New Harley-Davidson®-exclusive Michelin® Scorcher tires are now available as the only Harley-Davidson-validated alternative to the original-equipment tires for the Fat Boy® and Fat Boy® Lo motorcycles. The Michelin Scorcher 11(P/N 43100016, 17-inch Front $230.95; P/N 43200022, 17-inch Rear, $269.95) fit 2007-later Fat Boy and 2110-later Fat Boy Lo models.
They are exclusively designed, tested and approved to deliver optimal performance on each Harley-Davidson motorcycle model. The tires can be identified by the “Harley-Davidson” script on the sidewall and are available through authorized Harley-Davidson retailers.
Harley-Davidson advises its customers that it is essential to use only Harley-Davidson service replacement tires that are the approved fitment for each individual year and model motorcycle. Harley-Davidson states that using non-approved tires or mixing approved tires from different manufacturers on the same motorcycle can adversely affect stability, which could result in death or serious injury.
I wonder if using non approved tires on a Harley voids the warrantee?
Next you will be advised to use HD approved gas, air, wrenches, leather, hoses, no parts are authorized to use on the companies products except HD parts. Hey HD leave it alone no other vehicle manufacturer is this controlling. I can and will use whatever I want on MY bike I payed for it, just like I will put the tire I think is the best on my bike and my cars and trucks. GM, Ford and Chrysler dont tell you to us only the parts they approve neither does honda, kawasaki, or even polaris. GIVE IT A BREAK.
H-D branded tires are great,or garbage because you never actually know what you get.Some have soft compound rubber,some hard.As far as I know you don’t really know what you are getting til you ride them.They can be very different from the same looking tire from the same manufacturer.
Stick to major tire brands because you know what you are getting and they keep tire types consistent.They make money from tires,not T shirts so they focus on their core business.
When H-D starts to sell the “same approved tire”,but made by different tire manufacturers just run away.
Hey Bell End TT, last time I checked Michelin was a major tire brand
Larry Lamonaco.stick to the major tire companies own branded tires in their own consistent production line of tires.H-D branded tires often have different construction and rubber compounds and the details on how they vary from “the same” tire from the manufacturers is hard to come by.H-D have sold gen-U-whine branded tires made by Dunlop and Michelin as far as I know.
Now you know what to look out for in your next set of tires.
My advice is if you want quality tires for your bike get Avons,Metzelers or Continentals.I would not fit Michelins to any bike I ride.
Laugh at your own peril-I once put a non H-D battery in one of my bikes and the very next day a plane crashed in Argentina.
At this point, it’s not really worth commenting on the Bell End.
I think we are all on the same page here?
Steve Carr
I’m with Steve . . .
I’m very happy with my Michelin Commander IIs. I ran Metzelers for over 35 years, and switched just last year..As far as Dewlap is concerned, they make good boat fenders…There was a law passed about 50 years ago, can’t remember the actual date or name, but it requires that any manufacturer who specifies a certain part to maintain warranty has to give it to the consumer for free…I found a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty_Act
Soooo, the MoCo can go stuff it!
Ditto, with Doc & Steve ….
Steve Carr, Doc Robinson, Im learning TT once a bell end always a bell end
Everybody knows OEM only tires are overpriced, with aftermarket alternatives by the same major brands being equal or better quality for at least the same money but usually less. Such heavy handed marketing scare tactics by the MoCo. Buy “OUR” tires or your bike could explode. Worst kind of BS there is. I feel sorry the bike owners where there are no other tire options/ sizes available and they are forced to buy OEM specific tires.
Last year I put those same tires on my bike 2007 fatboy before HD oked them for use and I am not happy with them at all and wound not buy another set.
commander 2’s the way to go. double the mileage of any “hd approved” dunlop.
remember hd always shops for lowest bid which equates to sub par tires and compounds.
the scorcher tires were probably about to be phased out by michelin because the commander 2s are doing so well in the field. michelin probably gave harley a deal on whatever they had left.
