Finally gonna try this "darkside" stuff out. Been doing a pile of research, and it seems to me that anyone who's actually done it, either swears by it, or didn't have any major gripes, but it just wasn't for them. The only naysayers are those who have never actually tried it. It's kinda funny, the guys I ride with are either treating me as the guinea pig, and plan to do it too if I like it, or they're old salty buggers, who think I will die a horrible death.


I settled on a General G-Max AS-03 in 205/55R16. Picked it up for $120CAD at the local Crappy Tire. I tried to get a couple local shops to install it for me, and they all turned me away. Nobody would touch it. So a Princess Auto tire changer magically appeared in my garage not too long ago, and I'll be doing it myself.


I've never installed any tire before, never mind a car tire on a motorcycle rim...


I have some Ride-On balancer and tire pressure caps on the way, and once I have that, I'll be good to get started. I hope to document the install, and post a thread here to help anyone else in a similar situation.


I have an old 2600psi SCBA bottle from my 4-wheeling days that has seated my 35" Jeep tires (they tend to come off the bead in the rocks). A little car tire should be a cake walk. Obviously I'm not inflating the tire to 2600psi, but that pressure on a valve gives me nice controlled bursts. Works pretty good.


Apart from miscellaneous straps, the air bottle, and the tire changer, I also have a fairly extensive tool collection, with some tire irons and rim bead protectors on the way. I think I should be set, but any tips/tricks you guys might be able to add is more than welcome!

 

ok i just did mine on sat , taking the tire on and off yourself isn't to bad . the only thing i had a hard time with was taking tire off the rim and putting tire back on. when i do it again im taking tire to someone with a machine. other than that not bad.

 

Welcome to the Darkside. Don't forget, "We have cookies!"

While I can't help you with actual tire install (My Indy installs mine.) I will give you a few pieces of advice that you may find helpful.

1) One 16 oz bottle of Ride On worked great in my GMax. Bike road smooth as silk.

2) Start with about 30 psi and then increase pressure in small increments until you find your sweet spot.

3) While you are changing you be sure to replace the valve stem with a 90 degree model!

Don't forget to update you life insurance so that your family will be protected when you spontaneously combust because you have a car tire on your motorcycle.

 

Thanks guys,




-Yeah, it's the R&R for the tire itself that's intimidating. The rest is easy to figure out with a service manual and YouTube! Wish I had an indie to do it. At the same time, I do everything else on the scoot, so why not this?




-I have 3-8oz bottles coming, and according to Ride-On's calculator, I need 13-16oz for the rear, and 8-10oz for the front. I'll start on the low end and work my way up. As for the valve stems, the pressure caps are recommended for use on metal stems, so I have some fancy aluminum ones coming. Apparently the 90* stems flex too much with the additional weight of the caps, and can come into contact with other parts at speed. I wanted to go with 90* stems, but figured the pressure caps would at least keep me from needing to check them quite as often.


Thanks for the pressure tip. I've been looking on the darkside database for pressures and finding most people like the 40-50 psi range, but I like the idea of starting low and building up.


http://darkside.nwff.info/

 

Personally, I like 28 to 30 PSI. The ride is softer and the tire will last longer. I've found that 32 PSI or more will tend to wear out the center of the tread quicker than the outsides.

I have seen that a lot of Wingers like to run higher tire pressures, but it's mostly the aggressive riders that will burn through a rear MC tire in 5 or 6 thousand miles. They are thrilled with 10 or 12K of mileage from a CT.

 

Lube is your friend. Makes the tires slide right off and back on the rim. Clean the rim really well while the old tire is off. 30 lbs of air will most likely serve you well. Get ready to be amazed at the difference!

 

Thanks for all the input guys!!

Got the tire installed actually quite easily. Needed 90psi to seat it, but she's on. It's gonna take a bit to get used to the handling to be honest. Not sure if it's because it's cold out, or my pressure needs adjusting, but I certainly didn't have much confidence in slow leans as I used to. I'll have to spend some time fine tuning it. Just took it for a short test run since the roads are clear. I set it at 35psi, and it's still -6 outside here in Canada. Lol. It felt a bit squirrelly. I'll drop the pressure to 30 this weekend when it's supposed to be +10, and adjust the pressure up in small increments as suggested.

I now have another dilemma though. My belt rubs the sidewall of the tire and I adjusted as much as I could to get rid of it. It's not a hard rub, but it's enough to brush the dust off the sidewall. Anybody have any ideas how I can increase my clearance so they don't make contact?

 

I don't know of anyway to get clearance other than going with a 195-60-16.

 

That's why I went with the narrower 195. Didn't want to deal with possible issues.

 

For lube, only use soap and water. Ya don't want the tire to be slippin and spinning on the rim. I always use a bead sealer to help the tire from slippin with hard breaking or hard take offs.