dark side

ron gerhart

New member
i went to the dark side on my ctx 700 the tire size is 175/60/17 v rated i know the world will come to a end and there will be hate mail but i,ve dark sided on a lot of big bike,s my victory cross road,s had 26000 mile,s on a car tire when i triked it it,s not for every body take,s a few mile,s to get used to how the bike handel,s but i prefer it.the tire mounted easy and it went on the bike easy has 3/4 inch clearance on the chain and about the same on the swing arm i ran 38 pd.on the air for 50 mile,s droped that too 32 ride,s and handel,s good 20180419_182655.jpg
 

MJC

Super Moderator
do you have the dct? I was thinking about doing a car tire but heard it can not be done becuase of the DCT. Or can it?

now all you have to do is find a rear mc tire in the right (front) size, and put that on the front backwards. And you will be all set.

I did the rear tire on the front on my Nomad, but not a car tire on the rear.

And Woodswoman, you worry about matching set....lol.
 

ron gerhart

New member
i dont think it will matter on your DCT i have the 6 speed standard the rpm,s and speed is the same i topped the fuel off today rode 46 mile,s befor it dropped the first bar on the gauge so it,s getting a little better fuel mileage
 

12MANY

New member
Thanks for posting something that you know you might get some grief over and keep it up. Enjoyed the trailer posts. You apparently have the riding experience and mechanical aptitude to understand what you are doing and made a risk verse reward decision to explore the dark side on the CTX. Although a bike tire is superior in some ways the car tire is superior in others. I would imagine when you stand on the rear brake the bike comes to a clear and sudden stop like no other with double the contact patch of the bike rear tire in the vertical position. One angle you may want to explore with a lawyer that specifically deals with denied insurance claims that you may have already considered is if you plow into and total a brand new $125,000.00 Mercedes and are sued, will your insurance company use the fact that you have a car tire on the bike to refuse to pay the claim?
 

ron gerhart

New member
i talked to my agent about this he refered me to his superviser as long as the tire is dot and not over loaded and has the speed rateing to match the capable speed of the bike he could see no problem with my choice of tire most tire,s have a utog of 3 time,s the weight of the bike
 

12MANY

New member
Sounds like you have all of the bases covered. I have read about people doing this on scooters and gold wings for years now. I just searched the “World Wide Web” for any claims of people crashing and burning, being injured or maimed in any way by running a car tire and I cant find a single one after all these years across the entire planet. Be sure and post a picture when you hit 30,000 miles on it although I think you will end up replacing it sooner due to dry rot or UV degradation before you wear the thing out. :)
 

ron gerhart

New member
if it only makes it to 20000 miles i,ll be happy . every bike is differant size, weight , handeling everybody rides in many ways my goldwing car tire ran 24000 mile,s . the victory had about the same when i triked it . i sold the rear wheel and tire to a guy with a victory cross country no telling how long he will run it , it had about70% of tread left on it.
 

dyenfd

New member
I've been on the dark side for close to 20,000 miles. I used an Achilles 175/55R17 as it is ~ the same diameter as the 160/60ZR17. With the sidecar I only got 3,050 miles out of the original tire. The first Achilles lasted 16,469. Additionally, I should note that I've gone double dark - mounted a Bridgestone BT-45 Battlax Rear 130/70-17 tire (in reverse) on the front. It has 12,625 miles and still looks good.
Fred
 
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Winterrider

New member
Ron, thanks for posting this thread. Darkside is very intriguing to many and the more people share their experience with rest of us, the better.
I'm also interesting to try it out and while doing extensive research, I found this article from the righter for Iron Butt Association - Examining the “Dark Side”
Can you please look at it and share your thoughts, the article examines both, pros and cons of a darkside.
What really caught my eye there, that 15" MC rim is 0.1" larger than car rim. 17" MC rim is 0.1" smaller than car rim. While only 16" MC rim matches size of car rim... So, maybe that was the reason your car tire installed easy, as you said, maybe too easy? And that's why 16" rim of GL1800 successfully darksiding, due to better fit?
 

cruisinTx

New member
i went to the dark side on my ctx 700 the tire size is 175/60/17 v rated i know the world will come to a end and there will be hate mail but i,ve dark sided on a lot of big bike,s my victory cross road,s had 26000 mile,s on a car tire when i triked it it,s not for every body take,s a few mile,s to get used to how the bike handel,s but i prefer it.the tire mounted easy and it went on the bike easy has 3/4 inch clearance on the chain and about the same on the swing arm i ran 38 pd.on the air for 50 mile,s droped that too 32 ride,s and handel,s good View attachment 1004

Ron, I'm curious about what tire you found in 175/60. I dark-sided my BMW R1100RT two years ago with an Achilles 175/55/17 and now have almost 11K miles on it. It is looking like it may go at least another 5 to 6K, but I'd like to get an early start on locating the next tire and the 175/60 would put me closer to OEM diameter. I also dark-sided my R1200C with a Federal SS657 but with it being a sports car tire, it may not make much more mileage than a stock MC tire. The C has a 15" rear rim and getting that Federal to seat was a chore. I am running the Avon Roadrider AM26 that is designed for front or rear on the front of both bikes and getting pretty good service out of them. It should be interesting to see what kind of mileage you get out of a car tire on such a light weight bike. keep us posted.
 

dyenfd

New member
Ebay has the best price with free delivery
Achilles 175/55R17 XL ATR-K ECONOMIST 175 55 17 1755517 Tire
Brand new: lowest price $51.17

Giga tires has a better initial price, but it depends on your zip code what shipping will add:
Qty. 1 Achilles 175/55R17 ATR-K ECONOMIST TIRE
Cost per tire $ 43.52
 

2WRDR

New member
I don't DS often but when I do I install the highest performance DS tire I can get my hands on. I don't care about the cost as it is not my main concern. Even with soft high performance DS tires I will get better mileage than the MC tire normally along with a smoother riding bike. There is nothing wrong with those that oppose and nothing wrong with those that approve, its just different strokes.
 

Jpowell692

New member
i went to the dark side on my ctx 700 the tire size is 175/60/17 v rated i know the world will come to a end and there will be hate mail but i,ve dark sided on a lot of big bike,s my victory cross road,s had 26000 mile,s on a car tire when i triked it it,s not for every body take,s a few mile,s to get used to how the bike handel,s but i prefer it.the tire mounted easy and it went on the bike easy has 3/4 inch clearance on the chain and about the same on the swing arm i ran 38 pd.on the air for 50 mile,s droped that too 32 ride,s and handel,s good View attachment 1004
Rob where did you find a 175-60/17 tire?
I've been trying and having no luck
 
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