Going to the Dark Side

Yes, it happened to me once. I removed the sticker and all was good again.

Thanks guys, I'm the idiot that did it. Took it off and broke the bead, cleaned it up some but still leaking some. Guess it'll need a little more.

Take a kitchen scouring pad and some Dawn and scrub that bead seat area all the way around the rim, leave no residue from the last tire mounting whatsoever. Smooth out any tire iron scars if they exist. Make sure there aren't any rubber 'strings' that might find their way in there, you're looking for smooth on both rim and tire bead. Good luck !

Brodie

Hey Tim,

Thanks for the heads-up on the BT 45. I run one on the front of my Wing and absolutely love it. Works better than anything else I've tried, but I wasn't sure how the 130 would work on the FJR. Waiting to hear from someone who had done it already. Thanks for being that guy. Gonna order one as soon as I'm through writing this.

Stay away from the deer!

Best,

Paul

Any of you darksiders live in Washington state? 8k on my PR4 GTs with way to many miles at 70+ MPH has killed them. Thinking of this option but want to look at a setup first

pnkrkr4lif said:

Any of you darksiders live in Washington state? 8k on my PR4 GTs with way to many miles at 70+ MPH has killed them. Thinking of this option but want to look at a setup first

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I'm in Wenatchee, until 6 am tomorrow. Won't be back until next week. Red Lodge here I come. Glad to let you see it, or even ride it.

send me a message when you get back. I just purchased the brake arm thing so not really sure when it will get here. Might buy a used tire for now just to try it out then go out and buy a new one if all goes well. I ride 15-20K a year and having to buy tires every 6 months is annoying.

pnkrkr4lif said:

send me a message when you get back. I just purchased the brake arm thing so not really sure when it will get here. Might buy a used tire for now just to try it out then go out and buy a new one if all goes well. I ride 15-20K a year and having to buy tires every 6 months is annoying.

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Here's another deal, I've got a mostly used exalto in the garage that you can have. I'm gonna guess a good 5 k left on it, but it'll give you a sampling of what to expect.

And I've got a

juniorfjr said:

pnkrkr4lif said:

send me a message when you get back. I just purchased the brake arm thing so not really sure when it will get here. Might buy a used tire for now just to try it out then go out and buy a new one if all goes well. I ride 15-20K a year and having to buy tires every 6 months is annoying.

Click to expand...

Here's another deal, I've got a mostly used exalto in the garage that you can have. I'm gonna guess a good 5 k left on it, but it'll give you a sampling of what to expect.

Click to expand...

And here's another deal- I've got a mostly used General G-Max in the shop that you can have for only the cost of shipping.

pnkrkr4lif said:

Any of you darksiders live in Washington state? 8k on my PR4 GTs with way to many miles at 70+ MPH has killed them. Thinking of this option but want to look at a setup first

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I'm up in the Bellingham area. I have a little experience with that set-up.

Phil

Is there a double dark side list? Just put a bt 45 130/70/17 on the front......backwards.

odot said:

Is there a double dark side list? Just put a bt 45 130/70/17 on the front......backwards.

I can make a note of it on the Darksider list. We have one, so you are the second, known, Double Darksider.

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It has been so noted. You are Double Darksider #2 as well as Darksider #80.

Remember.................second place is the first loser.

Remember.................second place is the first loser.

Every time you post I get four email responses... PWI?

Just four?.......I was hoping for nine or ten.......

My Michelin Pilot exalt is looking tired. It's well into the wear bars now and though it runs fine and could probably go another 5k miles or more, my concern is what might happen while riding in the rain. We talked about this earlier in this thread: a CT presents a very different leading edge when riding through water at speed. Shallow tread on a CT It is not going to be nearly as forgiving as shallow tread on a MT when it comes to hydro-planing. So with that in mind, and a 2000 mile trip to EOM in Virginia just 2 days away, I decided it was time.

First a close look at the treads at 41k miles:



Then, we remove the rear wheel:



I believe this may be the last remaining **NEW** Michelin Pilot Exalto in existence. The factory stopped making them in 1212, and that's when this one was made. As far as I know, they have been unavailable anywhere in the US for some time now. I bought it in the summer of 2014, and it has been stored in in the back room since then.

Before I put them in the van to head out to find a place that would swap em out, I took the picture below. I checked this tire over carefully. It is in near perfect condition, with the exception of the obvious wear. It did not have an easy life. But let my experience add to the volume of data given on this forum; I am indeed convinced beyond a doubt that my "experiment" was a success. I still remember the owner of the Yamaha shop yelping at his service manager just after he installed this tire years ago. He was sure I was going to crash and burn and wanted to be crystal clear that for the record, they did NOT install this tire, and that deluded service manager was never to do this again. He got a pretty good lecture, and later on, so did I. Sheesh.



If ya look closely, you can see the difference in tread depth. The Exalto has served me well. I put it on the bike 5 1/2 years ago: CLICKY Note the date. The picture you'll see if you clicked on that link was taken when my new (to me) FJR had just 6 k miles on its original Metzler. Since then, the Exalto has carried me over 41,000 miles. It's been to the top of PIke's peak in Colorado, through the deserts out west at temperatures near 120 and traveling at near triple digit speeds, through some of the nastiest potholes and rough roads, and even through Tropical Storm Debbie at expressway speeds. It's carved through the Tail of the Dragon dozens of times. While I was there, I was happy to see that it had fairly good grip in the corners when I came across unexpected grass clippings and leaves on the road surface. I've driven it at temps as low as 23F. and it cornered just fine. It's gone most of those miles with a plug in the center due to a nail I picked up in 2012. It's carried a second plug for the last 10k miles or so: lotsa nails around here.

But there's more. I headed up to the corner to ask a local garage to mount the tire. They'd told me years ago that they'd take care of it when the time came. However, it appears they've changed their mind. Sent me down the road to another shop.

Nope, we can't do that here: try Shop "B" up the road. Same story there. Tried shop "C." Nope. Finally headed off to a local motorcycle shop.

There I was told that the last time they tried to mount a CT on a motorcycle, the CT exploded and broke the hand of the mechanic. Not sure what he meant by "exploded," but whatever--no help there. Headed to another MC shop. Closed, and of course: it's Monday.

Called a friend who owns a body shop. Nope, we don't do that here: but try Venom Cycles in New Port Richey. And finally 35 dollars later and I'm good to go. The fella who installed it said that it took 3 guys to wrestle it on the rim.

So back home, check the brake pads:



Amazing how much material is left on those pads after 46k miles.

And off we go for another 40,000 miles. Should get it nicely broken in by the time I return from EOM this weekend.



Gary

darksider #44

Been away from this a long time...


Has anybody died because they ran a CT?

Bustanut joker said:

Has anybody died because they ran a CT?

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I drove my Chevy to levee one day and the music died.

But it was running motorcycle tires in a helter skelter summer swelter. Does that count?

Bustanut joker said:

Been away from this a long time...

Has anybody died because they ran a CT?

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Who knows?

Hard to post a negative report when yer dead.