When the Valkyrie first came out in 1996 there were some reports of the
Dunlop tire delaminating. At first it was denied by Dunlop that there was any
problem with the tire. Then more and more folks started to experience a
thumping sound mostly coming from the rear tire. The sound was the OEM tires
delaminating. I personally know of 6 folks that this has happened to. One was
on a hot day in Yuma doing 80 mph+ when the square wheel showed up. This did
not cause the tire to blow out but it did ruin a trip to the Grand Canyon. As
far as I know there have been no blow outs because of this problem, but it
will ruin your day. Dunlop now says that Honda did not spec out the right tire
for the Valkyrie. The tire that Honda specked out was for a sport touring
bike, so I am told. They have said that there has been less than 20 cases of delaminating
tires reported to Dunlop. I find that very hard to believe seeing I know of 6
of them right here in CA.
I still feel that Dunlop makes a great tire and that you may never have a
Dunlop go bad on you but it will always be in the back of my mind that this
could happen. I am not sure what is the best tire for the Valk at this point,
they all seem to have things that some folks like or dislike. I guess that's
what makes the world go round.
These pictures were taken on a tire that had about 8K on them before they
did this. I have heard of folks with less than 600 miles on their tires and it
did the same thing. The guy who had this tire was still able to ride two up
for about 80 miles before he got it into the shop. So now you know what a
delaminated tire looks like.
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