Going to the Dark Side

[user 213]

After reading these (and other) posts about the Dark Side, I'm willing to pull the trigger. I've got the Brake Arm, and I'm getting the tire. What I need is to find a place in central Pennsylvania that will change out the tire for me. Suggestions and recommendations are appreciated.

You might try Eddies Tire Service in Lewistown, if that's your neck of the woods. Many lager tire service shops will do it fine if you just tell them it's for a trike or sidecar. All that's needed is a standard rim clamp machine. They often won't be able to balance it, but Eddies does ATV stuff too, so might be able to handle that too. If they can't balance it, just take it to a bike shop for that.

Do take the wheel off the bike though and walk the tire and wheel in. Also, you might try the indipendant HD shops in your area. Many small indi shops are happy to take your money and mount what ever tire you want w/o issues.

 

[SGBennett]

After reading these (and other) posts about the Dark Side, I'm willing to pull the trigger. I've got the Brake Arm, and I'm getting the tire. What I need is to find a place in central Pennsylvania that will change out the tire for me. Suggestions and recommendations are appreciated.

You might try Eddies Tire Service in Lewistown, if that's your neck of the woods. Many lager tire service shops will do it fine if you just tell them it's for a trike or sidecar. All that's needed is a standard rim clamp machine. They often won't be able to balance it, but Eddies does ATV stuff too, so might be able to handle that too. If they can't balance it, just take it to a bike shop for that.

Do take the wheel off the bike though and walk the tire and wheel in. Also, you might try the indipendant HD shops in your area. Many small indi shops are happy to take your money and mount what ever tire you want w/o issues.

Thank you, Dark Sider Number 1! Eddie's is only 73 miles from my front door. So, in relative terms, it's definitely in my neck of the woods.

I'll report back when the CT is on the FJR.

 

[LowAndSilent]

Well...a very brief update.

I'm 4k miles into my trip and as I have checked my Yokohama AVID ENVigor over the last few days I have physically watched it waste away at every stop. When I started the trip I thought it would last another 8-10k miles. Alas, that is not to be. I have now eaten into the wear bars a bit. This tire simply vanishes in the last few thousand miles of its life.

Put on with roughly 17k miles on the ODO back on February of last year. Now, I'm at 44k miles. So, roughly a 25-28k mile tire. I have been pretty rough on the thing, and it has seen A LOT of chip-seal with a rally and BBG in Montana, as well as during this trip.

I do have to say, it has been pretty grippy in the dry and especially in the wet. Cold weather too. It took me through some mountain passes in Cali, Nevada and Utah during this trip at 16 degrees registered on the FJR display. Ice on the road in quite a few places. It just plain STUCK to the road.

Anyway, I have a new CT (General G-MAX AS03) being shipped to where I am staying in Virginia. It'll be going on in the next few days, and then I'll have another 4-5k miles to test it out on the way back home. I don't believe this tire has been tested before, but a few Goldwing guys have tested it out with good results.

 

[Bustanut joker]

My Entyre is hell on squirrels.. Flattened one out today an the lil bugger was deader than Howies sex life. :yahoo:

 

[user 213]

<snip>So, roughly a 25-28k mile tire. I have been pretty rough on the thing, and it has seen A LOT of chip-seal with a rally and BBG in Montana, as well as during this trip.

L&S, sorry to hear that you need a tire mid trip. We all hate that. Glad to see that you're going to try something new and report the results. Seems like only 28k on the CT is low on average, but still better than 2x a moto tire, so not horrible. I look forward to reading what you think about the new tire once you have some miles on it. And the experience of swapping out CTs mid trip. Was it difficult to find/choose a tire? Or did you just say, "this is the size, what cha got?"

 

[RadioHowie]

My Entyre is hell on squirrels.. Flattened one out today an the lil bugger was deader than Howies sex life. :yahoo:

Appropriate recycling.....

 

[Bustanut joker]

My Entyre is hell on squirrels.. Flattened one out today an the lil bugger was deader than Howies sex life. :yahoo:

Appropriate recycling.....

Ok I'll concede the homefront..But next door the party is hopping :lol:

 

[LowAndSilent]

<snip>So, roughly a 25-28k mile tire. I have been pretty rough on the thing, and it has seen A LOT of chip-seal with a rally and BBG in Montana, as well as during this trip.

L&S, sorry to hear that you need a tire mid trip. We all hate that. Glad to see that you're going to try something new and report the results. Seems like only 28k on the CT is low on average, but still better than 2x a moto tire, so not horrible. I look forward to reading what you think about the new tire once you have some miles on it. And the experience of swapping out CTs mid trip. Was it difficult to find/choose a tire? Or did you just say, "this is the size, what cha got?"

It was a little difficult, but not too bad. I had thought about going with the Dunlop Direzza like LDRyder used, but I wasn't too impressed with the lack of sipes on the corners. Don't know how good it would handle wet roads, which my FJR sees a lot of. Going through the tires in the sizing, I found the G-MAX. It had good reviews and the profile looked pretty good for icky weather traction. Pricing was pretty nice too, comparatively.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Shit...Twice or better the mileage of a MC tire, and cheaper to boot? What's there to complain about??? Except the fiery, flaming aluminum and plastic death of blasphemers...

