Another Dunlop blister

Coming home from Tulare, Ca on Hwy 99 today, front of the ST1300 was not doing well. Had an unusual vibration. I looked at the wheel shadow and could see a "shadow" of something not right with the tire. I pulled off a Tipton, and looked a the tire.
There was a large blister on the front tire. It appeared to be sticking up about 1", and was about 12" long.
I was 50 miles from home, and decided to baby it in. Though it is kind of hard to baby anything on Hwy 99.
I decided to take the back roads, and kept the speed at about 30 mph. It added 15 miles to my route, and took me almost 3 hours instead of my normal 1 hour.
When I got home and checked the tire, I could see cracks in the compound down in the tread groove caused by the expansion of the blister.
Tire has a bit over 10000 miles on it, and is just starting to hit some of the wear bars.

Wow I am glad it did not just blow out on you. Go for another brand of tires this time.

Glad you were able to get it home.

I was on a two week road trip through Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
My previous BT020 rear lasted 10000 miles and thought I was safe with 4500 on the replacement BT020 before I left but the heat and a lot of the back roads took it's toll and I had to start looking for a replacement in Colorado. The only one I could find was a Roadsmart in Grand Junction. I now have 2500 miles on it. It is kind of unnerving hearing the stories about the Roadsmart front tires. I've asked this on another thread, has anybody ever had a problem with a Dunlop rear? Should I be worried?

Big Red said:

Which Dunlop do you have Sailorman?

Click to expand...

I have the Dunlop Roadsmart Sportmax. I already have its replacement here. I got a front and rear Bridgestone 023 a couple of months ago when Cycle Gear had their intro sale. So, first thing in the morning, off it comes and down to Cycle Gear to get replaced.

Same thing happened to me and several others as you know from the previous Roadsmart thread. I don't know which Government agency has authority to ban sale of tires (maybe DOT?), but the sale of Dunlop Roadsmart front tires should be outlawed. It is a severe safety hazard.

NorCal_Ed said:

I was on a two week road trip through Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
My previous BT020 rear lasted 10000 miles and thought I was safe with 4500 on the replacement BT020 before I left but the heat and a lot of the back roads took it's toll and I had to start looking for a replacement in Colorado. The only one I could find was a Roadsmart in Grand Junction. I now have 2500 miles on it. It is kind of unnerving hearing the stories about the Roadsmart front tires. I've asked this on another thread, has anybody ever had a problem with a Dunlop rear? Should I be worried?

Click to expand...

I can't say it hasn't happened on a rear roadsmart as I don't remember seeing a post about one, I just see it more prominent on the fronts.

You may be fine with the rear tire. I would just pull over quickly if you feel any strange handling issues and change the tire when you're ready.

I'm not a fan of Dunlops that's for sure.

There have been no reports of failures on rear RoadSmarts on this or the other two ST oriented forums. I wonder if the soft compound (the front is a single compound, only the rear is dual compound) in the center of the front is a factor? They are wonderful tires, until a piece comes loose...