Rusty has been taking all-comers on day-trips for many years, and has now branched out into overnight trips as well.
DUNLOP ELITE 4 REVIEW FOR HARLEY MAC
Associate Editor Teejay Adams and myself chatted with motorcycle adventurer Rusty Mac about his guided outback touring company Australian Backroads Motorcycle Touring.
DUNLOP ELITE 4 REVIEW FOR HARLEY SERIES
The second segment is the final one in our series from Brisbane, Australia. Don has just returned from a successful two-day, 750-mile round trip on the GT and it seems that overall, he was quite impressed by the bike. In this week’s first segment Editor Don Williams brings us his thoughts on Suzuki’s eagerly awaited GSX-S 1000 GT… that’s the sport touring version of the company’s upright naked sport bike. Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, a weekly podcast brought to you by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling.
Warranty: Six years from date of manufacture.Stay tuned to Ultimate Motorcycling for periodic updates the final report after we’ve put on as many miles as the tires can deliver. So, our long-term review of the Dunlop Elite 4 tires is now underway. In some cases, even less.These days, my experience with dual-compound products indicates the handing is composed and predictable wet or dry and service life is much better, even on heavier, more powerful bikes than anything I rode back then. The “best cornering” tires of the day did a little better as to stable, predictable handling but the rear tire might last only about four or five thousand miles. Back in the day, if I bought tires touted for “long-wear” they might last seven or eight thousand miles, but the feedback from the road was about the same as if you were riding on wooden wagon wheels.Wet or dry, pushing it in the corners felt risky and in the wet, well, hang on, partner because slipping was not uncommon, almost without regard to tread pattern. With a long-wear compound in the middle of the tread pattern and the shoulders made of a lateral-grip compound, the Elite 4 is designed to deliver long range and stable cornering. Fine details that make a big difference in the end. Dunlop says, “With the all-new Elite 4, you could cross the country six times before needing to replace your tires.”That statement doesn’t include mention of which country they mean or whether they’re talking about crossing north to south or east to west. Read that final review report here: Dunlop says the Multi-Tread (MT) compound used for the rear versions of this model is the key to long service life. What should make this long-term review particularly interesting is the fact that the Dunlop E4s are the immediate successor tires to the Michelin Commander II tires on the same bike we used for a long-term review of those tires, which are also claimed as long-range capable.The Commander II tires delivered 10,896 miles before the rear tire was worn through the outermost tread layer and required replacement, which we did as a set. No vehicle over-loading is done and all the needful things for routine maintenance of tires in normal use are observed.
Inflation pressures are checked very regularly and installation was professionally done. Indeed, twice late in the season the tires got to perform in the wet, including a very wet and cool Slimy Crud Run (see that story here: )While I don’t enjoy riding in the rain, I have to say the tires held southern Wisconsin’s wet, twisty town roads very well.The miles are pretty much routine riding almost exclusively on pavement, mainly state highways and paved county and township roads, though the occasional class II gravel track and chip-seal pea gravel surfaces have already been encountered.Conditions of use have included mostly one-up, dry pavement, except as noted, a few hard stops on pavement, no burn-outs, drag racing, track days, stunting, wheelies, stoppies or other shenanigans. We had hoped to get a lot more miles this summer but much more rain than usual led to less road-tripping than anticipated. As the miles accumulate, however, we plan to check consistency and amount of wear by direct measurement of tread depth with a depth micrometer. That resulted in no appreciable wear or change to the profile of the tires. The review began in May 2018 with 22,630 miles on the bike’s odometer, and as of this writing, as 2018 draws to a close, the tires have 1,779 miles on them.
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