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D609 Tires Longevity

vancesmith

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Hi. I bought my 2018 nc 750x last sept. I now have 2700 miles and the D609 in the rear is showing wear in the center. Not sure how many miles are left but I will probably be lucky to get 4000 miles on it. How many miles did everyone get out of their oem d609s?
 
Thanks Thunder. I didn't want to believe all the stuff I read about these tires but it's true that the D609 tires have a microscopic average lifespan I guess. I hope you get many miles out of your road 5's and I am seriously thinking about them too.
 
Didn't like Road 4 feel and handling, so I continue to use Avon Trailrider which do exceptionally well at any temperature and wetness, transition better, do better off pavement, and last just as long (for me, on the surfaces around here). I like the sporty tip-in and feel – they are truly a pleasure to ride even when the road is inundated by hard rainfall. I also like having a surer indication of tire life via tread pattern in the center. Curiosity rears its head for the upcoming rear tire change though, wondering if the 5 does everything better than the 4 did...

BTW, I've read that OEM versions of many tires are NOT always the same as that model of tire as sold separately, often with downgraded longevity, to simplify what goes on in the industry. this vid also leads me to believe that can be true:
 
Good video. I don't think Dunlop even makes D609s for aftermarket sale. The NC and the 500 still come with them though, at least as of 2019. Hate for something to happen to the warehouse where they keep those . Isn't there a manufactured date on them somewhere?
 
I was lucky; when I bought my NC it had Bridgestone BT023 on it and they handled nicely and lasted more than twice as long ; } ...Bridgestone has some good choices available.
 
Good video. I don't think Dunlop even makes D609s for aftermarket sale. The NC and the 500 still come with them though, at least as of 2019. Hate for something to happen to the warehouse where they keep those . Isn't there a manufactured date on them somewhere?
All tires should have a manufacture date code. Look for a 4 digit code on the sidewall, indicating the week and year of manufacture.
 
Replaced my D609s at 4400 miles. Had a little life left in them for in-town commuting, maybe.
New Shinko 705s are on it now to start the riding season this year.

JT
 
Replaced my D609s at 4400 miles. Had a little life left in them for in-town commuting, maybe.
New Shinko 705s are on it now to start the riding season this yet.
Thanks JT. I just got a second opinion on mine and it's looking like 3500 miles is about all I'm going to get. Honda and Dunlop got over on me there. I had fair warning too as I didn't want to believe what I read on some internet boards, and, really, if you want a 750 x, you don't have much choice in the matter.
I got a quote on the Michelin Road 5's and they were quite high, at that shop anyway. I will look into the Shinko's but I think I emailed Shinko and they emailed me back saying they didn't have them in that size here in the U.S. I'll check into it again though.
 
I'm a relative noob in road riding and an occasional gravel road is the most off pavement my NC750X is likely to see. I was stunned at how fast the OEM tires wore down, but in retrospect, around 4000 miles was all I could squeeze out of the Dunlop tires on the a rebel 500 both OEM and the next replacement. We've had a relatively mild winter here and I've put about 1000 miles on the Road 5 tires and you can hardly tell there scuffed in. I'm hoping to get 8000 miles at least before they need a swap out. So far the Road 5 have lived up to every review I've seen, handle great, corner great, wet grip is great, I've only not ridden in a torrent, yet. I installed them myself and the money saved bought the tools and balance stand in one change out. Unless something where to drastically happen to change my mind, Road 5 will go on again!
 
Thanks Thunder. I didn't want to believe all the stuff I read about these tires but it's true that the D609 tires have a microscopic average lifespan I guess. I hope you get many miles out of your road 5's and I am seriously thinking about them too.

I've always heard (and read) that oem tires are different (cheaper made) than if you were to get online and buy a D609 from a Dunlop distributor, unless you buy the particular model D609 branded as oem equipment for the NC. A lot of tires come this way. You can buy the regular tire and then you can buy the one that came factory on the bike, and even though they look the same, they are made differently. Some for cruisers, I believe, the oem model can be made a little heavier duty than the regular model tire to accommodate the weight of the bike and luggage in it's intended application.

The 2007 ZX10R I bought brand new back in the day, the rear Dunlop Sportmax Whatever Model lasted 2k miles and was shot, and I never spun it whatsoever.

