The Dunlop Tire Check Team is out on the road and hard at work. They’re out at all the big rallies and events, making sure riders are safe and rolling on properly maintained tires. It’s an invaluable service they’re providing, but it’s free–to any rider and any motorcycle, on any brand of tires.

t’s the height of the 2005 run-and-rally season, and if you look around at any of the big events, you’ll see Dunlop. That huge Dunlop truck with all the awnings and canopies is hard to miss, and the Dunlop team is out there working for you. From Americade to Sturgis, from Daytona Beach to the Colorado River, the Dunlop Tire Check is making sure America’s bikers are riding on safe tires, on properly maintained tires and that they’re getting the most out of their tires. It’s a free service. Any rider, on any motorcycle and on any brand of tires, is welcome. Of course, when the Tire Check Team finds a set of tires that need replacing they’ll send that rider to the nearest Dunlop dealer.
     You’d be amazed at what the Tire Check Team finds, too. These techs, engineers and reps service up to 200 bikes a day, first weighing that motorcycle front and rear, then checking tread depth and air pressure, and finally visually inspecting both tires all the way around. Plenty of tires they’ll check will be low on pressure, too, and short of running over a bed of nails that’s just about the worst thing you can do to a tire. Low pressure will drastically reduce a tire’s useful life and adversely affect the bike’s overall handling and performance. The Dunlop team finds plenty of other no-no’s, too. They’ll find bias-ply tires on bikes designed for radials, they’ll find tires mounted with the fronts and rears switched or installed backwards, they’ll find tires damaged from incorrectly mounted accessories like luggage racks and they’ll even find tires cut up from trailering. Carelessly used tire chocks can wreck a sidewall, and it happens more often than you think.
     All good reasons to keep a healthy supply of Dunlop tires on hand, especially this time of year. Riders are on the road, and once you–or that Dunlop Tire Check Team–makes them aware of the need and the importance of rolling down the road on good tires, they’ll be looking to buy. Having the right tires on the rack is easy when you’re selling Dunlops, too. Eight Dunlop tires in four different sizes virtually covers the entire Harley-Davidson lineup. Keep some D402-MT90-16 Fronts in black, slim white and wide white on hand, some D402-MU85-16 Rears in black, slim white and wide white and the D401-100/90-19 Front and D401-150/80-16 Rear in stock and you’re guaranteed a Harley sale 95 percent of the time. Those Dunlops will be the right tires 100-percent of the time, too, because every Dunlop Harley-Davidson tire was designed in conjunction with Harley-Davidson. It says so right on the sidewall. Dunlops are the only motorcycle tires made right here in the USA, and they’ve been OE on Harley-Davidsons since the early-1980s. Today they’re fit on every Harley-Davidson to leave the factories. With a Dunlop replacement you’re selling a tire designed specifically for the motorcycle it’ll go on–a Harley-Davidson.
     The Dunlop Tire Check Team is finding plenty of Harleys that need new tires, but don’t wait for these guys to do all the heavy lifting. Check your customers’ tires yourself, too, and do it often. Call your Drag Specialties rep today and make sure and keep all those Dunlops in stock.