darkside

burdicda

Member
Dark side means you put a car tire on the rear meaning you can get a run flat that will take like 30-40k miles and they are much wider
when I had my goldwing...they were on a separate forum and actually assigned numbers to each other to keep count of how many
dark siders there were...
Fascinating mod that a lot of folks like...
 

MJC

Super Moderator
Darkside is when you use a car tire on the rear. I have not found any car tires that would fit the ctx700 rear rim. On the DCT models you would have to have the same tire size for it to work with the ABS and DCT EUC.

Double darkside is using a car tire on the rear and use a rear MC tire going the wrong way on the front rim. Again I have not found a rear tire that would fit the front rim.

I would think as soon as someone finds a tire to fit they may try it. Not me, found longer lasting MC tires that work fine.
 
I guess I was never desperate enough to ruin a bike's handling to want to do something like that. Automobile tires might have a place on a sidecar outfit where you want a tire designed for "no leaning", or maybe on the back of a drag bike, but those are the only two scenarios I can think of where it might be appropriate. But hey, different strokes for different folks. Try to not get yourself or someone else hurt in a crash from a modification like that.

You might want to be very careful about checking your rim as I think car and bike tires are designed for different profiles due to the different kinds of loads the tires/rims normally see. I see that other people have raised that issue

http://ridermagazine.com/2016/05/20/tales-from-the-dark-side-putting-car-tires-on-motorcycles/
 

ofdave

Member
the darkside topic has caused as many forum wars as oil threads.
The pros will argue with the cons all day long with no positive result other than unyielding on both sides.
Going darkside on a sidecar rig does make a lot of sense as the cornering/leaning needs do not exist.
There was a thread a while back by a guy who had a rig on his CTX. He went with a car rear and a bike rear on the front.
here's the thread
http://www.ctx700-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=542&page=2&p=5249#post5249
 

Woodswoman

Member
Wisdom of the business aside, I'm not aware of anybody who has found a car tire that fits the CTX700. Hence never heard of anybody who has gone darkside on this bike. (CTX1300, yes; CTX700, no.)
 

MJC

Super Moderator
From that thread a while back by a guy who had a rig on his CTX. He went with a car rear and a bike rear on the front.
I mounted an Achilles car tire on the rear 175/55R17 for a whopping $41 and I've gone double dark with a Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 rear motorcycle tire mounted backwards on the front.

That person was dyenfd, his last post was 04-20-2017. Not sure why but only posted 2 times. Maybe you can PM him and get more info on the tires. I would like to know if he has a DCT and if it still works with that set up (tires). I herd that the DCT has to have the factory size tires to work with the ABS or something like that. Just wondering if the rear car tire having fit on the rim what the outside size with all that extra tread would be. I would think that the side wall from rim to outside of tire would have to be 1/2" to 3/4" bigger with the car tire. The front tire (rear mc tire put on the front backwards) has a deeper tread, my guess would be that the side wall from the rim to the outside of the tire would be around 3/8" bigger.

So maybe dyenfd will come back and let us know? Until them we will have to only guess................

I have done the Darkside to my Nomad when I had it. I had a rear tire backwards on the front. And you could not tell the deference in handling, only that it did help with big bumps and the stooping power was improved. I would think that if you did it to a CTX700 it would act the same. Cost wise not sure if it would be all that cheap, more likely be more money. As you can get a reg MC tire that should last 10 to 15K miles for around $130 a rear MC tire (to put on the front) would cost $175 to $225, and should last 20K or more. On my Nomad, it would eat front tires and only last 7K miles, so if I wanted to go on a long ride I would have had to change the tire before going or during the trip. After putting 88K on the Nomad with no trips planed I went back to a reg front tire for re-sale of the bike. After which I thought I needed front brakes and new fork oil, which I did not......

On the rear Darkside, I tried the car tire but never got used to it. You have to run it with lower air pressure and it is harder to lean the bike over and in turns harder to keep it following a ark. I had it on for about 20K miles then went on to longer wearing MC tires. The last one (the 2nd one I used) was a Michelin Commander II, which lasted 12K miles. I also used Dunlop Elite's, Bridgestone and Avon Cobra tires. When I sold the bike it had the Avon Cobra tire front and rear and the new owner said the bike handled very well.........I would say so too but not has good has if it had a front (darkside tire) on it.

my 2 cents is, Darkside front or rear is something you would have to try to see how it would work for you. Many would never try it just because it did not come from the factory like that. I have the new Dunlap Roadsmart 3s on the CTX700 now, cost, wear, performance, and what is available at that time will decide if I use them again.
 

ofdave

Member
Wisdom of the business aside, I'm not aware of anybody who has found a car tire that fits the CTX700. Hence never heard of anybody who has gone darkside on this bike. (CTX1300, yes; CTX700, no.)

read the link in my above post, he did both
 

dyenfd

New member
I did indeed go double dark; however, keep in mind that that I have a sidecar and thus there is no need for the bike to lean. The rear tire has well over 13,000 miles and I estimate at least 20,000 from the Achilles 175/55R17. The tire is the exact same diameter as the standard rear tire. While it is never a good idea to mount a 15" car tire on a motorcycle rim, that is not true for a 17" wheel. It cost me $10 for the mounting at a local tire shop and $18 for a flat repair when I picked up a staple.

I'd love to mount a Bridgestone Potenza 175/55R17, but they are only available in England and I haven't located anyone who will ship to the U.S. Many CTX700 owners are successfully mounting a Michelin PR4 GT 180/55ZR17 on the rear and I've had no clearance problems with the 175/55R17.

The front tire still looks new after 10,000 miles, so I've no complaints.

Fred
 
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