Dunlop RoadSmart III or IV (can't decide yet)
Pirelli Angel GT
Bridgestone T32GT

I might go darkside one of these days to try it out, but I want to see how far these tires get me in terms of mileage. I do my own mounting and balancing. I do not use beads or balancing goo. I might try that someday.

I hope this helps somebody.

 

[cruzer1800]

Thanks for the post sharing the info! I just got a set of those IVs as well.. so far very happy with them. Nice and smooth, hope they hold up well. I added a TPMS setup and dual (T style) valve stems before balancing. Monitor and alerts on my phone now, quite slick.
Question for anyone listening... Running 42 psi front and rear at startup = about 49 - 50+psi when running on hot road in summer... is that ok or should I budget for increased pressure at temp and start base at lower psi?

 

[moorehouse77]

I'm having basically the same experience as you are. Ran 2 sets of RoadSmart III's and really liked them. This is the first set of RoadSmart IV's and they feel noticably more stable to me. Very planted in the corners all the way to the outside of the tire. They don't seem to catch edges on the freeway as much. I'm really happy with them.

 

[dduelin]

Thanks for the post sharing the info! I just got a set of those IVs as well.. so far very happy with them. Nice and smooth, hope they hold up well. I added a TPMS setup and dual (T style) valve stems before balancing. Monitor and alerts on my phone now, quite slick.
Question for anyone listening... Running 42 psi front and rear at startup = about 49 - 50+psi when running on hot road in summer... is that ok or should I budget for increased pressure at temp and start base at lower psi?

It's perfectly OK to see 49-50+ at speed in hot weather. If you run lower cold pressure looking for lower hot PSI it may paradoxically run higher PSI when hot because of increased heat from sidewall flexing.

 

[RobbieAG]

I bought a Roadsmart III to put on the front of my 1300 this winter. I'm hoping it'll last longer than the Bridgestone on there now (around 8k miles). I have them on my 2017 SV650 and they've done well so far.

 

[bstig60]

I bought a Roadsmart III to put on the front of my 1300 this winter. I'm hoping it'll last longer than the Bridgestone on there now (around 8k miles). I have them on my 2017 SV650 and they've done well so far.

It depends on riding style, but I have a lll on the front of my 1300 and it has over 12k miles on it and there is still life in it. I Have a ll on the rear that is about ready to change with a little more than 13k miles on it. I have a lll setting in the garage to replace it.

 

[RobbieAG]

It depends on riding style, but I have a lll on the front of my 1300 and it has over 12k miles on it and there is still life in it. I Have a ll on the rear that is about ready to change with a little more than 13k miles on it. I have a lll setting in the garage to replace it.

I hope I do as well!

 

[billo]

I've had the II, III and now the IV. The 4 is the best handling so far. I recently went "a bit fast" and they were fine under acceleration. For the first time ever I got the dreaded weave on shut down. Kinda scary but I'll keep them and control my right wrist. Web search shows some users have stability problems with this tire. Fair warning.

 

[NobodySpecial]

Other than the original roadsmart (which is en entirely different beastie than later tires), I don't think the wiggle has much to do with the tire itself and much more to do with:
1. suspension - setting your rear shock preload helps a ton. Now that I have replaced/upgraded the suspension (front and rear) I haven't experienced any shenanigans as you describe
2. windshield
3. top-box on or off
4. boxes loaded, unloaded, or unevenly loaded
5. speed
6. cross winds
7. tractor trailers

But mostly i think it's the first 5 of these. The worst I experienced for "weave" was behind semi trailers, fully loaded, with the Angel GT tires. I used this as an opportunity to futz about with the rear preload (per @Igofar) and that helped immensely.

I scoured the web and couldn't find any reports of such issues with the RS 2, RS 3, or RS 4. /shrug

The RS4 is still the best tire I've run on this bike yet.
I'm running a Metzeler Z8 right now, but it's got a weird harmonic vibration, I think. I bought 'em because I was short of funds and they were cheap. The rear is the 'A'-spec 180/55. It was a bear to mount. Time will tell, but I'm going to guess that I'll go back to the RS4 (or whatever Dunlop has in a year).

 

[Mellow]

I'm running a Metzeler Z8 right now, but it's got a weird harmonic vibration, I think.

Might want to check and see that your u-joint isn't going bad... put on the center stand and spin the tire and see if you can here any thing odd other than just the pads against the rotors... and if it spins and when the tire stops it kinda goes back the other direction before resting, you might have a u-joint binding and ready to give up soon.

 

[NobodySpecial]

Might want to check and see that your u-joint isn't going bad... put on the center stand and spin the tire and see if you can here any thing odd other than just the pads against the rotors... and if it spins and when the tire stops it kinda goes back the other direction before resting, you might have a u-joint binding and ready to give up soon.

