RadioHowie
I Miss Beemerdons!
You asked for it, you wanted it, you waited for it....
[SIZE=12pt]RADIOHOWIE'S "DARKSIDE" THREAD[/SIZE]
Okay, okay...enough self promotion. If you don't know what the "Darkside" is, or are unfamiliar with the "Original Darkside Thread" then you need to leave right now and skim through THIS thread. Go on. Come back later. This will still be here.
What? You don't want to read 47 pages and 920 posts?
PUSSY!!!
So to get right to the point, why did I choose to go to the "Darkside"?
Easy answer...I'm a cheep sumbitch. I'm also a poor sumbitch. If it wasn't for Value Menu specials at the local burger joints, I'd never get any beef or chicken in my diet. It would be all mac'n'cheese all the time, with an occasional foray into the world of beans and franks. And we know there ain't no real meat in franks.
So here I am with a completely rebuilt FJR, thanks to the largess of the FJR Forum community, and less than 1500 miles after rebuilding Frankenbike, the rear Avon Storm is toast at 8000 miles. Frankly, I'm just freakin' tired of paying $200+ apiece for tires that last lessthan 3 oil changes. That just ain't right. My bike is a tool, not a toy.
Ater OCFJR began his Darkside thread a little over a year ago, I decided I would join the small but growing ranks of imbeciles who think putting a car tire on a bike is an okay thing to do. Fookin' morons! Don't they know yer balls will fall of? And plastic and aluminum death awaits at the end of the road?
November 24th, I get an expense check from the company and immediately order one of these:
It's a Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. Not the brand other Darksiders have chosen, but the price was right - $159 - it has a 45,000 tread life warranty, it's a directional tire and it has a fairly rounded tread-to-sidewall transition. All good features. Maybe that's why Michelin calls it the "A/S Plus" because all the features are definite plusses when considering making such a drastic change to the basic requirements of moto tires.
Unfortunately, weather and "Real Life', along with my tendency to procrastinate, had interfered with getting the tire mounted. But now it is.
First of all, from OCFJR's original thread, it was apparent that one minor modification would have to be made to the basic platform to accept a tire wider than the 180 OEM size on the Feej. It's the rear brake caliper torque arm that runs from the caliper up tp the top of the swingarm. It's what positively locates the caliper and keeps it from rotating when you hit the rear brake. The stocker is gonna rub the wider tire. It's gotta go. Replacements are available from a couple of Forum Darksiders, but my procrastination got in the way again. I assed around too long to get one in time for a North Florida ride this week with Patriot, WFooshee, MagicMaker and others.
Went to a couple of metalworking shops to find some aluminum or stainless bar stock today in the correct dimension, but damn if all 4 I went to are either closed on Mondays, or shut down for the holidays. So I had an idea.....
Here's the stocker:
I had a welding shop make me TWO replacements:
for a grand total of....are you ready? Are you sitting down? $5. Yep, FIVE dollars.
HUH??? Custom metal working for five bucks? "Howdya do it, Howie???"
Easy-peasy. I had them bandsaw the sucker in half, longitudinally. Cut the bitch in half, I did.
So now I have TWO torque arms for five whole dollars!! Toldya I was cheap.
Reverse side:
More on the torque arm later.
Now, getting the tire mounted on the rim? My first stop was one of those "industrial" tire stores. The ones that service everything from Yugos to D-25 Caterpillars. I figured that with the incredible range of tire and wheel sizes they work with day to day, it would be a snap. Plus, I've done business with them many times for the radio station's fleet and I thought it was a no-brainer.
The counter person looked at me kinda funny when I told them I wanted a car tire mounted to a motorcycle wheel, but I gave them the "it's for a sidecar" lie, to ease their litigious minds. They send me back to the service bay to wait on a tire tech. When he comes out, he looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and runs to the office. Comes out with the manager. He looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and tells me it won't work. "Why?" I ask. "Not the same size," he says. Sure, the tire's wider, but it's designed for a minimum 5.5 inch rim, the size of the FJR wheel. "No, that's not it..." he says "...the diameter isn't the same." "Huh?" I say "yes it is." "No, he says, that's a 17 inch tire and that ain't a 17 inch rim." I casually point to the size of the Avon, still mounted to the rim, which coincidentally says "17". "Well, it ain't the same 17 inches. 17 on a motorcycle wheel ain't the same as 17 on a car wheel."
I just picked up the tire and wheel, tossed 'em in the trunk of my cage and left, without saying a word. What the eff could I say? "Sorry, 17 inches is 17 inches on MY planet...don't know about yours." It was pointless.
