GOT THERE!!

It's 10:15PM here in Arkansas. I just got out of the shower after having officially come over to the darkside! (Why does that make me feel so dirty?) Found a local independent tire guy who mounted it today fo $20.00!! I gave him an extra 20 'cause it scared the sh!t out of him to take it up to the 80lbs required to seat it. We had a little language problem...he speaks very little English and my Spanish is limited to asking for another beer and "where's the toilet?" We communicated in what I now think of as, "Spanglish".. It was a hassle getting the thing up under there, but I did it with the help of a small floor jack to do the lifting. I don't think I could have done it without that. Haven't ridden it yet... too late for me, but I'm anxious to take her for a spin tomorrow. Now for the important part.... Where's my damn cookie??? I actually remembered to take some pictures during the job. I'll get them up tomorrow. Thanks all for your encouragement.

Welcome to the darkside. Remember to break the tire in for a couple hundred miles before getting to crazy.

Jerry

Congrats tomkat! Do what Jedison said.....take it easy for the first 100 miles to get the mold release off and then you own it!!!! Plus set your air pressure around 35 to start with!


Please do......take some pics for us and after 200 or 300 miles, come back and give us a full review?


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

I'll follow your advice about the 35lbs to start. Hope to get the install pics up after work today. Can't wait to see how it rides!

Lawrence

Welcome to the darkside Tomkat.

See you out there
Smokey

Congrates Lawrence...

Took my maiden voyage a couple of hours ago. No surprises, thanks to the heads up from everyone. Cornering was a little more "work", but very comfortable. The straights felt more stable than I have ever felt on a bike. On a rutted street in town, I experienced the tendency to stay in the "ruts". Little surprising, but nothing scarey. Actually got the Stebel horn back up under there with about 1/4" clearance. For some reason, I just feel safer with that loud mutha hooked up. Unfortunately, the rest of the week's weather around here is supposed to be stormy, etc., but I'll be putting miles on at the 1st opportunity. I have some pics of the install, but just found out I don't know how to upload them. Any advice?

Tomkat, if you are using counter steering to ride the bike you should not have any difference in handling. The "more work" should be a non issue. If you are not sure whether you are counter steering give me a call at 217 5zero8 8one zero zero. And please dont be offended or embarassed. I have ridden with guys been riding for 30+ years that had no idea about counter steering. were still "leaning" a bike. If the long distance call is not practical for you text or pm me your phone number I will call you.

See you out there
Smokey

Congrats Tomkat, enjoy the ride.
Forget the cookies, the box will be empty anyway.
Robert.

smokey2255 wrote:Tomkat, if you are using counter steering to ride the bike you should not have any difference in handling. The "more work" should be a non issue. If you are not sure whether you are counter steering give me a call at 217 5zero8 8one zero zero. And please dont be offended or embarassed. I have ridden with guys been riding for 30+ years that had no idea about counter steering. were still "leaning" a bike. If the long distance call is not practical for you text or pm me your phone number I will call you.

See you out there
Smokey

Thanks, Smokey. When this weather clears up some, I'll have the chance to do some real riding and testing. thanks for your generous offer of help.

Lawrence

CaribCruiser wrote:Congrats Tomkat, enjoy the ride.
Forget the cookies, the box will be empty anyway.
Robert.

You aint right!!!......


.

Well Bobby, we will discuss that in September. I bet I find myself a witness

Tomkat, Smokey is 100% right. Sometimes when I'm telling people about countersteering
they're looking at me like I'm crazy, They don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but
they keep wondering why they were not able to avoid that ugly hole in the road !
Enjoy the ride brother,
Robert.

No way it'll fit!
Had to use Joy liquid to get it to slide up there.
Glad to have the little jack to take the weight
Ta Da!
On the ground!
Back together
Fat's beautiful

Looking good Tomkat, I love that license plate. I got the humor of it immediately. Which bags are you running? they look huge, just what I am looking for. You are right, fat is beautiful (on a bike tire)

See you out there
Smokey

Smokey: You've just passed an informal IQ test!!! I thought the plate was so damn clever when I got it a couple of years ago, but LOTS of folks make comments like, "So you think you're THAT smart, huh?". Anyhow, the bags are Tsukayu Strongs. I did waaay too much research last winter before buying and installing the bags. IMHO, the Tsykayu's are about the best value for the money out there. They have the added advantage of adapting to a very wide range of installations. I used their (included) mounting brackets and am very happy with the strength and quality so far. The shocker was when I had them painted to match my bike. Paid over $400.00 for the paint job. The bags come in black or primer, so if black's OK for you, you can save a lot of money. In the next month or so, I'm going to take a "road trip", probably 1000 miles or so, most likely NE of where I am in Arkansas, so I'll have a more informed opinion of the utility of the bags after I get back.

I had a boss with the same plate, but he thought it was right.
Tire looks good in there.

Jerry

Looks good! Waiting on my tire, will be here Tuesday. Did the sop balance it for you as well? Or did you go with dynabeads?

W.Hack wrote:Looks good! Waiting on my tire, will be here Tuesday. Did the sop balance it for you as well? Or did you go with dynabeads?

I used 3oz of Dynabeads. I've seen too many posts on this and other forums praising the dynabeads to ignore. I haven't added them to my front tire yet, but I intend to soon. Good luck with your project.

tomkat100 wrote:

W.Hack wrote:Looks good! Waiting on my tire, will be here Tuesday. Did the sop balance it for you as well? Or did you go with dynabeads?

I used 3oz of Dynabeads. I've seen too many posts on this and other forums praising the dynabeads to ignore. I haven't added them to my front tire yet, but I intend to soon. Good luck with your project.

Hey thanks, and I ordered 3 oz of the dynabeads.

welcome to the darkside tomkat100,,now put a ton of miles on it,

mark

Thanks, Mark. That's the plan!! Gonna take my 1st "real" road trip in more years than I care to admit. Looking forward to every mile on the darkside.

Like a lot of others recently, I FINALLY had weather good enough to actually get out and ride! Decided it would be a great weekend to visit my younger sister in Shawnee, OK. 1st real trip on the darkside. Did about 500 miles total...the tire was perfect, as all of you already knew. It was simply a non-issue, with the small exception of "grooved" pavement; it wants to track the grooves, but no biggie. I had forgotten how vicious the wind gets in OK... 20-30 mph all the way there, either in the face or from the side. Coming home was a little better. At least some of the trip the wind was behind me. One fillup, I calculated 49MPG, cruising at 75-80 (indicated). Can't claim any records, though....that tankful was wind-assisted. Love the tire, got lots of comments while in OK.

I have a couple of thousand miles on the tire. It just gets better!!

The new lights on the bags are '38 Ford replicas with LEDs. I'm using them as tail/brakelight only. Took off the original "bug eye" Honda lights and added a couple of Kury "Silver bullets" for turn indicators. Waiting for the MS fairing to arrive. Is there no end to this expensive madness???