And my tidbit on the Pilot Road 5's.....I had a set on my NC when I bought it. Great riding and gripping tires, however, I'm not a fan of the Michelin ACT (Adaptive Casing Technology). Tire has a softer carcass for improved contact patch, but doesn't do much for inspiring confidence cornering low. I didn't realize how much it affected my confidence cornering until I swapped to Dunlop Q3+ hypersport tires. My riding style is far more aggressive than most here, so you may not have issue with the PR5's. The Power RS street/track tire has the same ACT Technology, and pro racer Ben Spies described the Power RS's as "feels like riding on rain tires on dry track", and that's exactly how I'd describe what I felt with the PR5's when really cornering hard and trying to maintain a consistent line through a curve. The Dunlop Q3+ has a stiffer carcass and feels like I'm riding on rails, I love the feedback. But that tire probably wouldn't last but 4-5k miles under normal street riding conditions.

My buddy with the Ducati Multistrada Pike's Peak edition put a set of PR5's on his bike and swapped them for Pirelli Angel GT's not long after, he didn't like the feel either. But there again, he's an ex WERA racer and rides hard like I do in the twisties. Everyday sport riding, the PR5's are great and wear great.
 
Yeah. You've talked me out of trying a PR5 this time around. Sounds too much like the PR4, and I know I can get as many miles on the Avon and enjoy it a lot more.
 
Yeah. You've talked me out of trying a PR5 this time around. Sounds too much like the PR4, and I know I can get as many miles on the Avon and enjoy it a lot more.

Unless you are really pushing through the twisties, I doubt you'd ever notice what I'm talking about, so take what I say about them with a grain of salt. I put over 2k miles on the ones I had. Never really thought much bad about them until I went down to Cheaha State Park with my Ducati buddy and tried keeping up with him. The curves through there are fast and long, similar to track curves. Riding hard on the road sucks because you have a narrow lane to stay in vs a 30-45' wide racetrack. I had trouble maintaining good lines through the curves when really pushing it. Rear tire never really felt planted.

World of difference when I swapped to the Dunlops Q3+. Now the PR5 isn't made for what the Q3+ is made for, so I'm not comparing them...but swapping fixed the problem I had with the PR5's.

I really like those Angel GT's, if I were looking for long lasting and good grip, I'd be eyeballing them pretty hard.
 
I've always heard (and read) that oem tires are different (cheaper made) than if you were to get online and buy a D609 from a Dunlop distributor, unless you buy the particular model D609 branded as oem equipment for the NC. A lot of tires come this way. You can buy the regular tire and then you can buy the one that came factory on the bike, and even though they look the same, they are made differently. Some for cruisers, I believe, the oem model can be made a little heavier duty than the regular model tire to accommodate the weight of the bike and luggage in it's intended application.

The 2007 ZX10R I bought brand new back in the day, the rear Dunlop Sportmax Whatever Model lasted 2k miles and was shot, and I never spun it whatsoever.

And my tidbit on the Pilot Road 5's.....I had a set on my NC when I bought it. Great riding and gripping tires, however, I'm not a fan of the Michelin ACT (Adaptive Casing Technology). Tire has a softer carcass for improved contact patch, but doesn't do much for inspiring confidence cornering low. I didn't realize how much it affected my confidence cornering until I swapped to Dunlop Q3+ hypersport tires. My riding style is far more aggressive than most here, so you may not have issue with the PR5's. The Power RS street/track tire has the same ACT Technology, and pro racer Ben Spies described the Power RS's as "feels like riding on rain tires on dry track", and that's exactly how I'd describe what I felt with the PR5's when really cornering hard and trying to maintain a consistent line through a curve. The Dunlop Q3+ has a stiffer carcass and feels like I'm riding on rails, I love the feedback. But that tire probably wouldn't last but 4-5k miles under normal street riding conditions.

My buddy with the Ducati Multistrada Pike's Peak edition put a set of PR5's on his bike and swapped them for Pirelli Angel GT's not long after, he didn't like the feel either. But there again, he's an ex WERA racer and rides hard like I do in the twisties. Everyday sport riding, the PR5's are great and wear great.
I remember a while back someone measured the tread depth on a new OEM Dunlop that came on the bike and then again on a replacement Dunlop. The OEM had less tread than the replacement tire.
OEM tires are often made to hit a price point.

JT
 
I remember a while back someone measured the tread depth on a new OEM Dunlop that came on the bike and then again on a replacement Dunlop. The OEM had less tread than the replacement tire.
OEM tires are often made to hit a price point.

JT

Yep, and I'm sure the compound is different as well.

