Dunlop 404 front tire

I just put on a new splitfirs s11 on my front. The same day my buddy had put on a new dunlop 404. he has a 85 700 intruder thats mint. he is not happy with its handling I am satisfied with my purchase and he isn't. we were kicked back downing a few beers and I looked over at his bike and I said I know whats wrong; your tires on backwards. we got to looking and the arrows correct for rotation but it would channel water to the center instead of outward. another friend has a sportster and it has a 404 but designed for harley davidson and its tread looks right. come to find out the dealership had 45 psi in the tire causing the bad ride. but the tread still looks backward. any one know why?

 

Interesting question, they probably have the tread backwards for better braking. I have one of those tires that's new and I haven't put it on yet so I went out and looked at it and the arrow on mine is backwards from the tread also. I think I'd mount it so the tread goes in the forward direction no matter what the stupid arrow says!

 

Got on on the front of the Maxim as well and the arrow and tread design is the same. Running 32psi in it. No Problems here yet. I'll let you know first rain I ride in!

 

I've been told that in addition to the tread design the way the plies are laid up determines which way the tire should rotate. I'd be hesitant to mount one backwards and would assume the manufacturer knows best which way the tire should run.

I'll have to agree though that it bugs me to see a tread design that looks like it will pump water under the tire. Metzler has one that looks that way too.

 

One problem with the 404 is they have at least 2 different tread designs then there is a Harley version and a regular version. I've got the kind on the right with the smaller blocks of tread that has the tread and the arrow pointing in different directions. Which ones do you guys have?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0000415708

 

I've also got a Cruisemax and a D402 with the arrow going the same direction as the tread but a 491 Elite II that has tread similar to the D404 and the arrow also goes backwards. Weird!

 

There's a tutorial on the XS11 site showing how to change a tire and the one they mounted was a D404. Apparently backwards tread is the way to go!
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.ph ... adid=11700