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Darkside tire choices..

49K views 86 replies 40 participants last post by  OydnaR 
#1 ·
Before anybody says anything this is NOT a thread about weather or not to go darkside I have and love it !!.
What I want to know is what tires others are useing??.I'm planning a trip to Dead Horse next summer which will have ALOT of dirt/gravel riding and wonder what tire I should run.I also do alot of freeway AND dirt road riding so a good mixed terrain tire is what I'm looking for.I have been useing a General and it works well BUT maybe there is something better ??.
 
#2 ·
.I have been useing a General and it works well BUT maybe there is something better ??.
which General, Exclaim UHP ?

I'm running the General Altimax Arctic, about 18k miles so far, tread depth is at about 50% works better in gravel, mud, snow/slush than the Karoos or TKCs I've been running in front. 40% or more of my riding is gravel roads

price point is good, I paid $110



 
#4 ·
Yes the exclaim UHP.I am running a MC tire now but when it's gone I will go back over to the darkside.Randy,Do you think your winter tread would last with a 90-10 mix of pavement/dirt???.


Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app
 
#5 ·
,Do you think your winter tread would last with a 90-10 mix of pavement/dirt???.
easily, even though tread is soft (lot of sipes and deep tread) its not melting away in summer like it might on a cage, and I'm loaded fairly heavy all the time (my 300lb lard ass when geared up + another 75lbs of equipment I regularly carry) and add another 200 then I ride 2up (glad I resprung and put the WP shock in back:beatnik:



 
#8 ·
Yes..I have about 3000 on my Achilles 205/50/17 and RobW has about 7000 on the same tire. Quentin had 10,000 on the same brand but it was a 205/55/17. Now he runs a same brand 205/45 may have 4-5000. All of us have been pleased with its highway use. Adjusting tire pressure to 34# seems to work best for me. Off road or highways.
 
#9 ·
Just picked up my replacement

General Exclaim UHP... 205/50/17..... last one was a "55" (see pic) but this one was on sale....


the one in the pic is done now, 42,000 km's of savage beatings over rocks, mud, pavement and cement...

replacement cost 124 canadian dollars.... will be putting it on this week....

:thumbup:

for the record, I have never ground the chicken strips off a front tire before I put this on the back.... current trail wing is wearing right to the edge of the tread, the bike corners like it is on rails...

I will never buy another motorcycle rear for this ever again....
 
#12 · (Edited)
General Exclaim UHP... 205/50/17..... last one was a "55" (see pic) but this one was on sale....


the one in the pic is done now, 42,000 km's of savage beatings over rocks, mud, pavement and cement...
.
Grypnon51, I have been looking at the General tire website and the tread pattern of the tire pic you posted above does not match the tread pattern of the ones available by the same name. Has General changed the tread pattern or is it possible you mis-identified the one you posted? I ask cuz what you have shown in your pic is what I'd like to buy. Can you confirm the model name and suffix? Thanks

Actually, I just went to the HD version of your pic and it is indeed an Exclaim UHD. It must no longer be offered in that tread pattern.

Ian
 
#11 ·
I had a UHP before but I only had about 5,000 miles on it when i took it off ( it still looked like new ).I bought it from Tire Rack for $69.00 !!!.It was the best rain tire I have ever had,I could STAND on the rear brake and NOT lock it up.



Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app
 
#13 ·
RandyO, you appear to have a ton of experience with the CT issue, and have a pretty unbiased opinion of it. Do you have any recommendations on a particular front tire that goes well with the darkside? I've seen comments on various threads that there are sometimes compatibility issues in the way the front and rear tire track with each other. I have a stock Trailwing on my front at the moment, and pretty much all of my riding is on the street. Have you found any particular front tires that work well, or any that you would definitely avoid?
 
#17 ·
I'm running a Tourance now, haven't got many miles on it, no issues so far, its the first non knobby front since I've been running a CT in back

In winter, I run a studded Karoo T, obviously, speeds are lower, no issues, I did run an unstudded Karoo T I would not recommend if you like to speed and especially pass trucks or busses at high speeds, I had a couple of oh sh!t moments that almost turned into true tank slappers while I was passing thru the wake under full throttle acceleration. The Altimax Arctic/Karoo T combination is great on gravel roads under 60mph and moderate acceleration
 
#23 ·
Tirerack doesn't have very many options for 205/55-17... Neither does discount tire..

where are you guys buying from? and how come everything i find is in the $160 plus range for one tire?

also, will most MC shops mount a car tire?
 
