Dark siding Val

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Ansimp

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
9,855
Reaction score
34
Location
Brisbane Australia
My Bike Models
1981 GL1100 “Rats Nest”
1998 GL1500c Val
1987 CBR1000f “The Pig”
1991 CBR1000f Red
I posted awhile back how I had put a new rear car tire onto Val and I now have over 1000ks on it. I mainly decided on trying this out due to all the others who had gone before me and advised how great it was for them. Even though I am a firm believer in motorcycle tires and I have no desire to muck around with car tires on the Rats Nest or my CBRs I felt that Val was the perfect fit to try on the Darkside. I do believe if Shinko had made a 180/70 x16 A230 I would not have felt the need to experiment with a car tire on the rear of Val. The Shinko Journeymaster never felt as planted as I would of liked and I could break traction while powering out of corners etc.
Worn out after 7K klms
The new Darkside.
 
I had chatted with a guy from New South Wales who has 300K klms on his Aussie Valkyrie and he had been running a rear Darkside for his last 3 tires and seemed pretty happy. I had also read on the Honda Valkyrie Facebook page about many Darksiders who were happy with their choice and the creator of the page was regularly running up and down the Tail of the Dragon scraping pegs. I also felt that it was important for me to actually have a go at Darksiding if I wanted to have an informed opinion one way or the other.
When I first rode down the DD it was absolutely shocking how the 25mm wider car tire pushed the front end around and made it very hard to lean at low speeds on the way down. Once out on the bitumen it really seemed to take a lot of effort to change direction and it really felt unsettling. From what I had read most Darksiders reported similar sensations but said that playing with tire pressure and clocking up some distance on the new tire would improve the performance. I set myself a 2K klms minimum before I made a decision if Darksiding Val was for me. The other day on our ride up Tambourine Mountain I finally scaped the rh peg when I managed to get onto the sidewall, finally no chicken strips on the rh side at least.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=206431#p206431:1vt5wqsd said:
slabghost » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:55 pm[/url]":1vt5wqsd]
What size tire did you use? Did you mill down the wheel any?
205/60 x 16 and no modifications to the wheel.
 
I actually want to run a 195/65 x 16 runflat as that would have a stiffer sidewall like a motorcycle tire and I feel that some of the pushing around of the front tire is due to the width of the new rear. The other option is a 175/75 x 16 light truck tire (8 ply sidewall) but it will probably be too hard with a pretty ordinary pattern that won’t give me the wet/performance handling that I like.
 
Tony - good for you. An informed decision is always good. The worst case is you get to revert back to an MC tire if you want. I'm thinking you will probably get used to it and find that for the type of riding that you do with the Valk it will be a great addition. Had a CT on my ex-1800 for over two years and my HD friends followed me and tried to find fault, but could not. It was mentioned that there was quite the rooster tail when riding in a good downpour.

Look forward to hearing of your experience as you ride with the CT more.

Cheers
 
After my son and I getting into sport bikes now for a couple years, and doing extended research into tire compounds and stickiness, what others are running to keep the tires planted, actually feeling the difference in those tire compounds in the corners, and the plenty warm front E3 tire on my 83 Oldwing sliding out on me, I gotta say a car tire with its square edge scares the hell out of me.
It’s your bike and your ass. Run what you like, I’ll stick to bike tires.
 
I know what you are saying Dan as that was my belief as well but as I said I will now be able to make an informed decision. :yes:
I mentioned in one pro Darksiding group that I was concerned about what happens when I fall off the tread onto the sidewall. I had plenty of comments about “don’t worry, just ride it like you stole it” and “you will never get over onto the sidewall”. As you can see by my photo I have now ridden past my chicken strips onto the sidewall.
I always felt that the majority of the Darksiders did more freeway/upright riding than smashing through the corners. :smilie_happy: :moped:
 
About 70k of the 113k on my GL1800 have been on the safer run flat car tires. Triple the mileage, half the price, twice the wet handling. Took ~50 miles to get used to pressing it into a turn instead of it falling into the turn.
 
