Rear Tire Splitting

[BlueStreak07]

This has finally come to a conclusion. I'll have to say Michelin was great to work with in dealing with the cracks in the tire tread. After a couple emails and phone calls, they are reimbursing me for 25% of the cost to replace both my tires. In my conversations with their customer service rep, I was advised that Michelin does not recommend the MC II's for Vulcans newer then the 2004 1500's. Certainly I was surprised to hear this since on every Vulcan Forum I am on there are a lot of folks using them on their 1700's. I replaced the MC IIs with Metzeler ME 888 Marathon Ultras.

[Chuck A.]

Was running the Commander II's for a few years but the rear was cupping bad by 8000 miles. I tend to test the grip in the corners. So far I am really liking the 888's on the '04 1500 and the '14 Voyager.

[smokier]

Originally Posted by Nomad2010

(Snip)... In my conversations with their customer service rep, I was advised that Michelin does not recommend the MC II's for Vulcans newer then the 2004 1500's. Certainly I was surprised to hear this since on every Vulcan Forum I am on there are a lot of folks using them on their 1700's. ...(Snip)

Glad you had a good experience with Michelin.
I am *REALLY* interested in WHY they stated MCII's are not recommended on newer Vulcan's ?!?! Weight? "Size"?
Did you ask why, did they state why?

As for the mileage you achieved, that is awesome! Congratulations!
Riding style and tire pressure definitely impact tire life. So do the type of roads ridden on. In Arkansas Ozarks they use a "chip-n-seal" which is rough, gritty and great for traction, hard on tire life. In SW Wisconsin, some of the secondaries use a black "seal-coat" which is very gritty. It's also very pretty when fresh and the sunlight is shining on it. It too eats up tires. In central Iowa, the asphalt is smooth as a babies bottom. If all the miles were on that type of surface, those kind of miles wouldn't be uncommon (IMO). I am not in construction, these are the terms local riders and shops used while in their areas. (Hell "Seal Coat" and Chip-n-Seal" may be the exact same process... )

I too run 40 PSI front and rear, and check pressure often. Getting 20K+ on the front happens frequently. The best the rears have done for me is middle teens...

Again, congratulations on the mileage and the good experience with Michelin!

Ride safe,
Smokier

[redjay]

As is the case with any tires you can get a bad tire. Tires are assembled from parts by people using a tire building machine. The bead, the liner, the sidewall and the tread are all separate parts that are pressed together on the tire building machine before the tires go for curing in the mold. Things can go wrong during the manufacture of the component parts and in the assembly process. Not every completed tire is individually inspected.
Alternatively the tire could be to specification but other factors have caused it to fail.

[BlueStreak07]

Originally Posted by smokier

Glad you had a good experience with Michelin.
I am *REALLY* interested in WHY they stated MCII's are not recommended on newer Vulcan's ?!?! Weight? "Size"?
Did you ask why, did they state why?

As for the mileage you achieved, that is awesome! Congratulations!
Riding style and tire pressure definitely impact tire life. So do the type of roads ridden on. In Arkansas Ozarks they use a "chip-n-seal" which is rough, gritty and great for traction, hard on tire life. In SW Wisconsin, some of the secondaries use a black "seal-coat" which is very gritty. It's also very pretty when fresh and the sunlight is shining on it. It too eats up tires. In central Iowa, the asphalt is smooth as a babies bottom. If all the miles were on that type of surface, those kind of miles wouldn't be uncommon (IMO). I am not in construction, these are the terms local riders and shops used while in their areas. (Hell "Seal Coat" and Chip-n-Seal" may be the exact same process... )

I too run 40 PSI front and rear, and check pressure often. Getting 20K+ on the front happens frequently. The best the rears have done for me is middle teens...

Again, congratulations on the mileage and the good experience with Michelin!

Ride safe,
Smokier

I talked with several of the Michelin Reps about why they didn't recommend the MC II's for Vulcan's Newer that the 2004 1500's, but they would only say that's what their engineering dept tells them. I would suspect that it's the bike weight plus the load you can put on them. As far as mileage on the tires, I've seen posts on the forums where members have gotten 20K plus out of the Michelin's. I did like the ride they gave me. The roads around here for the most part are pretty good except for pot hole season. I was running 32 psi in the front and 38 in the back. Most comments on the forums I've seen recommend 2 to 4 psi above what the owners manual states. I replaced both the front (got 15k out it) and back (18+K). I replaced them with Metzeler ME 888 Marathon Ultra I bought.

[Tortuga]

I'm at 16,400 on my rear Comm 2. Mild cupping. 40psi. Probably 95% riding two up on chip seal roads. Being in AZ, wet riding is not a big issue as the rains come at a time when daily temps are between 95°-110°. I've only been in the rain a few times but had no issues.

[Tortuga]

Oops, mines a Nomad. Wrong forum.

[andyvh1959]

Three things to combine and ruin a tire: 1. Pressure too low, 2. Loading too high, 3. Heat in the tire, caused largely by the first two items.

Pressure too low causes excessive flexing in the tire carcass, which leads to heat buildup. Loading too high causes excessive, adding to the heat buildup. On a heavy bike like a Vulcan I'd never run the tires below 40 psi, probably more like 42 front and 44 rear. Load, meaning the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) just because its a big cruiser doesn't mean it can take all loads. Many touring bikes are over loaded. A VN1600 Classic weighs about 725lbs with no added options. The chassis load rating is about 500lbs, so two people and some gear could easily meet the load limit.

Low tire pressure, high chassis load, and tire heat leads to short tire life, or possible other not as common failure modes.

Tire cupping I suspect can also be caused by lack of suspension damping. My 94 BMW R1100RS (shaft drive also) had the original shocks at 120,000 miles and I'd get terrible tire cupping by 8,000 miles on any brand of tire. I changed the shocks to high quality Wilbers units and, now at nearly 70,000 miles on the bike with the Wilbers shocks, and four sets of tires of various brands, I get almost NO cupping even to the point of changing out the tires when the wear bars show in the tread. When I change out the sport touring tires at 12,000+ miles there is very little cupping effect.

[BlueStreak07]

With the crappy weather we've been having I have gotten about 1000 miles on the Metzeler ME 888 Marathon Ultras. So far I'm very pleased with the way they handle. I'll keep the recommendations for the tire pressure in mind when we load up for our travels next year.

[Rog749]

I can tell you why Michelin doesn't recommend their tire for the newer Vulcans. It's the tire size and liability issues. Michelin doesn't make the tire size that Kawasaki recommends. I know the size difference is barely enough to notice but here's a scenario for you. If you're riding your Vulcan with their tire and it has a failure causing a crash, damage, injuries, blah, blah, blah they aren't at fault because you failed to go with the bike maker's recommended size. Every company does what they can to lessen their chances of a big pay out.

With that being said I don't know why Michelin doesn't make the recommended size for Vulcans. It appears many like them and if they made the right size I'm sure they would snag even more Vulcan customers.