#34 ·
I bought mine form a local mom & pop tire service center, $109, they were not only willing but wanted to mount it, but I brought the tire to my local Suzuki dealer along with my bike and they installed it, BUT I have a kinda unique relationship with my dealer , I felt my dealer was more equip to take the rear wheel off the bike
 
#27 · (Edited)
I haven't found a MC shop that would mount a car tire or any tire shop for that matter. Had to do it by hand. Not as bad as it sounds.
tried that with a scooter once.. was unsuccessful. then again, it was a 10 inch rim..

edit: a whole lotta options for 205/50-17.
 
#29 ·
Hand mounted a car tire on a Honda VTX 1300 once. We actually ruptured the tire with air pressure trying to seat the bead, sounded like a bomb going off. We were lucky no one was hurt. Our second attempt was successful after using extra helping portions of mounting compound. It's going to depend a lot on the stiffness and size of the tire and size and width of the wheel.
Go to youtube and look for videos, there are several, some quite good on mounting motorcycle tires.
 
#30 ·
For anyone going :jawdrop: "it's a car tire!", don't knock it until you see it. I saw it on the first NorthEast gathering ... as several darksiders passed me on twisty roads. Then there is a video on YouTube that shows a radial car tire at speed on a VStar, that rounds out like a regular bike tire the faster it spins.

Switching to the Darkside isn't for me, yet if ever. But those that have seem to really like it.
 
#31 ·
Michelin makes a great car tire. Michelin makes a great motorcycle tire.
It seems that they could combine the best of both and make a great Darkside.
If the CT is so great then I would think it has been considered by at least one manufacturer to produce a tire that is fairly flat for highway miles and incorporates a nice rolling transition to a tacky cornering profile.
Just sayin.
 
#33 ·
Why waste the money to manufacture a tire that's good for 50 thousand miles on a mode of transportation that in the US anyway is just a "toy" and the average owner only operates 2 to 4000 miles a year?

While some of us replace tires 2+ times a year (or more) the average motorcycle owner in the US might replace tires once very 2 or 3 years.
 
#36 ·
Achilles ATR 205/50/17

Just ordered mine over the intenet. Will report back how I like it. Anticipate upping on on the front sprocket and a speedo healer. Must go search for speedo healer here to see if it works on a 2006.

Meantime, patching AND plugging (the instructions on patch box at NAPA say steps 1-3 are the plug and 4-7 are the patch) a nail hole in my newish Battlewing. That tire goes on the shelf.

Thanks all.

PS, a CT on my burgman 650 made that bike a lot better. Equal improvement as the new Hagon shocks on that bike.
 
#39 ·
This is the 1st time I've heard of this. Is there any mod's you must do before putting a CT on, or is the main issue mounting it?
No mods and my buddy and I spooned my tire onto the rim ourselves.
 
#42 ·
Just spooned on my 3rd Car tire, The exclaim is discontinued, so I am using an AS03, still staying with general's, got it on sale at Canadian Tire for $126

averaging about 50K a tire...
 
#45 ·
The guy on the Wing has also ridden an Iron Butt 1000 mile ride that was 100% on Deals gap. He is from West Palm Beach and moved up near the Gap several years ago. A monster of a rider. He used to video tape people riding the Dragon and if you could lose him, the DVD was free. He never gave one away due to that.:jawdrop:
 
#51 ·
Seems to me that most Darksiders are Vee riders. Could be wrong here but seems like it from the past 2hrs of reading I have done. I also think that most the Darksiders are 95% Street riders with just some dirt or gravel road riding mixed in on occasion. I'd be very interested in trying this but first I own a Wee and Second I do more like 60/40 Street to dirt riding. With some of the dirt maybe 10-15% of the Dirt being of the more challenging type. Single track, rocky stuff etc. Right now I'm running TKC's and they are good but Expensive. The Darkside idea could save a guy a grip load of cash... I'll keep searching around and doing more research to decide if this is something I want to do. Seems that once you go dark you never go back...
 
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