Continental Milestone problems

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toremitchell

Active member
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
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Location
Oshkosh, WI
I put a 140/90-16 Continental Milestone tire on the rear of my 83 Aspencade. It ended up rubbing on both sides. I even ground off the chicken strips on both sides and it still rubbed! It's roughly 6" wide even after my unapproved modification. Needless to say, it's coming off. I have read that others have had similar problems with excessive width on their Continental tires.

I am looking for recommendations for a good rear tire. I have read that the Bridgestone S11 is recommended by a few of you. I found an S11R on Amazon.com for $95 with free shipping. Does anyone know what the difference is between the S11 and S11R Bridgestone? As far as I can tell, all the specs appear correct on this one:

Product Specifications
Product Information
Brand Bridgestone
Model S11R
Manufacturer Part Number 141941
Sizing and Specifications
Construction Bias
Load Index Rating 71
Speed Rating H
Item Weight 16.8 Pounds
 
As far as I know the R always means Radial belted as opposed to Bias belted.
Our bikes weren't equipped with radial tires originally but there are those have tried with no problems and actually improved handling but that is almost always the case with a new tire anyhow.
Until I tried a radial myself and wore it out to know for myself I would stay away from radial.
Better to play it safe here I think.
 
Thanks for the info regarding bias and radial. I have wondered about that. I think the Bridgestone is Bias as the specs say. I just did a search and found out that the R after S11 just stands for Rear tire.
 
Thanks. Actually, that would be cool. As long as it's not a radial or too wide I'll be ecstatic. If I get a surprise when I open the box I will post again.
 
You were right, it came with nice raised white letters. It's a great tire. It is much narrower than the tire I pulled off. It rides great.

I just want to reiterate for anyone that might be considering putting a Continental Milestone tire on a GL1100 -- DON'T TRY IT! By the numbers (140/90-16) it should work, but it's much too wide. Even after grinding the ridges off the sides it was a full 6" wide! The Bridgestone S11 is about 5 3/8". That's a HUGE difference considering the tight clearance on both sides of my 83 Gl1100. I noticed last week that right on the Amazon.com site their recommended tire for my bike is a Continental Milestone. I sure don't recommend it!!
 
I still cannot recommend a Continental Milestone for a rear tire on this bike! Because of that fat tire the first two months of this riding season were full of frustration for me. I read somewhere that it may be a quality control issue as he had seen a considerable difference in width between two identical Continental tires. Glad you had better success than me.
 
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