On my way to the Darkside....NEED HELP

OK you all...I need some help.

I was ready to head out on a ride this morning and as usual I went to check the tires. I first look at the pressure than check the treads. As I went to the rear tire to check the tread I noticed that there was a nail in the tire. Now I am in need of a new tire and was wondering what fits on a 03 wing...that is a CT...

Thanks,

Mike
LV Hitman

Send a PM to DS-WingNut if you don't get a response in a day or two. He researched this pretty thoroughly.

ok..will do.

Thanks

LV Hitman

I think DS-WingNut has a GL1800 Here is his setup. He took his tire off and had Honda install it. No problems. It's a runflat tire.

https://mcdarksiders.forumotion.com/goldwing-tech-f8/double-darkside-t1696.htm

I recently put a C/T on my '03 Wing. I needed to go out of town next day and had done some checking about the Darksides and got the tire size etc.. I made some mistakes though, I got in a hurry and did not do all my homework ahead of time. It doesn't pay to get in a hurry. I went to my local tire shop and ask for the size and he did not have it in stock but could get in a few minutes at the wharehouse. He brought me a Faulken Z912 size 195/55/R16. It looks great but later found out I could have order it online cheaper and had more options for that size. Go to GOOGLE and type in "195/55/R16" and look at your options. I hear that the RUN FLATS are great tires for the Wings. After having said all that I still am 100 percent happy with my Faulken. Just be sure to do your homework first and don't get in a hurry.
I'm a happy Darksider.

Kent,
I am new to the Darkside forum here.
I usually hang out in the GL1800 riders Darkside forum.
There is a lot of info there and a lot of people to help you out.
I have been a Darksider for about 1 month now and I love it!!!
I run a Kuhmo Exsta 195/55r16 run flat at about 32lbs in the rear.
It seems that the Kuhmo is the popular tire being run now but there are alot of options to choose from.
The only problem that I have seen in running the CT (Car Tire) is getting it mounted.
I found a place that would do it for me.
Most of the Darksiders on the GL Riders forum do their own tire changes.
I have about 1500 miles now on my run flat and wouldn't go back to a MT(Motorcycle Tire).
Check out the GL1800riders.com forum also.

Ray

Ray, thats how I found this site. I started asking about the Dark Side too and Kit Carson recommended that I take a look here. So I am looking at both sites when I have time. I thought 32 was a little high for my Falken tire but yours is a run flat, that might make the difference I suppose. Have you tried lower pressure until too soft and bring it back up? Good luck with getting aquatinted with your Dark Side, I'm having fun!

Kent,
I started at 32 lbs and haven't gone up or down with pressures.
I like the way it handles right now so I will leave it there.
It's early in the game for me. A lot of time to experiment later.
It's been raining here in So. Cal and the tire seems to have more grip in the rain.
I feel safer riding in the rain.

Ray

List of rears tires currently being used by Darksiders on GL1800 Goldwings: (Compiled by Mac 56 and by others chiming in)

Bridgestone Potenza 195/55R/16
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 RFT 205/55/16
BF Goodrich g-force Sport 205/55ZR16
Conti Pro Contact SSR 195/55/VR16
Conti Pro Contact SSR 205/55/HR16
Conti Vanco Contact 2 195/65TR16
Dunlop 195/55HR16 3D ROF
Dunlop 195/55-16 DSST 3000
Dunlop 175/60. DSST 5000 Run Flat Snow Tire
General Altimax 205/60/16
Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW3 EMT 195/55/16
Goodyear Triple Treads 205/60R/16
Kumho Ecsta SPT XRP 195/55/16 RF
Pirelli Eufori 195/55/R16
Uniroyal Tiger Paw 205/55/16
Yokahama AVS Sport 205/55/16ZR
RIKEN 205/55X16 @34 lbs
Toyo Proxes T1R 195/55/16)
Nexen N2000 195/50VR16
Michelin Primacy HP (zero pressure) 195/55/16
Falken ZIEX ZE912 195/55r16 87V
Firestone Fire Hawk 195/55R16

