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Hi everyone, I am Wallacem from Georgia, I ride a 04 goldwing 1800 running a Conti VancoContact 2 195/65/16 at 30psi. It barely fits in rubbing the right edge slightly. I ground off a little of the swingarm where it rubbed. The taller tire corrects the factory speedometer error. this tire is smooth. I first tried a 205/55/16, but it was hard to lean over in turns. I did not like the resistance to leaning with the wider tire so I took it off for the new one. I plan to go the the Battleax 45 on the front, running it backwards when the front tire wears out. Wallacem

04 Black GL1800 (to haul the wife)
04 Black Softail Standard (to haul just me)
08 Yamaha Zuma 49cc (to save gas)

Welcome Wallacem , to the darkside and to the best forums on the net, I live down south of Moody AFB just south of Valdosta GA. I have a VTX 1300C and you contact me if you are going to be in the area and go for a ride .
great to hear from you,
Horse

Welcome aboard.....make yourself to home....

Jerry

Welcome!

DS-Wing-Nut is someone you need to get to know. He's double darkside on his gold wing.

Well, I will be double dark sided too just as soon as my front tire wears out. I will be going to a Battlax 45 mounted backwards. Wallacem

wallacem wrote:Well, I will be double dark sided too just as soon as my front tire wears out. I will be going to a Battlax 45 mounted backwards. Wallacem

Wallace,

I would NOT do the front. Your bike and the geometry of the front because you can turn it, it will get more on the sidewalls and the possibility of running out of tire on the sides! If you check the chicken strips of your front tire you will see you have much more lean angle on the front instead of the rear!

I think putting one on the front could be dangerous!

.............bobby

.

I'm running the Bridgestone Battleax BT45 on the front as well...... But running it in forward direction.... with DYNABEADS.... Kumho 195/55/16 on the rear.

Front: 38 psi Rear: 32 psi Smooth as a babies bottom... Great traction, great turning, no bad habits...

over 3,000 miles on this setup so far each tire still looks brand new...


Bobby, just curious why you would say not to try this tire on the front? I've talked to many gold wingers and I've been reading all about it... They all love it and have had GREAT success.

DS-Wing-Nut wrote:I'm running the Bridgestone Battleax BT45 on the front as well...... But running it in forward direction.... with DYNABEADS.... Kumho 195/55/16 on the rear.

Front: 38 psi Rear: 32 psi Smooth as a babies bottom... Great traction, great turning, no bad habits...

over 3,000 miles on this setup so far each tire still looks brand new...


Bobby, just curious why you would say not to try this tire on the front? I've talked to many gold wingers and I've been reading all about it... They all love it and have had GREAT success.

DS-Wing,

Well mainly because of the geometry of the front of the bike. On my 1300C model I have about 3/16" of chicken strips (un-used rubber or un-scuffed rubber) remaining on the front of the tire from leaning! I can't come close to that on the rear because of not being able to lean the bike enough without dragging my pegs, frame! Plus the front tires are a lot cheaper and last much longer than the rears last!

Please post or give a link to where these guys are running Darksides on the front?

.............bobby

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Bobby, it's not a double darkside as you're thinking.

It's running the rear MC tire on the front and a CT on the rear. Only works on the bikes with liked sized rims i'm guessing.

What's with the forward vs backward direction? - on the front?

twin1300 wrote:

wallacem wrote:Well, I will be double dark sided too just as soon as my front tire wears out. I will be going to a Battlax 45 mounted backwards. Wallacem

Wallace,

I would NOT do the front. Your bike and the geometry of the front because you can turn it, it will get more on the sidewalls and the possibility of running out of tire on the sides! If you check the chicken strips of your front tire you will see you have much more lean angle on the front instead of the rear!

I think putting one on the front could be dangerous!

.............bobby

.

the
Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 Sport Touring is a motorcycle tire :
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/28/396/6013/ITEM/Bridgestone-Battlax-BT-45-Sport-Touring-Rear-Tire.aspx

and can go on the front.
the reason for putting them backwards has somthing about the plys coming apart if the force is aplyed in the wrong way , the front only applys force when the brakes are applyed but the back has force applyed when you accelerate and stopping . wel something like that look in the posts about it there was a good explanation in there i don't remember al of it but it sounds right to me.
Horse

I HAVE RIDDEN A LOT OF BIKES OVER THE YEARS AND I WOULD AGREE THAT THE WIDER FRONT (MOTORCYCLE TIRE IS A BIG PLUS) HOWEVER I WOULD LEAVE THE DIRRECTION THE SAME.THE ONLY TIME I HAVE HAD TIRE SEPERATION WAS AT HIGHWAY SPEED ,WOULD NOT TAKE A CHANCE ON A BIKE. RIDE SAFE LARRY S.

darn it... had a good long reply typed on the laptop and hit some darn key the zapped it all gone bye bye..... I'm too tired to type it again....

but the jest of it.... yes the Battlax BT45 is a MT.... same size and all as OEM.... just more rubber, thicker stiffer side walls... last even longer... and WOW what a nice ride with the CT and dynabeads.... I love it...