"Here goes" I thought...a fruitless search for a shop to swap my tires. I can't do it. Don't have a tire changer. And don't have the physical capability of swapping tires. Too many operations...not enough muscles left. Fookit...keep searching.
About 1/2 mile from the MegaTireMart is a tiny little pissant indepent motorcycle shop. What the hell. Give 'em a try. Walk in, tell the man at the counter, one of the co-owners, what I want. "Sure, got 'em with ya?" "Yep!" Go out to the car, come back (in two trips) with the tire and wheel/tire combo. He looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and says "You sure that big thing is gonna fit?" "Yep" I tell him "Lots of guys have put this exact sized tire on this exact rim." "Well" he says "we've put lots of car tires on Valkyries, but they use a 15 inch rear and there's a lot of tire choice that fits. Have you looked for something smaller in a 17?" Ain't no such beast, I tell him. He goes gets his chief tech. "Grady."
Grady walks in, looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and says "That's an FJR wheel. I know it'll fit. Read about it on some motorcycle forum for Yamahas."
I asked him "The FJR Forum?" "Yep...that's the one. Some guy put a Bridgestone or somethin on his FJR."
Sonuvabitch!! "You read that post on Going to the Darkside?" "Yep" he said. "Some pretty good reading. Not a surprise to me, though. We put car tires on 'wings and Valkyries all the time. I was skeptical at first, 'til I drove one. Didn't hardly feel a bit different than a little resistance at turn-in."
DAMN! He DID read the thread. I told him I hang out there all the time. "Yeah, what's yer handle there?" Oops....quick thinking time....um, um, um -- "I go by Bustanut Joker."
"Goddamn, is that you! Didja ever get over that sheep sickness shit? You're one silly motherfuxxer."
I almost shit myself.
Anyway, Grady tells me "no sweat" we'll call you when it's ready. I head on to work and about 20 minutes later I get the call -- "Tire's ready....come get it."
:yahoo: I hop in the cage, haul ass back to the shop, go inside and ask the dreaded question "How much?"
"Twenty bucks."
I almost shit myself again. "How much to balance?" I ask. "Oh, that includes balancing. And didn't take any weights. It wasn't perfect. There was a slight drift on the balancer, but even a 1/4 ounce was too much, so I left it bare."
Third "amost shit myself"of the day.
BTW, Grady uses a No-Mar. He'll be doing ALL my tire changes from now on. :thumbsupsmiley: for Grady and :thumbsupsmiley: for CC Riders.
And since it's all BS without pics, for your enjoyment I present:
The Tire:
The tire next to the bike, unmounted:
The tire, mounted on the rim, ready to go on the bike:
Now, just a word of advice if you think of going to the Darkside....when you put the bike up on the centerstand, put a 2x4 under the stand. I could NOT get the tire under the reflector hanging off the fender, 'cause the tire's too wide to be cocked sideways to move under the fender at an angle. Took the reflector off....STILL won't go. Had to get out the floor jack under the swingarm and jack him up a couple of inches to clear the fender. On with the photos.
The wheel and tire in place, held up by the axle to seat the wheel on the rear drive splines. This sucker is heavy!
Finally get the splines matched up, the wheel seated on the diff, and ready to put the ABS sensor wheel, brake caliper and axle back in place. EASY once the wheel's seated on the diff.
Oh, remember I mentioned we'd return to the torque arm?
About 3/8 clearnce between the modified torque arm and the wheel. Plenty of room, but would have rubbed unmoddified.
Took Frankenbike for a quick ride. Immediate impressions? Absolutely NO difference in feel at parking lot speeds. Not one bit harder to push around the garage. Rides through wet grass like a champ. At speed? Yep...something's different. Driving straight...feels absolutely NO different from a moto tire. Turn a bit, like you would to change lanes, and you feel a little resistance as the transition occurs. Doesn't fight the turn at all, but you definitely can feel the transition from flat tread to the shoulder.
There's some construction near my house and I was expecting shenanigans going through the potholes, lane changes and loose dirt, so I was tensed up. Frankenbike didn't even notice! But the bike DOES like to follow grooves as Eric states in his thread.
Get back to the house and check....not for chicken strips or anything, mind you.....but yes...the boyz are still there! Still shrivelled, shrunken and gravity challenged in all their 57 year old glory, but they're still attached! And so far, no plastic and aluminum death. :fuck:
So now, I'm ready...Frankenbike's ready...Wednesday morning I'm heading to North Florida to hook up with a bunch of degenerates to eat and ride. Come join us! Ping Patriot for details.
