BikerThomas.com

My Dunlop D404’s wore out and I’ve replaced them with Metzeler Me880 Marathon tires last week. The Dunlop stock tires lasted me 16.277KM… but I probably should have changed them earlier. Looking forward to seeing how the new tires perform. They give out a weird whining noise on wet roads, but are very silent on dry roads. Not sure if the whining sound will go away after a while or not, will be interesting.

The D404’s were horrible at pavement seams, even passengers found that uncomfortable. If you’re a rider, you know what I mean – that feeling of not being 100% in control because of a long seam in the road. In Norway there are a lot of seams! This is partly because of the harsh winter and partly because of the wrong type of asphalt being laid (probably cheaper and designers underestimate how cold it gets in winter). Anyways, if a set of tires can minimize bike movement due to seams in the road… count me in!

There seems to be a consensus online that you the tire pressure per inch (PSI) should be around 38-40, front and rear wheel respectfully. The Metzeler website has a very nice overview right here:

http://www.us.metzelermoto.com/web/products/tire_pressures/

Metzeler recommends the following tire pressure for touring/cruisers with a rear tire dimension of 180/70-15 (Vulcan 900 standard):

Metzeler ME880

More of a reminder to myself and for general information to anyone interested than anything else. I will not go good for any of the information below, you should check with your mechanic before you go buying a set of new tires.

Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic:

Front Tire Size: 130/90-16

Rear Tire Size: 180/70-15

Examples of tires that could fit my bike:

Metzeler ME880 Marathon Front 130/90-16 TL 67H M/C, front
Metzeler ME880 Marathon MBS 180/70B15 TL 76H M/C, rear

Dunlop D404 FP 130/90-16 TT 67H M/C, front
Dunlop D404 180/70-15 TT 76H M/C, rear

Bridgestone G721 130/90-16 TL 67H, front
Bridgestone G702 180/70-15 TL 76H M/C, rear

Bridgestone G721 G LW 130/90-16 TT 67H WW, front (whitewall)
Bridgestone G722 G 180/70-15 TT 76H WW, M/C, rear (whitewall)

The whitewalls above can be bought online from a shop in Erlensee, Germany (close to Frankfurt) for €309,90 per set: http://shop.vn-teile.de/product_info.php?language=en&info=p3464&

Pirelli T66 Front 130/90-16 TL 67H, front
Pirelli T66 180/70-15 TL 76H M/C , rear

Night Dragon 130/90 B 16 M/C 67H TL, front
Night Dragon 180/70B15 TL 76H M/C, rear

Avon AV71 Cobra MT90B16 RF TL 74H Front
Avon AM42 Venom 200/70-15 TL 82H, rear

The bike comes with Dunlop as stock tires, but several “experts” on motorcycle forums on the Internet recommends the Bridgestone and Metzeler tires.

The front tire on the VN900 custom is naturally a very different dimension.

Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom:

Front Tire Size: 80/90-21

Rear Tire Size: 180/70-15

Apparently these babies make your bike sound like the beast it’s supposed to be! :)

I’ve read alot about people debaffling their pipes. They use different techniques, one of them is to drill 8 holes in each baffle resulting in a deeper and louder sound. Some are very happy with the sound they get from this and some are not happy with it and there’s no way back once you’ve started drilling the crap out of your pipes so you better have a backup plan!

An alternative is to replace your stock pipes with a different brand. One of those are the Vance & Hines staggered slash-cuts. There are many different types of pipes out there that will fit the VN900 just perfectly, but I love the slash-cut look of the stock pipes so I’d like to keep the original look but wouldn’t mind getting a deeper, more fuller, sound out of my pipes.

If you live in the US you’ll probably find these alot cheaper on the aftermarket at eBay. If you live elsewhere or like to buy your stuff brand new the RRP is at US$390, but I’ve seen them online for US$390 and I’m sure you can find them at lower prices if you take a look around.

I’ve done some research and found some YouTube videos for you to see and listen to. Check ‘em out:

Official Vance & Hines website: http://www.vanceandhines.com/products/kawasaki-vulc900-scstagg/slashcut-stagg.html

I use YouTube quite alot to find information I need. A simple search on VN900 got me to a video of a 2008 VN900 Custom with Cobra Shorties pipes installed. They sound awesome! I’d like to install those on my bike, but the pipes aren’t slashed like the stock pipes so that kinda puts me off. I loooove the sound of the cobra shorties but also love the look of the stock pipes. Are there any alternatives that combines the best of the two worlds? If you know about any alternatives, please do comment.

Here’s the video of the VN900 Custom with the Cobra Shorties:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tysMWmV8rs8

Did you find this site through Google or another search engine?
Why not check out the rest of the site! :)
Lot’s of great articles and pictures on www.bikerthomas.com

That’s right! If you have an old Kawasaki Vulcan 800 lying around and don’t know what to do with it, why not buy a bobber kit! The Blue Collar Bobbers sell assemble-yourself-boober-kits for the Kawasaki VN800, the Honda Shadow VLX 600, Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic and the Honda Rebel 250.

According to their website “the kits are made from the highest quality materials and machined to achieve a perfect fit”. The parts are made to bolt on to the existing stock bike with a set of wrenches – how cool is that!?!!

They say they will come up with kits for other models when they get more space in their garage :)

Here’s one more picture of a green VN800 bobber, drooling yet?

Blue Collar Bobbers
http://www.bluecollarbobbers.com/

I found a link to some interesting sound clips. A VN900 owner has done some modifications to his pipes and recorded the difference in sound. Click here to go to the audio clips.