Even knowing this, the Bridgestone Battlax tires that came factory on half the sportbikes back in late 2000's ruined my outlook on Bridgestone LOL. Always heard everyone complaining about how bad they sucked, didn't grip good, wore out fast, just a terrible tire. That burned into my brain that Bridgestone sucks, even though I know they have some solid performers in their tire lineup....but I still to this day have never ran a single Bridgestone tire and probably never will. Kinda like the Ford/Chevy debate, I hate anything Bridgestone lol.
 
I had OEM Bridgestone tires on my CR-V. They were racing slicks at 20K miles. I don’t buy Bridgestone tires for my cars.

I did get Bridgestones as OEM on my ST1300. Those wore ok. I replaced the set at 9700 miles. I recently bought a new set of Bridgestones for it when they had the $60 per set rebate. Only 4K on the rear so far. Front is not mounted yet (still have some life in previous PR4).

JT

JT
 
I've always heard (and read) that oem tires are different (cheaper made) than if you were to get online and buy a D609 from a Dunlop distributor, unless you buy the particular model D609 branded as oem equipment for the NC. A lot of tires come this way. You can buy the regular tire and then you can buy the one that came factory on the bike, and even though they look the same, they are made differently. Some for cruisers, I believe, the oem model can be made a little heavier duty than the regular model tire to accommodate the weight of the bike and luggage in it's intended application.

The 2007 ZX10R I bought brand new back in the day, the rear Dunlop Sportmax Whatever Model lasted 2k miles and was shot, and I never spun it whatsoever.

And my tidbit on the Pilot Road 5's.....I had a set on my NC when I bought it. Great riding and gripping tires, however, I'm not a fan of the Michelin ACT (Adaptive Casing Technology). Tire has a softer carcass for improved contact patch, but doesn't do much for inspiring confidence cornering low. I didn't realize how much it affected my confidence cornering until I swapped to Dunlop Q3+ hypersport tires. My riding style is far more aggressive than most here, so you may not have issue with the PR5's. The Power RS street/track tire has the same ACT Technology, and pro racer Ben Spies described the Power RS's as "feels like riding on rain tires on dry track", and that's exactly how I'd describe what I felt with the PR5's when really cornering hard and trying to maintain a consistent line through a curve. The Dunlop Q3+ has a stiffer carcass and feels like I'm riding on rails, I love the feedback. But that tire probably wouldn't last but 4-5k miles under normal street riding conditions.

My buddy with the Ducati Multistrada Pike's Peak edition put a set of PR5's on his bike and swapped them for Pirelli Angel GT's not long after, he didn't like the feel either. But there again, he's an ex WERA racer and rides hard like I do in the twisties. Everyday sport riding, the PR5's are great and wear great.
I'm with you. I am not a fan of Michelins on dry pavement and I'm not a racer or ex-racer though I get down the road pretty well. They seem to always require a mid turn correction or two to hold my chosen line and the only time they feel really good is on wet pavement. I've tried the original Pilot Roads, the Pilot Road 2, and the PR3, the latter on both a long term ST1300 (I went through approximately 26 rear tires during the time I owned that bike, primarily Bridgestone BT023s to T31s) and my 2012 NC700X and they all did it plus the odd lumpy wear and noise from the lumpy wear patterns. The odd thing is that I think it is primarily the rear tire that contributes to the squishy vague cornering feedback. On the NC700X I tried the PR3's thinking it might be the weight and handling dynamics of the ST1300 that overtaxed the soft sidewalls and the PR3s would be great on the lighter weight NC but that was not the case. On the NC the rear PR3 was eventually worn to lumpiness and the front still had good 50% tread so I bought a rear Pilot Power 2CT I got a bargain price on. That NC was transformed in the dry and the rear tire never gave me pause in the wet. I did like that combo but the I sold the bike before needing to replace the tires. I surmise it was the rear tire feeding the vagueness. Bridgestones never gave these problems for me and I ran these almost exclusively after giving up on PR3s. The Bridgestones exhibit better cornering stability, they handle side to side transitions much better and the T30s Evos and T31s aren't far behind the Michelins in the wet.

The 2015 NC came on the OEM Dunlops which were quickly replaced by 35,000 miles of BS T30s and T31s. I recently sold that bike and bought a BMW RT that was shod with Pilot 5s. I can tell you that they exhibit the same problems as before. Squishy ride and lumpy wear. The tires had 4500 miles on them when I bought the bike and now at 7500 miles they still have about 40% of tread left but I can hardly stand them. The BMW has the Telelever front end and it's feedback is vague compared to a good traditional fork to start with and the Michelins hobble it even more. I will replace the P5s with Bridgestone T31s.
 
