Low Profile Tires

Hello All,

I have been very intrigue about riding on the darkside, so I am doing my homework with serious investigation to decide to go to the darkside or not. So far I am finding a lot of posative posts!

A question I am wondering about due to being intrigue, has anyone tried using a low profile tire such as the ones made by Good Year? I am not really concern about the MF of the tire but the idea of a low profile car tire.

As I am writing I am thinking maybe this type of tire is what everyone is using? The only Pics I have seen is the treaded side of the tire that are being put on the bikes.

Any input on this subject would be very helpful toward my decission before moving to the Darkside!

Thanks for any inputs!

I ride a 06 VTX 1800C Black w/Flames and loving it!
IceCold

most everyone is using the 65 or 70 crossection, some of the F guys use a different one though.

if you try going with the 40 or 50 crossection mounting and getting beads set would be almost impossible

F models have the 18" rims and use a lower profile tire than the rest of the models...

Charlie D wrote:most everyone is using the 65 or 70 crossection, some of the F guys use a different one though.

if you try going with the 40 or 50 crossection mounting and getting beads set would be almost impossible

Charlie D is right about mounting 40 or 50 tires. Mine was a PITA to get mounted, it took myself and a friend to get it mounted. The bead area of the tire was a full two inches wider than my wheel, which I contribute all the problems to. We were using a tire machine and we still struggled with it. Luckily the beads set quite well, they were set by the time I got the tire to 40 PSI. I'm sure that if you have any problems getting a tire to mount and set you won't have to look very hard to get some good advise here. There is so much helpful know how here I wouldn't worry too much about a low pro tire. Everyone seems to be quite eager to help one another out. Good luck on whatever decision you make.

The low profiles will make you engine rev higher and scream it's guts out going down the interstate and make MPG fall off maybe considerably. The F models run a larger diameter rim.


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


.

twin1300 wrote:The low profiles will make you engine rev higher and scream it's guts out going down the interstate and make MPG fall off maybe considerably. The F models run a larger diameter rim.


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


.

ditto that, I dunno any reason to run a tire with that low of a profile without going to a larger size rim!

Hello,

First, thank you all for replying. I will stay away from the the low profile tire.

I am thinking of the Good Year triple tread tire. Does anyone know the exact model of this tire for a VTX 1800C including the most popular cross section that is recommended for the VTX1800C?

Thanks in an advanced!

205/60 or 205/65 depending on driving style... if I recall correctly the 65 is closest to stock height but just a hair taller

You mentioned the 65 being closer to the stock height but a hair taller. Is the 60 a hair lower? I rather go lower then higher, although lower may mean hitting the pegs more but with no experience I don't have a clue! I would like to go as wide as possible with out any mods and keep to the original height or a hair lower. Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Ice Cold
VTX 1800C
Spec 3

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's info and say I now have a Good Year Triple Tread 205/60/16 tire! I ask several Good Year Garages and they all told me that don't make a 205/65/16 tire by Good year. Also all the garages be it Good Year or not, either change their tune or said no to placing a CT on my bike. So I went out to Horrible Feight and bought a tire changer and waiting for the Motorcycle tire changer adapter to come in so I can just change the tire myself! Also one of the Good Year dealers gave me a bag of beads for free! Their not Dyna Beads but "Equal Tire Performance" beads! They use it for the big tractor and trailer tires. They simply drop the un-open bag directly into the tire before seating the bead. I think its a 4 oz bag?? Anyway I will try to get some PIcs up when I finally mount the tire. I have be enjoying reading all the articals here on this site. A Big Thank you once again!!

Ice Cold
06 VTX 1800c
Spec 3
w/Flames

Ice Cold wrote:You mentioned the 65 being closer to the stock height but a hair taller. Is the 60 a hair lower? I rather go lower then higher, although lower may mean hitting the pegs more but with no experience I don't have a clue! I would like to go as wide as possible with out any mods and keep to the original height or a hair lower. Any thoughts?

Thank you,
Ice Cold
VTX 1800C
Spec 3

yup, tad lower...

let us know how it turns out!

SSSSSSSSH,don't say anything about the beads especialy where semis are concerned.(there are trolls around here) and on a serious note we have mounted two GYTT 205-60-16 one was on 1800 rim ,they mounted easy and beaded between 40 and 50 psi. just clean the wheel good and lube well,you will love characteristics of this tire. RIDE SAFE Larry S.