I posted my results on the Facebook site ROLL’N DARKSIDE and the results were hilarious. Admin had to stop the comments because I couldn’t help myself and answered all the naysayers comments. I felt that this site didn’t have any real interest to me as most the tires are not available here in Oz and after the viterol over my photos and observations I left this closed group. I basically had people suggesting that I drew or ground the marks on my sidewall/shoulder and how it must be interference with nut cages or the swing arm. For a site that is always defending their use of car tires and questioning others who hadn’t tried car tires and voiced negative opinions about Darksiding, they sure didn’t like the idea that someone rode that edge on their tire without sliding down the road on their side. :smilie_happy:
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=206463#p206463:3pzclowf said:
Ansimp » Yesterday, 8:45 pm[/url]":3pzclowf]
I posted my results on the Facebook site ROLL’N DARKSIDE and the results were hilarious. Admin had to stop the comments because I couldn’t help myself and answered all the naysayers comments. I felt that this site didn’t have any real interest to me as most the tires are not available here in Oz and after the viterol over my photos and observations I left this closed group. I basically had people suggesting that I drew or ground the marks on my sidewall/shoulder and how it must be interference with nut cages or the swing arm. For a site that is always defending their use of car tires and questioning others who hadn’t tried car tires and voiced negative opinions about Darksiding, they sure didn’t like the idea that someone rode that edge on their tire without sliding down the road on their side. :smilie_happy:

HDs used to come from the factory with CTs. Some of these fat bob type tires that are some 9-10 inches wide and sold as MTs are almost the same as a CT, don't like to corner either - have to be made.

If it weren't for people who pushed the envelope or tried different things throughout the years, we would not be where we are. You don't get the same discussion when mentioning towing trailers - no OEM recommends this, and who has not exceeded the GVW of their bike - not many I'd say. Some people also don't like the external alt mod for the early GWs- go figure. I think I'm a bit off the wall keeping my '85 LTD going, always something.

Give the CT a good shake. It's not for everyone, but those that keep using a CT like what it gives them. Having ridden my ex-1800 for some 20K Kms before I sold it with the CT on it, I like the cruising aspect of a CT and you can make it perform in the corners to the ability of the bike and yourself.

I'm starting to waffle a bit on the CT for my 1500. The new Elite 4 tires are supposed to give some 30K miles, and the Commander II tires on my 1200 are passing 30K Kms and not at the wear bars. The Austone taxi tire is $225.00 CDN here in Canada and the preferred CT for the 1500 from what I can find. Choices, just so many choices.

Enough pontificating. It would be an extremely boring world if we were all the same, and succumbed to the same social engineering. Have fun, ride safe.

Cheers
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=206463#p206463:36wo6yce said:
Ansimp » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:45 pm[/url]":36wo6yce]
I posted my results on the Facebook site ROLL’N DARKSIDE and the results were hilarious. Admin had to stop the comments because I couldn’t help myself and answered all the naysayers comments. I felt that this site didn’t have any real interest to me as most the tires are not available here in Oz and after the viterol over my photos and observations I left this closed group. I basically had people suggesting that I drew or ground the marks on my sidewall/shoulder and how it must be interference with nut cages or the swing arm. For a site that is always defending their use of car tires and questioning others who hadn’t tried car tires and voiced negative opinions about Darksiding, they sure didn’t like the idea that someone rode that edge on their tire without sliding down the road on their side. :smilie_happy:

Wow. I just went over and checked out that conversation. Pretty brutal. Bunch of closed-minded asses, I think.

