I just mounted for the thrid time a darkside tire onto a Savage rim. It seems to get more difficult each time.
Getting the tire onto the rim is a piece of cake with large Harley spoons That I have been using for many years. Gettin the bead to seat is a whole nother problem. Those of you who have done this know where of I speak.
Recently one of my friends completely exploded a tire trying to do this. It tore right through the bead and ripped about 6 inches up the sidewall.  After cleaning his pants he showed me the results.
It was scarey to look at.
Number one rule. Never try to mount a darkside tire if it is a brand X  cheapo. The rubber quality and the quality of the cords leaves much to be desired.
My present choice for the Savage, it a 135 Michilin 15 inch.
While it is true that the original tire is a 145, the 135 darkside has a much greater footprint without being too wide for the swingarm.
As for the problem getting the bead to seat, The higher quality of rubber has a teensy bit more stretchability that is needed.
I use a silicone spray for a mounting lubricant. When air is pumped in the bead always lacks about 25% of its' diameter from seating properly. Deflate totaly and re lubricate and pump up again.  If you reach a stage where it simply will not bead any further, do this.
Use an acid brush to apply Crisco, ( yes common veenerschlider), to the part of the bead that will not take. Brush some onto the rim at that point too. DO NOT DO THE WHOLE TIRE WITH THIS STUFF! Only the section that refuses to take a bead. Re pressure and it should work. If it does not you must have a different expression on your face.
Using the Crisco for the whole rim may cause the tire to slip on hard accelleration or braking causing the tube to be torn at the stem.
I choose Crisco because a petroleum product may cause the rubber to deteriorate, whereas the Crisco is a vegatable product that is much less likely to do this.
Darkside tires are excellent for sidecar or trike usage but for two wheeled riding I consider them dangereous.

Phelonius

Yep, we tend to forget about the darksiders because they don't have say very much after the tire is in place.

Jack, I found something else to like about the BF Goodrich tire you put on your bike -- it has a full 12/32" of tread on it unlike the 9/32 that some VW tires have nowadays.

It should be a very long lasting tire.

Don't know that I would go the heat gun route. Those puppies put out a lot of heat quickly. Having seen paint bubble and plastic drip in a very few seconds I think I would stick to something a little lower in power potential. A 1,600 watt or so hair dryer with low/medium/high settings would probably keep you from weakening the rubber from temperature fatigue. More like running hot water on a stuck jar lid and less like a chainsaw for brain surgery. I don't want more than one contact point with the road, at least until/if I ever go the sidecar direction.

Jack

verslagen1 wrote on 04/19/09 at 22:56:42:


Hmmm, sounds good. Put a big pot of water on the fire and cook the tire

I think the softener you're talking about is for making the rubber sticky. Bleach does the same thing, works great on car tires on ice. But is it the rubber that's the problem getting the bead to seat? Or is it the metal cords that the rubber is built up on to make the bead? Rubber stretches pretty easily, but getting a 1/8"-1/4" or so of stretch out of those steel bands might be our problem.

I still don't get why my bead just popped into place with the gas station air pump so nicely. Seems most folks have some trouble. Unless it's due to all the stretching and pulling I had to do to just get it on the rim in the first place. Maybe it's good that I won't have to be changing it again for "ever".

Jack

Same person that put it on in the first place, I guess.  

You will still be dealing with a "tube issue" at the heart of all things, so that is unchanged from a standard tire.   Once you get the tire on the rim it conforms to the rim again without any hassle if you have to take it off and put it back.

It's been over 2 years for me so I am getting kinda rusty -- what exactly is it that you have to do to rear tires anyway?

..... ????  .....  ????   (must be some sort of trick question, maybe)

????

??

Oh yeah -- measure the tread depth & mileage and project how many years you have left before you have to mess with it again.

Come on guys this type of crap will really screw up a newbie - yous need an alchemy room

I think those of us who survive the "wide tire" experiment should have a T-shirt or something. We need a "DarkSider" logo design contest. Of course the shirt would wear out before the tire does, but who said life was fair.

Jack