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The Dark SideFor those members running "Car Tires" on their scoots. This is for their discussion only and not a place for "non dark siders" to mouth off about their negative opinions of this idea!
I'm thinking fxdwg4me is experiencing a balancing issue as well... Some beads or ride on just might do it... 35-38 psi should be good... And definitely check rear wheel alignment....
Looking for help here. Heard a lot of talk about going to the dark side for a long time. I put a lot of miles on my bike so thought this would help the pocket book a long with the ride performance.I put in a lot of research on which tire to go with. I recently put a 205-55ZR16SL 91W G-Max AS-03 on my 13 RGU. with less than 500 miles on it I am not impressed. Have been playing with the air pressure and cannot get rid of High speed (80 Plus) death wobble. currently running 48 psi I started at 30 psi and worked my way up. Cornering is better at the higher pressure but running straight down the highway is a scary bitch at times. Just looking for help on what I might be missing. Thank you in advance.
Really, ditch the G-Max AS-03! They are notorious for having weak sidewalls and do cause all sorts of problems. I ran one for a while, the same size as yours and didn't really care for it. One time while I was hitting the twisties fairly hard, I ended up scraping the frame of the bike due to the sidewalls flexing too much. Luckily I didn't go down, but it did rattle my cage a bit. So I did more research upped the size to a 205-60r16 92v and ordered a Yokohama ENVigor in that size. I've been happy with it all the way around including how it handles the twisties no matter how hard I hit them. I also used balance beads rather than the Ride On that some use. Either work well.
My G-Max is sitting in the garage in case someone might need a tire that size since I don't have a car or truck.
Again, I would recommend replacing the G-Max and go with something else. Save the tire for a spare for some car. Those really don't work well on the Dark Side.
***ETA: I forgot to mention, I ride a 2010 FLHX so the size I chose for my bike may not necessarily fit yours.
Last edited by Bonnie Storm; Nov 1, 2017 at 05:06 PM.
Really, ditch the G-Max AS-03! They are notorious for having weak sidewalls and do cause all sorts of problems. I ran one for a while, the same size as yours and didn't really care for it. One time while I was hitting the twisties fairly hard, I ended up scraping the frame of the bike due to the sidewalls flexing too much. Luckily I didn't go down, but it did rattle my cage a bit. So I did more research upped the size to a 205-60r16 92v and ordered a Yokohama ENVigor in that size. I've been happy with it all the way around including how it handles the twisties no matter how hard I hit them. I also used balance beads rather than the Ride On that some use. Either work well.
My G-Max is sitting in the garage in case someone might need a tire that size since I don't have a car or truck.
Again, I would recommend replacing the G-Max and go with something else. Save the tire for a spare for some car. Those really don't work well on the Dark Side.
***ETA: I forgot to mention, I ride a 2010 FLHX so the size I chose for my bike may not necessarily fit yours.
Looking to try / go to the darkside too with my 2013 FLHTK Ultra Limited. I'm hoping folks that have experience with several
different tires can give me some insight, like this post has, as to which brand/size has worked best for them on a similar bagger.
My riding includes both mountain twisties and freeway along with regular around town stuff. Tnx in advance for your reply.
I've run the Yoko Envigor. Two of them really. I didn't get very good mileage out of them. Went to the driveguard and I'm getting closer to 20K out of them.
You can go with either a 205 or a 195 for the width. I generally go with the 195, but have run 205's without problem. I would look for a 195 60 16 or a 205 60 16 if I were you. That should keep your speedometer pretty close.
Going dark on my 15 lowrider sometime this winter going with the yokohama 195-45-17 already bought the tire changer the kit for mc tires now working on the little home updates so i dont scrape up my rim and then the tire and balance beads
think there is a reason it's call a "car" tire ....and the other is a "motorcycle" tire....
just sayin ' !!!!
Well geeee, I never thought of that in the 40 years I've been using them. I guess I better get out there and take that car tire off my motorcycle.
So does this mean I can't take my motorcycle on a car ferry?
Last edited by EasternSP; Jan 23, 2018 at 05:32 PM.
I darksided my 2017 Ultra Classic this weekend, wound up going with the Dunlop SP winter sport 3D run flat along with a Dunlop American elite on the front. Both ends on Dyna beads.
I have ridden a few wings that were dark sided so I did have somewhat of a baseline to judge how it would work on my Harley, after my first ride after the swap I was impressed!
Feels like it comes off the jiffy stand easier as the tire wants to lay flat when upright, once underway it did not require the initial hard nudge to turn like the gold wings I rode (running 40psi currently on the Harley).
Braking was incredible compared to the stock Dunlops, looking forward to racking up some miles on this setup!
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