Martin Twofeather,what goes around comes around.Then I guess people can go fit a set of tires after getting advice from someone who really knows tires(Like Me).
I’ve seen more crashed bikes fitted with Michelins than any other brand,about 75 percent from memory.
MT,don’t discount the fact that H-D could order a custom construction version of the tire you had,but with a different profile,rubber and carcass construction that may be great compared to the pair that you used.Confusion reigns.
But this is just the old H-D branded tire story over again.
Don’t be surprized when H-D starts to approve road surfacing companies and their highway surfaces suitable for their bikes to use.Then you can pay to get it laid on your geny-U-whine TourDrive to a replica of the original Harley-D 10 x 15 shop.
I used to have mandatory Goodyear tires in my Super Glide’s papers. Bad idea to have just one option of tire brand and type.
Some of these responses are borderline silly, others are straight up ignorant. Of course Harley is going to only recommend tires they sell, first off they don’t make any money if you go to Stosh’es backalley shop. Second H-D only sells what they test, they would be liable if there was a tire failure and they ok’ed the tire without testing it. The next thing when it comes to tire life, like anything else in life there is no free lunch. If you want traction you give up tire life, if you want tire life you give up traction.
The head can be used for more than a hat rack.
MIke M,avoiding a “tire failure” is not how I select the rubber for the road.The company liability lawyers and engineers are paid to worry about that not me.Quality tires have not really had “failures” issues for the last thirty years of tires for high horsepower bikes.
“First off they don’t make any money if you go to so and so to get tires” granted,but at least a tire shop pro does not make up guff bordering on pure BS,about there being only one tire being suitable for your Fhantasmorgorical Glide Black edition FLHXWGEIEIOTC or it might fall over and die.Typical greedy H-D marketing that most other manufacturers would not stoop to.
Your comments on “no free lunch” are just plain wrong.That notion is about thirty years out of date.There are plenty of modern tires that do it all: great traction,stability and super long life.
Terence, the point I’m making is why would Harley recommend a tire they have never tested? Tires all have different profiles and will handle differently on various bikes. Some tires will have a more round profile and some tires will be more triangulated for faster turn in. H-D spends tons of time and money testing and developing a bike to work hand in hand with Dunlop or in this case Michelin engineers. They would be stupid to recommend a tire that hasn’t been fully tested or perhaps you don’t watch the lawyer commercials on television. I am in the aftermarket and I fully understand them protecting themselves, it’s not greed it is just protecting their interests. Besides why should they want anyone to get an alternative tire? I don’t want my customers to ever have to go in a Harley shop so why should they want their customers to ever come in mine?
As far as the free lunch comment, yes there have been plenty of advances in rubber technology lately and the Commander II is giving us great results but it still gives up some performance to a tire that is not designed for mileage.
Mike M,it’s like when H-D Baggers a few years ago threw guys off in straight lines on autobahns in Germany.H-D denied the problem,then they quietly fixed it by having a top front stabiliser link for the rubber mounted motor.Before that they ignored the problem and I guess they used the “pilot error” excuse.
H-D will always use the “pilot error” excuse until all other legal defences peter out.Same with tires.
I doubt H-D did much testing at all with these tires,that’s what tire companies do.Why test a tire twice? Would H-D pay real folding money when they can get out of it? Get real.
I would not doubt H-D are doing this out of fear of being sued for building unstable bikes and hoping make riders “fear” that if they don’t fit the geny-U-whine tires they could get hurt.A low act combined with the profit motive.
If H-D thinks their branded tires give them more liability protection than tires on their bikes from other quality tire manufacturers I think they are dreaming.LIke any U.S. corporate they would blame the tire company for any safety issues regardless of what brand is stamped on the carcass.
If riders think their bikes will be better or safer than using good name brand tires just because they bought them from the H-D dealer they have fallen for a great big long line of BS that goes all the way back to some H-D marketing guys iPad.