The run-flat tires in 195/55R16 are by far the most popular. The 205/55's fit without rubbing the swing arm but on some bikes make contact with the plastic inner fender on the left side. This can be cured by tieing the the inner fender back with plastic wire ties. It doesn't happen on all bikes though. The 205/60 may make slight contact with the swing arm depending on which tire you use. It is slight and goes away by itself fairly soon. Both the 205/55 and 205/60 tires are real bears to install. They hang up on the wheel studs but with some soap and a big shove they go right in and work just fine. The 205's give a little more cornering clearance than the 195's do but neither make much difference in the speedometer. the 195/65 series of tires install easily but make contact with the right side of the swing arm and need to be shaved or allowed to rub until they quit. the interference is about an eighth of an inch. They do correct the speedometer but are hard tires to find.

Hope this helps.

I'm running the Kumho 195/55/16 and love it. I'm running the pressure at about 35psi right now, but all the guys on the forums say it's most comfortable at about 30psi. I'll go down to 30 for my next ride and see.

Good luck.

I found this post on one of the other Darkside forums.
I thought it was kind of interesting!

This report comes from a Tire engineer and was posted on the delphi touring forum:

Yellow Wolf - the guy who did 1000 miles in 24 hours on the Dragon riding a GL1800 - took a car tire-equipped GL1800 through the Dragon last spring. Was pretty negative at first, but by the time he had put some miles on it he was beginning to become convinced it was pretty good. Better than he expected it to be.
Right now there is another rider just switching to a car tire on the rear, who also seems to have some pretty impressive credentials: Not only does he say he's been riding 40,000 to 100,000 miles a year for 40 years, but also claims to be an ex factory road racer, and was a "...pro tire tester for Michelin, Avon, Dunlop, Metzeler and some with Pirelli. I spent 5 years helping develop the 880". It will be interesting to see what he reports back to the forum after his upcoming vacation ride. This is what he reports so far, with just 150 miles on the C/T:
Positives:
Smooth ride"
Tons of braking traction"
Tons of corner traction"
Tons of wet traction"
Negatives:
Slow steering feel
Slow speed steering is very sluggish. (2 or 3 mph)
Follows crowns, heaves and other uneveness in the roads or parking ots.
Odd things:
Feels real good in corners after your past it's not wanting to turn in.
Gravel in corners is a no brainer, just gas it right through the gravel.
High speed on gravel dirt roads ( above 15mph up to 60mph ) is a breeze, below 15mph it is real sluggish to deal with.
I use an infra red temp gun to check temps on my tires and wheel bearings every gas stop and always have done this, so I have years of tire temp info. to draw from. The tire runs cooler for the "most part" the most part is the important thing to me. What I mean by this is the center of the tread is about 7 degrees cooler then an M/C tire on the 1800..... But the left side (crown side) of the tire runs about 10 degrees hotter then the right side of the tire. This temp difference is because the tire wants to run flat on the road ( follow the crown ) so there is more load on the left side of the tire because you're riding straight up on the the road, you're not leaning with the crown in the road.
The wife and I are leaving to ride the mountains around here for 10 days this Friday Sept 12th so I'm sure I'll have alot of info after we have a few thousand miles on the tire doing many, many different tests on it. I'll post back when we get home, until then I'm going to give the C/T the benefit of the doubt and keep an open mind about this."

Ray

Let us know the rest of the story when he posts it....
Thanks for posting it.

Jerry

LVHitman,
I run a Continental Pro-Contact 195-55/16 SSR (runflat) on the back and am well pleased with it. I believe I'll get about 25,000 miles on it before I have to change it out. I usually ride 2-up and on long trips, we pull a trailer. I am a moderate rider, but every now an then will get a hair across and hit the Dragon about twice a year. Mama hits me up-side the head when I tend to get to carried away!!!! Yes, the c/t is fully capable of taking it to the limit and still asking for more. There are a few little quirks about a c/t, but the good points outweight the negatives. Just takes a few miles to get adjusted and then away you go. Also, I, like Rocky and several others that are now visiting this site, have a tire up front that normally is a rear tire. I run the Bridgestone Battleax BT45 180-70/18. Thus, the Double Darksider handle. Take care and enjoy. Semper-fi