Frankenbike in the Darkside:
[SIZE=12pt]RADIOHOWIE'S "DARKSIDE" THREAD[/SIZE]
Okay, okay...enough self promotion. If you don't know what the "Darkside" is, or are unfamiliar with the "Original Darkside Thread" then you need to leave right now and skim through THIS thread. Go on. Come back later. This will still be here.
What? You don't want to read 47 pages and 920 posts?
PUSSY!!!
So to get right to the point, why did I choose to go to the "Darkside"?
Easy answer...I'm a cheep sumbitch. I'm also a poor sumbitch. If it wasn't for Value Menu specials at the local burger joints, I'd never get any beef or chicken in my diet. It would be all mac'n'cheese all the time, with an occasional foray into the world of beans and franks. And we know there ain't no real meat in franks.
So here I am with a completely rebuilt FJR, thanks to the largess of the FJR Forum community, and less than 1500 miles after rebuilding Frankenbike, the rear Avon Storm is toast at 8000 miles. Frankly, I'm just freakin' tired of paying $200+ apiece for tires that last lessthan 3 oil changes. That just ain't right. My bike is a tool, not a toy.
Ater OCFJR began his Darkside thread a little over a year ago, I decided I would join the small but growing ranks of imbeciles who think putting a car tire on a bike is an okay thing to do. Fookin' morons! Don't they know yer balls will fall of? And plastic and aluminum death awaits at the end of the road?
November 24th, I get an expense check from the company and immediately order one of these:
It's a Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. Not the brand other Darksiders have chosen, but the price was right - $159 - it has a 45,000 tread life warranty, it's a directional tire and it has a fairly rounded tread-to-sidewall transition. All good features. Maybe that's why Michelin calls it the "A/S Plus" because all the features are definite plusses when considering making such a drastic change to the basic requirements of moto tires.
Unfortunately, weather and "Real Life', along with my tendency to procrastinate, had interfered with getting the tire mounted. But now it is.
First of all, from OCFJR's original thread, it was apparent that one minor modification would have to be made to the basic platform to accept a tire wider than the 180 OEM size on the Feej. It's the rear brake caliper torque arm that runs from the caliper up tp the top of the swingarm. It's what positively locates the caliper and keeps it from rotating when you hit the rear brake. The stocker is gonna rub the wider tire. It's gotta go. Replacements are available from a couple of Forum Darksiders, but my procrastination got in the way again. I assed around too long to get one in time for a North Florida ride this week with Patriot, WFooshee, MagicMaker and others.
Went to a couple of metalworking shops to find some aluminum or stainless bar stock today in the correct dimension, but damn if all 4 I went to are either closed on Mondays, or shut down for the holidays. So I had an idea.....
Here's the stocker:
I had a welding shop make me TWO replacements:
for a grand total of....are you ready? Are you sitting down? $5. Yep, FIVE dollars.
HUH??? Custom metal working for five bucks? "Howdya do it, Howie???"
Easy-peasy. I had them bandsaw the sucker in half, longitudinally. Cut the bitch in half, I did.
So now I have TWO torque arms for five whole dollars!! Toldya I was cheap.Reverse side:
More on the torque arm later.
Now, getting the tire mounted on the rim? My first stop was one of those "industrial" tire stores. The ones that service everything from Yugos to D-25 Caterpillars. I figured that with the incredible range of tire and wheel sizes they work with day to day, it would be a snap. Plus, I've done business with them many times for the radio station's fleet and I thought it was a no-brainer.
The counter person looked at me kinda funny when I told them I wanted a car tire mounted to a motorcycle wheel, but I gave them the "it's for a sidecar" lie, to ease their litigious minds. They send me back to the service bay to wait on a tire tech. When he comes out, he looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and runs to the office. Comes out with the manager. He looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and tells me it won't work. "Why?" I ask. "Not the same size," he says. Sure, the tire's wider, but it's designed for a minimum 5.5 inch rim, the size of the FJR wheel. "No, that's not it..." he says "...the diameter isn't the same." "Huh?" I say "yes it is." "No, he says, that's a 17 inch tire and that ain't a 17 inch rim." I casually point to the size of the Avon, still mounted to the rim, which coincidentally says "17". "Well, it ain't the same 17 inches. 17 on a motorcycle wheel ain't the same as 17 on a car wheel."
I just picked up the tire and wheel, tossed 'em in the trunk of my cage and left, without saying a word. What the eff could I say? "Sorry, 17 inches is 17 inches on MY planet...don't know about yours." It was pointless.
