When did you know the dark side was for you

I had done some reading about the darkside. I ran across a darkside thread on the gl1800 sight first, that lead me to VTXOA and twins thread about the darkside. I was pretty well convinced that i was going darkside then but as I was planning a trip down to Louisiana anyway I pm'd Toasted , Twin and Muntz to meet along the way.
Now keep in mind that I was pretty sure I was going to do this by now but we (my son and I) stopped in west memphis to meet Toasted for lunch. After lunch we pull out of the parking lot Toasted jumps on it in front of traffic in the shoulder gravel and all. Just romps the hell out of it like he had no doubt at all that his tire was not going to come out from under him. SOLD Right then and there. After waiting for traffic I caught up to Joe and we rode on to the shop. A couple days later in La. I meet up with Muntz and Twin, again for lunch, Watching Twin and the grip he had and the burnouts any remaining doubt(not much) I had was gone. Less than 2 weeks after that trip I was a darksider. I put almost 12000 miles on that tire before I murdered it.

Thats my story ya'll. Now lets hear yours.

Smokey

The Valkyrie was one of the first that used the car tire in masses. I've been runnin' one 8 or 9 years now. I ride my bike's like I stole them and was only getting around 5,500 miles on the motorcycle tire.I check my psi before the bike's leaves the garage ( everytime ) 40psi front , 40 psi rear . I run a Cooper Zeon 2XS a high performance directional summer tire and only get around 10,400 miles out of it but that doubles my rear tire life. 95 % of my rides we are headin' for the mountain twisties .I have no chicken strips on my tires . Some folks run the tires that Grandma puts on her Buick and have endless miles. No way I'd have one of those on my bike .

After I ran the numbers and saw the $ savings. Sure interest was sparked by some savings. Word was the handling and the ride were improved so for a C note I took a chance. Yep 15K miles later it is ALL good. Better ride, handling and cost. Plus I like the way it looks, the comments I get (for the most part ) and now I only have to pull the wheel to lube the splines! Run a HE 205/65/16 @ 37PSI and it's great. Speedo would be accurate too 'cept for the 1300 final. 70 indicated is actually 74.5 per the GPS.

Well, I saw all the posts on the 1800 board on vtxoa. Saw the links to Daniel Meyers site and read all his adventures and such.

I'd been through two rear tires on my 750 in 10k miles and traded it shortly after the 3rd one went on. Found out about the Darkside shortly there after. Noticed the stock 1300 rear tire was almost shot around 4k miles...made it to 4600miles.

After figuring out just my commuting miles a year and the cost of a new Metz ME880 and seeing the Darkside made alot of sense. After about 300 miles I was more than sold. Got 15700 out of the first Darkside. Then I decided to be like the big boys, since the 165r15 was becoming difficult to find.

Bought a 1800C rear wheel, brake parts and Michelin HydraEdge 205/65/16...love it...that and the wide ass looks good.

Might try the Cooper next time...in 15k...but loving every minute on the Darkside.

As I was reading about the darkside on the O/B I got to remembering (60s and 70s) that a lot of chops and bobbers used to run CTs on them. So I got to thinking and reading more. Talk it over with my wife to see what she would say (as she is my anchor), and wouldn't you know it she says whatever you want. I then started watching my rear tire to see how much longer it would last. When it wore out I bought a 165 80R 15 Kumho Power Star 158, and the rest is hystory. 6000 miles later and still loving it.

I was reading about the Darkside on the VTXOA and it got me to thinking (man did that hurt ). I put about 15k the first year I had my bike and had just put on a brand new set of WW's (love the classic look ). I got around 13k out of those tires but rarely rode as much as I wanted to. I didn't have a lot of money and the WW's I had ordered, well only the front tire showed up after a month of waiting around. Missed some great riding weather and was rather upset. By that time I re-read the Darksdie thread and thought to myself, why didn't I think about that earlier. I've had the bike since April of '05 and have had three sets of tires I went through. the first place I looked had 4 165r15's, Arizonian Premiums just begging for me to come pick them up, but I only needed one so I just went cheap or so I had thought. I had a WW front tire still in it's wrapping and now a ct to put on the rear. I thought it would be painless to just change out both tires and finally found a place to do it for me. The last time I changes out my tires I had them seal my rims (since I ride an S model) and that's when I thought about my X's look. I'd rather have both tires be WW's since the look was clean and classic (my favorite) but I didn't have a regular front tire.

Long story short I just went ahead and bought me a new front tire and put my ct on (only set me back $308.00 for this one ). I defilently want to get a jack so I won't have to pay that kind of price again.After about a week or so I got use to it and don't think I'll ever go back to a motorcycle tire again. I've put on around 6k since I got it, but cold and wet will have my take the truck. I'd rather not find any "Black Ice" on my way home from work if at all possible. I think I have figured out a way to make my next ct a WW so I can use the tire just sitting in my garage. Might be a while before I need to change my ct though, kinda hopeing for atleast 20k if not more.

(This is what I posted on the thread...."What is the darkside and why?")


Well it started some years ago when gas prices went thru the roof (not like now, they are out of this world) I was daily commuting. Six months go by and I need another rear tire. My wife say..”didn’t we just buy you some”…Yep, need some more. I began to think, I am saving all this money on gas and insurance commuting back and forth, only to pay it all back out twice a year for tires. Someone had to make a better tire.

Well, I found some websites of the bike I was riding at the time and the age old question of what’s the best tire…there were terrible tires and better tires, just NO great tires. Plus they all cost an arm and a leg for the price they wanted for them.

I got my twin brother riding about this time and told him he could only expect 6,000 to 9,000 miles out of a set of tires. Well that’s all he got…7,200 miles, if I remember correctly. Now we both are on a quest to find the tire that works. I mean with the technology that exist today with tire makers…price goes up for the latest and greatest with still no more mileage than the older tires.

Well, we found a site called “Life is a Road” by a guy named Daniel Meyer. He was running a car tire on his Valkyrie and traveling all over the world in all conditions and no problems out of his car tire. So, now me and my brother were on a quest to try this mod. We found wing guys were already doing this mod and by now my twin had bought his wing. He found some data and installed his. He loved it.

So, now I gotta have one. But, no data for a 1300 VTX. You could find all the data you wanted for an 1800, but none for an 1300…..shucks.

I did my own measuring and calculations and came up with a size that I thought I needed. I could not get one to seat the bead, because the car tires were all made for a 7” wide rim of a car tire. 1800’s have a wide rim and no problems with car tires, but not the 1300 (4” wide stock rim) I bought three different tires and tried them all, till I noticed they were too wide for the rim. Ding! I am an old VW guy and remembered they were 15” diameter tires and made for a 4” rim. Oila! It fit like a glove. Handle 100% better than my motorcycle tire and it was only $38 with tax.

So, I posted it on a board, thinking they are going to love what I found. Well, that part was wrong. But some guys accepted it…toasted asked me what and how and was the first to try it.

The rest is history, except that it grew too big for the site we were on…at least that was the rumor. They kept locking our threads. So my friend toasted had enough and he started one for us and now you are on it.

Thanks to my friend toasted…aka Burn out King for his vision and guts to jump.


……………..bobby