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 thoroughly understand about lugging the engine and I don't rat race the bike either. The engine is stone stock from air cleaner to exhaust tip. Only have a Master Tune on it that brings the h/t to 79/98.
You must remember you running DS means the shop doesn't get your tire sales. All of us can only speak of our experiences , here's mine. I started running a CT in 2005 on a VN2000 Kawasaki then in 2012 on my 12 Limited which I now have over 80,000 miles on. In our local group we have half dozen on CT's which all of whom pull trailers also. Myself and all the others have installed the new 64000422 centrifugally lubed type usually in the 20,000 range and now have over 50 on the new type. Here is what we have done to extend the comp life, we have all polished the spokes and ramps of the comp, this promotes a much smoother operation than the unfinished cast surfaces which also will eliminate almost all the metal flakes in the primary oil, which means less wear on seals and stator. Second, under no circumstances lug the engine on a pull ( below 2500) , this will kill the comp. Never let the engine below 2500rpm, shift from 3500-4500 and cruise no lower than 2500-3000. All of our comps in 50,000+ miles have shown no wear at all, none ! Here's the analogy, when you are riding a bicycle and you're in a gear that is too high you need a tremendous amount of pressure on the pedals, almost to the point of bending them seemingly. Then you select a lower gear which lessons the pressure and increases the rpm , maintaining the same speed , all the stress in your legs and on the pedals, ( crank/comp) suddenly disappears. Every engine component will thank you for running at the higher rpm's and you will find the bike running easier , stronger and your comp problems will all but disappear unless you are running big HP, in that case just go solid. We don't have any more comp problems , we are all stage 3 and have pulled trailers two up all over the USA and Canada, and up all the elevation rides. To seal the deal I'm running double dark pushing a steam roller up the road, by all reasonable and educated opinions we should be dead and the bike inoperable ! Go figure ! Your comp problems aren't being caused by your tire choices !
This makes all the sense in the world! I have caught myself lugging the motor a few times (2000-2300) and then downshift when I realize it. It's harder to realize on this bike than it was on my Heritage. On that bike, I had 589G cams, so if I was less than 3k, the bike was angry. It did not like That at all! On here, with the mellow sounds of the Power duals and the Rinehart 4" in the otherwise stock setup minus the Big Sucker and FP3, it just sounds strong and feels strong across the board. I do watch the RPMs though, especially before I hit it. I've been driving manual since I was about 13, and riding since I was about 17, so I shouldn't be having even the occasional slip ups that I do, but at least I'd never blame my compensator failure on my tire!
05-08-2019, 07:41 PM
