Dunlop tires have been original equipment on Harley-Davidsons since the very early 1980s.

Virtually every Dunlop tire is co-branded with Harley-Davidson.

unlop tires have been original equipment on Harley-Davidsons since the very early 1980s, and since the mid-’80s they’ve been fit on every Harley-Davidson to leave the factories. Virtually every one of those Dunlop tires is co-branded with Harley-Davidson, too. It says so right on the sidewall. Little wonder, then, why Dunlops seem to work so well on a Harley; they’ve been designed to do just that.
     Tom Whitney has been a Senior Development Engineer at Dunlop for 30 years. We talked with him recently, and his words about Dunlop tires and Harley-Davidson motorcycles speak volumes. For instance:
     “I can’t think of any tire that we’ve ever just taken off the shelf and put on a Harley,” Tom says. “In most cases the tires are ground-up designs specifically for the model motorcycle they’ll go on. That Dunlop tire is tuned for the application, in its carcass design, profile and tread.”
     Tom and Carmen DiStasio, also a Dunlop Senior Development Engineer, are in daily contact with the Harley-Davidson Product Development Center, making that synergistic match happen. The engineers at Harley-Davidson know how they’ve designed their motorcycle to handle, and they factor the tires into that design. Dunlop responds with tires that become an integral and important part of the bike as a whole.
     What are some of the leading aspects of developing tires specifically for Harley-Davidson? “Performance, of course,” Tom says. “Harley has some very specific handling tests they make and mileage requirements they demand. Any tire we supply to Harley has to meet those very stringent demands.
     “They’re sensitive to our input, and together we’ll come up with the perfect tire for that bike.” A good example is the recent switch on the touring bikes from an MT90 tire, which is roughly a 130-series, to the MU85, which corresponds to a 140-series size. “That change let us give the tire a little more pattern depth, along with a wider footprint to put more tire on the ground.
     “All of that adds up,” he says, “to a minimum 30-percent increase in mileage on bikes that, let’s face it, are often overloaded.”
     There are very specific styling demands, too. A tire must look like it belongs on a Harley. “There are certain tread patterns they want to see,” Tom goes on, “and there are tire profiles that just look right on a Harley.” Dunlop’s come up with tricks utilizing profiles and tread patterns to make a tire look bigger than it actually is.
     Besides designing tires together, Dunlop and Harley-Davidson test those tires together, too, confirming the performance of any newly designed tire on a newly designed Harley. Dunlop test riders and engineers and Harley-Davidson test riders and engineers often ride side by side at the Harley-Davidson test tracks or Dunlop’s own Huntsville Proving Grounds, switching back and forth, comparing notes and impressions, and getting that tire/motorcycle match as good as it can be.
     It all comes down to this: Dunlop has been very much involved in the R&D of every new Harley-Davidson for decades. A motorcycle/tire match made in heaven? More accurately it’s a match made in Tonawanda, New York, where all of Dunlop’s Harley-Davidson tires are produced. They’re all in the FatBook, too, another great match. Check them out!