I had OEM Bridgestone tires on my CR-V. They were racing slicks at 20K miles. I don’t buy Bridgestone tires for my cars.

I did get Bridgestones as OEM on my ST1300. Those wore ok. I replaced the set at 9700 miles. I recently bought a new set of Bridgestones for it when they had the $60 per set rebate. Only 4K on the rear so far. Front is not mounted yet (still have some life in previous PR4).

JT

JT

Ok, maybe I lied....just remembered when I first bought my cruiser (used) it still had oem Bridgestone Exedra tires on it, but they were shot and I replaced within the first 1k miles I put on it. LOL
 
I'm with you. I am not a fan of Michelins on dry pavement and I'm not a racer or ex-racer though I get down the road pretty well. They seem to always require a mid turn correction or two to hold my chosen line and the only time they feel really good is on wet pavement. I've tried the original Pilot Roads, the Pilot Road 2, and the PR3, the latter on both a long term ST1300 (I went through approximately 26 rear tires during the time I owned that bike, primarily Bridgestone BT023s to T31s) and my 2012 NC700X and they all did it plus the odd lumpy wear and noise from the lumpy wear patterns. The odd thing is that I think it is primarily the rear tire that contributes to the squishy vague cornering feedback. On the NC700X I tried the PR3's thinking it might be the weight and handling dynamics of the ST1300 that overtaxed the soft sidewalls and the PR3s would be great on the lighter weight NC but that was not the case. On the NC the rear PR3 was eventually worn to lumpiness and the front still had good 50% tread so I bought a rear Pilot Power 2CT I got a bargain price on. That NC was transformed in the dry and the rear tire never gave me pause in the wet. I did like that combo but the I sold the bike before needing to replace the tires. I surmise it was the rear tire feeding the vagueness. Bridgestones never gave these problems for me and I ran these almost exclusively after giving up on PR3s. The Bridgestones exhibit better cornering stability, they handle side to side transitions much better and the T30s Evos and T31s aren't far behind the Michelins in the wet.

The 2015 NC came on the OEM Dunlops which were quickly replaced by 35,000 miles of BS T30s and T31s. I recently sold that bike and bought a BMW RT that was shod with Pilot 5s. I can tell you that they exhibit the same problems as before. Squishy ride and lumpy wear. The tires had 4500 miles on them when I bought the bike and now at 7500 miles they still have about 40% of tread left but I can hardly stand them. The BMW has the Telelever front end and it's feedback is vague compared to a good traditional fork to start with and the Michelins hobble it even more. I will replace the P5s with Bridgestone T31s.
Yep, the original Pilot Power and Pilot Power 2CT are legendary tires, which is why after all these years and even after producing new iterations of the Pilot Power line, they still make the original Pilot Powers. They were just hard to beat for performance and price. I went through several sets of both the original and the 2CT on sportbikes back in the day on street and track. When I swapped to DOT race tires, my first set was Dunlop D20GP's. I never thought it'd be that much of an improvement going to race tires, it was amazing. Although these Q3+ tires I'm running now aren't race tires, the feedback and feeling planted like riding on rails is similar to what I experienced when moving to the Dunlop race tires back in the day. So maybe that's a Dunlop thing. But the Pilot Powers are nowhere near as bad as the PR5's. I actually felt quite confident in the Pilot Powers on and off the track. Actually thought about buying a set for the NC and trying on track to compare to the Q3+, but I feel the Q3+ would win that battle. I've really been impressed with them. Q3+ set for NC is around $275 and Pilot Powers would run around $255 if I recall correctly, via sportbiketrackgear. Price point is fantastic on the Pilot Powers, but you can expect probably no more than 4k-ish miles out of rear on them. Maybe closer to 5k if ridden easily?
 
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You don't have to be hitting the twisties as fast as possible to appreciate the ride difference between the Avon Trailrider and the PR4. The Avon just flows well in any condition and the feedback matches that. Really it doesn't seem like there's a transitional behavior, or need for correction. It's easily as good in wet/cold too. It just seems to do what it's supposed to without any fuss. Beats me why a more affordable and all-purpose tire (compared to the PR) like this doesn't attract way more interest here.

As far as Bridgestone goes, the BT023 was a surprisingly good tire. No flies on that one. Right now I'm running Adventurecross AX41 on my WR250R for about a year and it seems to be a great tire for 50/50. Only thing to know now is mileage...
 
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