unlop has delivered again. Constantly on the road and a major presence at all the big national rallies, the Dunlop Team is always gathering information from riders and then pouring it right back into the tires produced. Whenever a need is discovered it’s filled. Case in point: the just-upgraded 180/60-R16 Elite 3, the radial that’s become so popular for fitment on the GL1800 Gold Wing. That tire was good when it carried a load rating of 827 pounds. It’s better now with its new load rating of a whopping 992 pounds, a rating more in line with how those big Gold Wings get loaded up for the long haul.
     A good tire just got better. Right from its introduction the radial E3 has been a favorite with over-the-road riders. This was the first tire bringing race bike technology to the touring market. It’s proven to be a great match for big bikes like Gold Wings, the Valkyrie and VTX1800. On the new Gold Wing especially the Dunlop E3 has been a welcomed addition. Those new ‘Wings might handle better than ever but with the factory switch to radial tires the mileage from those tires took a nose dive. Where riders were used to getting 15,000 miles or more from the tires on their old GL1500s, especially when set up with the Dunlop K491s as they most often were, that just wasn’t the case with the new GL1800. And added to that wear problem the GL1800 exhibited a tendency to “cup” its front tire and further end its useful life. Lots of GL1800s also exhibited an annoying little front-end wobble on deceleration, nothing major but disconcerting. The Elite 3 addressed and cured all of those problems–wear, handling and cupping.
     Additionally, the E3 is a much better tire in the wet. Not surprisingly, to gain tire mileage for GL1800 application some brands constructed their tires with harder compounds and tread patterns without many snipes or grooves, not exactly the recipe for a rainy-day ride. Dunlop’s E3 approach was to re-distribute the grooves in the tread pattern. That not only cured the GL1800’s cupping problem and significantly extended the useable mileage, but by putting those grooves in the center of the tread water was better channeled out from under the contact patch making the E3 the great rain tire it is. Additionally, the shape and configuration of the Elite 3’s grooves is more in line with Dunlop’s sportbike technology; they’re all curved to follow the driving forces on the tire, both straight-up and leaned over. The E3 makes a touring bike handle and that sport-derived profile provides a lively response in turn transitions and a solid feel through turns. That special tread pattern isn’t bothered by rain grooves on steel bridge decks, either.
     Great mileage, great handling and great wet-weather performance. It’s little wonder why the E3 has become the favorite it is. And with that new load rating for the Gold Wings all that has gotten even better. The tires are in stock at Parts Unlimited now.