"Here goes" I thought...a fruitless search for a shop to swap my tires. I can't do it. Don't have a tire changer. And don't have the physical capability of swapping tires. Too many operations...not enough muscles left. Fookit...keep searching.
About 1/2 mile from the MegaTireMart is a tiny little pissant indepent motorcycle shop. What the hell. Give 'em a try. Walk in, tell the man at the counter, one of the co-owners, what I want. "Sure, got 'em with ya?" "Yep!" Go out to the car, come back (in two trips) with the tire and wheel/tire combo. He looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and says "You sure that big thing is gonna fit?" "Yep" I tell him "Lots of guys have put this exact sized tire on this exact rim." "Well" he says "we've put lots of car tires on Valkyries, but they use a 15 inch rear and there's a lot of tire choice that fits. Have you looked for something smaller in a 17?" Ain't no such beast, I tell him. He goes gets his chief tech. "Grady."
Grady walks in, looks at the tire...looks at the wheel...and says "That's an FJR wheel. I know it'll fit. Read about it on some motorcycle forum for Yamahas."
I asked him "The FJR Forum?" "Yep...that's the one. Some guy put a Bridgestone or somethin on his FJR."
Sonuvabitch!! "You read that post on Going to the Darkside?" "Yep" he said. "Some pretty good reading. Not a surprise to me, though. We put car tires on 'wings and Valkyries all the time. I was skeptical at first, 'til I drove one. Didn't hardly feel a bit different than a little resistance at turn-in."
DAMN! He DID read the thread. I told him I hang out there all the time. "Yeah, what's yer handle there?" Oops....quick thinking time....um, um, um -- "I go by Bustanut Joker."
"Goddamn, is that you! Didja ever get over that sheep sickness shit? You're one silly motherfuxxer."
I almost shit myself.
Anyway, Grady tells me "no sweat" we'll call you when it's ready. I head on to work and about 20 minutes later I get the call -- "Tire's ready....come get it."
:yahoo: I hop in the cage, haul ass back to the shop, go inside and ask the dreaded question "How much?"
"Twenty bucks."
I almost shit myself again. "How much to balance?" I ask. "Oh, that includes balancing. And didn't take any weights. It wasn't perfect. There was a slight drift on the balancer, but even a 1/4 ounce was too much, so I left it bare."
Third "amost shit myself"of the day.
BTW, Grady uses a No-Mar. He'll be doing ALL my tire changes from now on. :thumbsupsmiley: for Grady and :thumbsupsmiley: for CC Riders.
And since it's all BS without pics, for your enjoyment I present:
The Tire:
The tire next to the bike, unmounted:
The tire, mounted on the rim, ready to go on the bike:
Now, just a word of advice if you think of going to the Darkside....when you put the bike up on the centerstand, put a 2x4 under the stand. I could NOT get the tire under the reflector hanging off the fender, 'cause the tire's too wide to be cocked sideways to move under the fender at an angle. Took the reflector off....STILL won't go. Had to get out the floor jack under the swingarm and jack him up a couple of inches to clear the fender. On with the photos.
The wheel and tire in place, held up by the axle to seat the wheel on the rear drive splines. This sucker is heavy!
Finally get the splines matched up, the wheel seated on the diff, and ready to put the ABS sensor wheel, brake caliper and axle back in place. EASY once the wheel's seated on the diff.
Oh, remember I mentioned we'd return to the torque arm?
About 3/8 clearnce between the modified torque arm and the wheel. Plenty of room, but would have rubbed unmoddified.
Took Frankenbike for a quick ride. Immediate impressions? Absolutely NO difference in feel at parking lot speeds. Not one bit harder to push around the garage. Rides through wet grass like a champ. At speed? Yep...something's different. Driving straight...feels absolutely NO different from a moto tire. Turn a bit, like you would to change lanes, and you feel a little resistance as the transition occurs. Doesn't fight the turn at all, but you definitely can feel the transition from flat tread to the shoulder.
There's some construction near my house and I was expecting shenanigans going through the potholes, lane changes and loose dirt, so I was tensed up. Frankenbike didn't even notice! But the bike DOES like to follow grooves as Eric states in his thread.
Get back to the house and check....not for chicken strips or anything, mind you.....but yes...the boyz are still there! Still shrivelled, shrunken and gravity challenged in all their 57 year old glory, but they're still attached! And so far, no plastic and aluminum death. :fuck:
So now, I'm ready...Frankenbike's ready...Wednesday morning I'm heading to North Florida to hook up with a bunch of degenerates to eat and ride. Come join us! Ping Patriot for details.
Frankenbike in the Darkside:
