July 13, 2011 5:36 AM PDT
Here in SoCal, I live real close to Chaparral Motorsports and you just can't beat their prices. Second choice is J&P Cycles web site, if I happen to be ordering enough stuff to get FREE shipping, but that does not happen often as I think that kicks in at $300. Dennis Kirk web site, same deal as J&P, prices are a bit higher but they offer free shipping with purchase over $100 so that works for me with a tire.
As for your mileage, getting 10K miles out of a rear tire is pretty typical with the stock Dunlap. You go with a softer Avon or Metz, you'll get significatly less miles and of course if you are hard on the throttle and breaks, you'll eat them up pretty quick as well.
I ride 2 up on a bagger 99% of the time, often loaded, I'm pretty easy on both the throttle and brakes and I consistently get 9-10K miles on the stock Dunlop on the rear, better than 30K in the front. Talking to most of my buddies that ride similar to me, they get about the same. I'm nost sure I've heard anyone getting 15K plus out of a rear tire, unless maybe they rode it down to the cord.
The big savings is in taking your wheel off and putting it on yourself, instead of letting the dealership do it. They'll change your tire, if you bring them in the wheel...at least the good one will. I've brought the wheel and a new tire to my dealership and they've changed it for me.
As for "OLD RUBBER"...I'm thinking that is a bit of an old wives tale. Today's rubber is pretty damn good and unless you set them out in the sun for years, not much can really hurt them. If the shelf life was an issue, you can bet your ass that DOT would have expiration dates stamped on tires.
Hope this helps a bit.