Okay I finally got the GYTT on my bike! After scratching the rim and actually breaking the motor cycle tire changer I found someone with no questions asked and finished placing the second bead around my rim (because I couldn't !) and setting the bead and PSI and only charging me $10.00! I was up until 12:00 am this pass Friday trying to put the new tire on the rim. When I found this garage who finished placing the tire on the rim and only charging me 10 bucks I was mad at myself and happy at the same time!!! (Go figure)

Anyway after installing the rim and tire on my bike and torquing it to 81 lbs I was on my way! It was a strange feeling riding across my grass until I hit the pavement! At first the handle bars felt as a GYRO or something? Anyway I left for Jersey and rode for about 105 miles to my uncles house. I didn't have any real issue but one time. I was cruising down the highway and passed a truck doing about 90 when a wobble started to to take place. I went back to the slow lane and dropped my speed to about 75 to 80 and all was well. What may cause this and what is the answer to resolving this? I have the original weights on the rim and I haven't had it balanced. (I know I have to balance it right?) I do have those Magic Beads! However should I use those or I was thinking of placing that green goo stuff in the tire that prevents flat tires. I hear it suppose to balance out the tire too. Is this true? Does anyone know?

Moving on...I logged about 270 mile between Saturday afternoon and and half of the day on Sunday riding with my uncle who rides a Harley! (Imagine that a Harley rider and a Honda rider riding side be side!) I am not totally 100 percent sold on the CT just yet. First I need to stop the wobble at 90 miles an hour. Second I think I just need to keep riding until I am sure! As I continued to ride the bike for the most point, almost started to feel as if I had a MC tire on all along! (Not actually but...close)

Anyway right now my biggest concern is the wobble at 90 MPH, any help would on the matter would be great! Thank you all.

(Oh, how does one place Pics here on the site so I can show off my new GYTT!!!)

Ice Cold
VTX 1800C
Spec 3
Black w/Flames

Dark Side 205/60/16 GYTT

First off you need to take off old weights they proubably are throwing you way out of balance.put in your jew,jew beads (say your magic spell and very possibly your wobble will leave) RIDE SAFE Larry S.

Hello Larry,

Okay on removing the original weights. As far as the beads, is it 2 oz to the back tire?

Thanks!

Ice Cold

3 OZ, That is what we are running in ours and it seems to work fine to 130 anyway.

Okay Larry on the 3 oz. I will give that a try and report back.

Thank you kindly!

Ice Cold

You are more than welcome,hope it helps. Larry S.

ha ha, I didn't even think of the old weights still being on there....

I was gonna jump right into the shock bushings and settings! Anyway, if you still get some wobble, check the shock bushings and up the preload setting to abotu 4 or 5 just to see if it helps or not... the stock bushings on the pre-05's wear out pretty quick!

let us know how it turns out

Welcome Aboard Balance usually causes shaking more than wobbles, old weights need to go anyway, if after inserting beads, wobble's still there, check fork stem bearing adjustment, 06 1800C has upgraded shocks, bushings, good luck!

No problem seating the bead no problem putting it in.
.


Doug

On that green tire slime balancing tires, it definitely does not. When I was a kid, I used that stuff to seal a tire that had a leak, and the thing always had a vibration at interstate speeds (and this was a full-size '82 Cadillac).

If you have enough liquid in a tire, it will be impossible to balance the wheel. I know I've tried balancing peoples tires that had been installed with water in them, and you end up scratching your head as to why it keeps calling for more weights no matter how many times you spin the thing. Most of the time when you dismount the tire, you get a nice splash of fix-a-flat or something of the sort.

Hello and thank you for this information.

I saw this green slime on ebay and it appeared to be a good idea. Larry said just remove the weights and add the beads that I had gotten, so this is what I am planing on doing. I have removed the weights and found that it does not wobble as much as it did. This is at the speed of 90 MPH. I did not attempt to go over this to see if it would stop at a higher speed. As far as the beads, I just haven't taken the time to let the air out to insert them. It rides fine up to 85 MPH. I mostly ride back roads and I'll say rarely push it to 90, but never the less I am still going to try the beads when I get a chance! So I will stay away from the slime! Thank you for sharing this. The key is to listen to those who says "Been There Done That!"

Thank you,
Ice Cold
06 VTX1800C
w/Flames
205/60/16

Hello,

I placed the magic beads in the 205 75R 16 GYTT CT and now instead of the wobble being at 90 miles an hour its now at 100 miles an hour! The bike has about 6500 miles on it. I am the original owner. I haven't adjust the shocks yet to allow for the bike to be more stiff in the back end if this indeed is the way to go? Just put a new front Avon Cobra tire on as well. In the mean time does anyone else have any other ideas?

As far as jumping on the bike and going for a ride, I hardly notice their is a CT on the back! Once in a while on a very crown like back road going very slow the bike feels as it has a mind of its own! (Not really but its there) The CT works great in the rain and gives me more confidence that allows me to concentrate on more whats around me then thinking rather or not that the bikes tire may loose grip from the wet surface!

How does one place an image in the message!

Thank you,
Ice Cold
VTX 1800C

You need to start an account with a file sharing site. I'd recommend Photobucket. Once you get your free account set up, you upload the photos there. It will give you text to link or insert photographs to websites or forums. For these forums, you want to copy the text that starts with [IMG] and paste it into your post.