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):

In some manuals and online you’ll find that tire pressure values will be mentioned in both PSI and BAR values. Americans usually mention tire pressure in PSI and Europeans in BAR. Since most of the information I get about my Vulcan 900 is from American sources I’ve decided to use PSI when I check my tires and also for this blog as most of my readers are American – I guess you American boys and girls can’t get enough of Norwegian nature photographs! :)

PSI = Pounds per Square Inch – an imperial value used in the U.S.
BAR = European standard measurement for tire pressure

So, how do you convert PSI into BAR and vice versa? Use Google! Google is awesome at converting stuff like this. It’s even a calculator and an exchange rate converter as well!

Go to Google.com and type for example “32psi in bar” – voila! You get an answer. That’s pretty neat!

I didn’t even know this existed before today. Definitely worth a try! The Sega Mega Drive version in the YouTube video below was especially well designed apparently, so if you’re a geek like me, you’ll enjoy the awesome nostalgia of playing this game. There are console emulators out there that will let you play this game on your computer, but you could probably also pick up a copy off eBay for dirt cheap.

Wikipedia article

MetzelerMoto.com

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

I bought myself a new battery today. Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I suck at taking care of my battery over winter… The original that came with my VN900 was a YUASA YTX12-BS battery (12V, 10Ah), so I got one of those this time and I promise I’ll use the maintenance charger next winter!

I also jacked up the tire pressure to somewhere around 35PSI on the rear tire and about 30 on the front tire and took it for a shower at the car wash, haha.

The rear tire (original Dunlop stock tire) doesn’t look too good after 16.300km so I’m going to swap both tires for Metzeler ones I think. I’ve been looking for white wall tires all over southern Norway, but all I can find is either a front tire of one type or a rear tire of another type, so I’ll just go for plain boring black this year and try again next time. I might buy some white walls next time I’m in Germany, if you have any tips on where I can get some awesome white walls, please do comment or get in touch.