But, I can still see why there'd be some suspicion of rubbing going on. What I think they didn't take into consideration was that you're only 1000kms into it. Very early wear pattern. That would explain the still-longitudinal striations, I think.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=206479#p206479:2wimrlw7 said:
joedrum » 3 minutes ago[/url]":2wimrlw7]
Tony these people have no clue on your skill as a rider ...of course you can go over the edge on a car tire ...with skill you have ...where 99 others would never get there ....
Yep, exactly. Just ignore them.
 
As pretty much a Facebook Luddite my daughter informs me that you don’t bother reading the comments but for me they are the best part. My favourite bit is in any post where you can see by the person’s comment that they haven’t really read the post properly or understood it and come up with some amazing conclusion. I know my riding skills are reasonably good and I must admit I did find it hard when you read “ he’s probably only rides 20 miles at at a time” not to start justifying by describing my DD or my great adventure in the US with my brother Kim in August 2013. The worst part is I was using my iPhone with the new DashCam app and somehow I ended up with saved video of all the boring stuff only. I really would of loved to have the moment of impact with my foot peg recorded to review and see how the bike and I had actually behaved (and it would of made for a great comment link) and also the last bit where I overtook a silver Porsche Turbo and a horse float in a tight overtaking spot ( he later blew past me going possibly 100 Kph faster than me. :smilie_happy:
The truth of the matter is I had a great ride with a fellow CGW member where I managed to do something that I wasn’t sure about on a fantastic motorcycle. You can’t beat that in my opinion except by having more of those days! :moped: :clapping: :salute:
 
This is why I don't like people, and prefer friends to talk to rather than explain something that is basically nothing more than a point to argue to most. If I like to do something, I like to do it. If I want to try something I want to try it. Feedback is one thing, but out and out argueing when it is obvious they have not even attempted it and done nothing more than a lot of reading, their opinions are nothing more than words themself since they have nothing more to argue on than their reading of words in a google search. Good on you for stepping out and doing the research and finding out for your own research in an intentional manner and open mind.

BTW, I don't have facebook. I did but, deleted it now 3 years or so ago. Everyday I hear more and more to confirm I am still not missing anything there.
 
Comments on YouTube videos can be hilarious at times.
Some of my videos I get asshole comments that have nothing to do with the video. :smilie_happy:
I think some people watching them simply have nothing better to do than to post derogatory crap to troll and hope for the same back.

I started to read more on FB then caught myself and realized 99.9 percent of what I was reading is a complete waste of energy. The last .1% might be slabghosts topics (maybe) lol.
They can get entertaining at times.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=206481#p206481:2m98jt53 said:
Ansimp » Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:25 am[/url]":2m98jt53]
As pretty much a Facebook Luddite my daughter informs me that you don’t bother reading the comments but for me they are the best part. My favourite bit is in any post where you can see by the person’s comment that they haven’t really read the post properly or understood it and come up with some amazing conclusion. I know my riding skills are reasonably good and I must admit I did find it hard when you read “ he’s probably only rides 20 miles at at a time” not to start justifying by describing my DD or my great adventure in the US with my brother Kim in August 2013. The worst part is I was using my iPhone with the new DashCam app and somehow I ended up with saved video of all the boring stuff only. I really would of loved to have the moment of impact with my foot peg recorded to review and see how the bike and I had actually behaved (and it would of made for a great comment link) and also the last bit where I overtook a silver Porsche Turbo and a horse float in a tight overtaking spot ( he later blew past me going possibly 100 Kph faster than me. :smilie_happy:
The truth of the matter is I had a great ride with a fellow CGW member where I managed to do something that I wasn’t sure about on a fantastic motorcycle. You can’t beat that in my opinion except by having more of those days! :moped: :clapping: :salute:
haha, yep. i can assure you all Tony werent messing about. i cant say where he scraped the deck, but i do know when he whipped past the Porsche , i had no hope of going with him, and (to put it mildly), there was a bit of involuntary sphincter tightening when i saw him round up the horse float. :shock:
man o man those Valks go...
i kind of thought that the Porsche wasnt going to take it lying down.... :music:
 
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