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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> darksider tire q's
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Message started by BurnPgh on 07/29/10 at 00:05:45

Title: darksider tire q's
Post by BurnPgh on 07/29/10 at 00:05:45

Ever since I switched my stock wheels to cast (gs450 front, gs550 rear) I've have a slight pull to the right. 2 years worth of slight. Its obviously not unrideable as I've got about 12k mi since I switched but its irritating. I want to glide along smoothly like I did before the cast wheel swap. Rims are straight (within spec straight anyway) and balanced (although Im not fond of the local shops since one almost killed Ineclipse through pure negligence. My trust in anyone elses ability is low so my "balanced" wheels may not be all that balanced). No amount of off setting and/or rear wheel cocking seems to do the trick precisely, and I havent had any spills. 2 lay down at 5 mph or less since I switched wheels. So I'm pretty firm on going back to the stock wheels if for no other reason than to begin again from square 1, however my main intention for switching in the first place was the tubeless option. I notice OF is in the process of a spoked tubless experiment and if his results are good I intend to go the same route at least temporarily. A rear that last 20k + mi AND tubeless...well...sign me up. My main concern is what rear to purchase when the time comes (Im going to wear out this 16" tire first). Reading through the darkside posts and drinking/thinking posts I see that the goodyear 155/80-15 is recommended but Im curious if anyone other than Phelonious has experience with the 135-15 michelin and what the Pn is for that particular tire? To be honest I'm sick of F***ing with spacing. I want a darkside that will mount on the stock rear rim (with or without OFs tubeless conversion) without me having to space the rear wheel for clearance. At present I have 11 1/2in progressive so I have a bit more room to play with vertically and I have a chain conversion so cleaance between the tire and belt is essentially a non-issue. Done a lot of tinkering this season and about half as much riding as Id like. Id liek to go back to stock wheels and spacing before the next season comes around and hopefully make up for lost time and keep it tubeless if possible. Any info appreciated.

Title: Re: darksider tire q's
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/29/10 at 00:59:26

We used to, before we had lasers, wet a cement floor & run a car in & stop it & see how the tires were lining up. A bent frame would show itself pretty easily that way. Maybe you could see something, IDK, but it would be easy, even if it didnt help, at least it wouldnt be a bunch of work wasted. I dont know what it would show on a bike, just 3 am, no sleeping, tossin this out,,

Title: Re: darksider tire q's
Post by Phelonius on 07/29/10 at 09:45:46

I chose 135X15 specificly to not have clearance problems with either belt or chain.
Because of the flat profile of the darkside tire, even though it is smaller in number than the 145 stock tire, it puts more square inches of rubber in contact with the pavement. This makes for much better braking with the rear brake. Since the Savage does not usually have the power to do burn outs, there is no loss of performance. I personally would not darkside a two wheeler but as a sidecar tire there is none better
Because of the harder composition of rubber, it gave me better gas milage too. The harder composition did not impair traction because of the larger contact patch.
Tire gave more than 20,000 miles of all kinds of road surfaces.
I do not remember the stock number but it is the same tire that is sold for use on older VW beetles.

Phelonius