metzler dry rotted garbage

I am new to the forum, great info here. I was wondering if anyone had info on a car tire I could run on my custom , over priced , piece of ...err work . I currently run a metzler 880, 260 x 40 x 18. These tires are great and sticky but were dry rotted a year after I bought them. ( why not dump more money into it ..... ( why did I sell my vegas ? ) anyway If I could get 5 years out of a car tire I'll do it ! I'm not a canyon carver by any means and hardly ever put the wife on the back, any suggestions ? I'm also appauled by the price of insurance ! My bike was 26k new and would be lucky to see 9 these days. I rode less than 1000 miles last year ( l-4 herniation ) To me paying 800 + a year at 46 years old and perfect driving record is rediculous. The iceing .... still owe 10k so I have to have full coverage. I can't sit this thing in the garage any longer and hanging christmas lights on it is getting old .... help

Wow I would try a different Insurance company. I had GMAC motorcycle insurance for the last 2 years and their price was great. I called Geico this year and got an even better rate I am paying 400 a year for 2 bikes full coverage with low deductible and $2000 in accessory coverage. Only reason it is $400 is wife got a speeding ticket in 09 otherwise it was like $300. As for a darkside tire I am just putting one on my X here is a tire size comparison chart so you can find one that closely matches what you have. Good luck!

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/brochure/info/tmpInfoTireMath.jsp

Do you know how to read the date coding on the side of the tire? Any tire over 6 years old should be canned and not sold. Actually illegal in Europe, I read.
Again, it could be the Metz - there have been various problems with them, including exploding.