 

[SkooterG]

Anyway, I have a new CT (General G-MAX AS03) being shipped to where I am staying in Virginia. It'll be going on in the next few days, and then I'll have another 4-5k miles to test it out on the way back home. I don't believe this tire has been tested before, but a few Goldwing guys have tested it out with good results.

Ok, so I am confused. Why not go with the Michelin Exalto which everybody seems to love? A known, proven entity. What may work well on a Goldwing may not work so well on an FJR. Guess I just don't understand taking the risk with an unknown tire......

 

[LowAndSilent]

Anyway, I have a new CT (General G-MAX AS03) being shipped to where I am staying in Virginia. It'll be going on in the next few days, and then I'll have another 4-5k miles to test it out on the way back home. I don't believe this tire has been tested before, but a few Goldwing guys have tested it out with good results.

Ok, so I am confused. Why not go with the Michelin Exalto which everybody seems to love? A known, proven entity. What may work well on a Goldwing may not work so well on an FJR. Guess I just don't understand taking the risk with an unknown tire......

The same reason I chose the Yokohama tire...because it hadn't been used before either. Just trying to add to the data pool to show what can or can't work on an FJR.

You never know when you will leave on a trip and suddenly find yourself needing a new rear tire for whatever reason. If a shop has a G-MAX available now someone will be able to see if it'll work or not.

I had thought about going with the Exalto, but ya never know. This one might just turn out to be better. Won't know until I try. That and I finally buy an Exalto to test out once this tire is done with.

 

[BullCBX]

Well I’m here to say that I have thrown my lot in with the Dark Side crowd. As it has been noted before, mounting the tire was quite the challenge, but not impossible for the DIY-er. Do not look forward to trying to get it back off, but since that shouldn’t happen for a while, I’m OK with it. The first trip yesterday was interesting to say the least. After 50k miles of muscle memory with standard tires that first 90 degree curve at the end of the street was an experience. But I’m still here (no flaming death of aluminum and plastic) and I have firsthand experience of totaling this bike (but that’s an old story). Anyway, was just tired of running through rear tires every 4-5k miles so it was time to try something different. So far every ride gets a little better. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s no worse than losing a new tire due to some kind of road hazard (as most can relate to). Now I’ll just have to get a Dark Side icon with a set of horns and I’ll be a Dark Bull instead of a Dark Horse.

BullCBX

 

[doug5551]

Well I’m here to say that I have thrown my lot in with the Dark Side crowd. As it has been noted before, mounting the tire was quite the challenge, but not impossible for the DIY-er. Do not look forward to trying to get it back off, but since that shouldn’t happen for a while, I’m OK with it. The first trip yesterday was interesting to say the least. After 50k miles of muscle memory with standard tires that first 90 degree curve at the end of the street was an experience. But I’m still here (no flaming death of aluminum and plastic) and I have firsthand experience of totaling this bike (but that’s an old story). Anyway, was just tired of running through rear tires every 4-5k miles so it was time to try something different. So far every ride gets a little better. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s no worse than losing a new tire due to some kind of road hazard (as most can relate to). Now I’ll just have to get a Dark Side icon with a set of horns and I’ll be a Dark Bull instead of a Dark Horse.

BullCBX

Mr. Bull,

Which tire did you choose to try out?

Any pics of your set up?

Thx.

 

[BullCBX]

I ended up going with the 205/50R-17 Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S from Tire Rack. They were a little more expensive, but their warehouse was here in GA and even with standard ground shipping, I got it the next day. Here a quick shot I took with my phone. Not the best, but gives you the idea...

 

[LowAndSilent]

New rubber is installed. It's a General G-MAX AS-03.

Old Yokohama AVID ENVigor.

Rear wheel off, on the way to a stealer to get it swapped out.

New rubber mounted and ready for a quick test ride after dinner.

 

[ahchiu]

Wicked tread patern

 

[ALDAWG]

YA, looks like it would work well in the rain.

 

[Robert 88]

Darkside Specious Argument #1:

Though I respect you guys for going to the Dark side I don't ever see myself doing it. I like the twisties too much.

Darkside Pointless Comparison #37:

My Captain has a car tire on his Boss Hog and I've ridden behind him and could see how little contact he has while leaned over (and he can't lean that far as it is).

"I've got knobbies on my Jet Ski, and it doesn't do whoops and berms worth a damn....therefore, knobbies are no good for MY dirtbike."

See the comparison???

The world won't come to an end if no one else ever puts a car tire on their Feej. Us Darksiders will just continue to ride and ride, racking up miles and miles on the slab AND in the twisties, smiling quietly to ourselves when someone comments "I really wish someone would come out with a really long distance tire."

22,000 miles now on my "looking-like-new" Michelin Pilot A/S Plus.

I gotta admit, though...the rear end DOES feel a little squirmy at 135+ mph.

 

[RadioHowie]

Oh come on, Robert 88, don't quote me, change your mind, and delete out what you wrote.

Don't leave us hangin'

 

[Robert 88]

Holy Crap Batman !!! I'm reading Dark Side posts .. I'm liking what I'm seeing but 1 just bought new RP3's and 2nd Yodda is looking at ME ..