Thanks for the heads-up! I am part-way through a large end-of-season service (brake caliper clean, install speedbleeders (brakes only) + bleed the system (brakes + clutch), new pads, new tires, some bodywork changes, and currently the tank has been drained and removed in prep for what I hope are the last two coolant hoses; the ones that go to the oil cooler. If I'm feeling extra ambitious, the right bank could use a valve adjustment). I always check stuff like the driveshaft/u-joint but when I head back out into the garage to continue working on things later today I'll definitely check for u-joint noises/binding/etc. When I did the output shaft seal a few years ago (that was not fun) I had the driveshaft out and it felt and looked fantastic. Having grown up in a service station, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that a part that is good now might go bad in three minutes. That's life.

 

[Igofar]

The metzeler tires were known to have a strange vibration and noise on these bikes.
Several folks who tried them, took them off half way through their tire life because of this.

 

[dduelin]

Might want to check and see that your u-joint isn't going bad... put on the center stand and spin the tire and see if you can here any thing odd other than just the pads against the rotors... and if it spins and when the tire stops it kinda goes back the other direction before resting, you might have a u-joint binding and ready to give up soon.

Another way to check for any notchiness in the u-joint is to open some clearance between the brake pads and the rotor (so there is no pad drag) and start the bike in neutral on the center stand. The rear wheel should start a slow even rotation just from the oil drag on the transmission shafts. If there is a notch or rough spot the wheel will stop or show a catch in rotation.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I'm running a Metzeler Z8 right now, but it's got a weird harmonic vibration, I think. I bought 'em because I was short of funds and they were cheap. The rear is the 'A'-spec 180/55. It was a bear to mount. Time will tell, but I'm going to guess that I'll go back to the RS4 (or whatever Dunlop has in a year).

Seems to be a common complaint with the Z8, and not just on the ST1300.
Here is example from @Catmandu2- Harmonic Vibration.

 

[ASPC]

I've had the II, III and now the IV. The 4 is the best handling so far. I recently went "a bit fast" and they were fine under acceleration. For the first time ever I got the dreaded weave on shut down. Kinda scary but I'll keep them and control my right wrist. Web search shows some users have stability problems with this tire. Fair warning.

My 07 doesn’t like Dunlop Roadmart 4. My bike was very stable at any speed and conditions on Metzeler Z8. There was a harmonic vibration using the Z8 at certain engine speeds, regardless of gear. I think it is around 3K rpm. In high winds the Dunlops are not stable. I much prefer the Metzelers. I may just put a Z8 on the front. The harmonic vibration is caused by the rear tire. The vibration lessens with tire pressure and wear. It looks like I could run 36 psi on the rear, it was 38. The front was 40 psi. These are hard tires, and hard to change. The Dunlops are soft and easy to change. I will not use Dunlops again.

Almost 10K on these Z8s. Lots of twisties and interstate.

 

[Catmandu2]

There was a harmonic vibration using the Z8 at certain engine speeds

Those pic's bring back memories of my Z8 rear experience. I got decent mileage out of it as well,, but when it hits the wear bars,,, that's it,,, cords will be showing right around the next corner. As I recall, the harmonic vibration became minimal around 5k km's. But that problem, which is also documented by other sport touring classes (fjr, rt1200, concourse), is enough that I would never buy another rear z8. But on the front,, the Z8 is still my preference. On the back,, I still go with the Metz Roadtech-01 for a couple of years now. So very happy with that combo. Cheers,, CAt'

 

[ReSTored]

Just put on my 2nd set of Dunlop RoadSmart III tires on the Tracer GT. Got 14,000 km (about 8,600 miles) out of them, so relatively long life.Tread depth when new measured 9/32nds vs. the norm of most tires of 6 or 7/32ths.

Used to getting 8,000 - 9,000 km out of a set of tires on the ST but much heavier bike than the Tracer and the Tracer uses larger tires. (180 / 55 vs. 160 / 70 )

RoadSmart III is a good tire, long life and good traction in corners and in the wet.

 

[Mellow]

Just put on my 2nd set of Dunlop RoadSmart III tires on the Tracer GT. Got 14,000 km (about 8,600 miles) out of them, so relatively long life.Tread depth when new measured 9/32nds vs. the norm of most tires of 6 or 7/32ths.

Used to getting 8,000 - 9,000 km out of a set of tires on the ST but much heavier bike than the Tracer and the Tracer uses larger tires. (180 / 55 vs. 160 / 70 )

RoadSmart III is a good tire, long life and good traction in corners and in the wet.

And... a good price on these while available... I just put my 1st RS3 rear tire back on, 5,500 miles so far but they look good.. I have some RS4s ready and another cheap set of RS3s so will be interesting to compare the 2.

 

[Al st1100]

Just put on my 2nd set of Dunlop RoadSmart III tires on the Tracer GT. Got 14,000 km (about 8,600 miles) out of them, so relatively long life.Tread depth when new measured 9/32nds vs. the norm of most tires of 6 or 7/32ths.

Used to getting 8,000 - 9,000 km out of a set of tires on the ST but much heavier bike than the Tracer and the Tracer uses larger tires. (180 / 55 vs. 160 / 70 )

RoadSmart III is a good tire, long life and good traction in corners and in the wet.

both tires have same load rating, the 160 is taller but the 180 is wider.

 

[Mophead]

Have run several sets of RSIII. I will go to RSIV when the RS5 come out. Too much price difference for me to go with the new one yet.