BD's a Darksider!!(Update)

[blowndodge]

Pull the Nomad out this morning and going for a ride. Checked the rear tire pressure with my digital gauge and it read 28lbs. Very cool this morning for southern cal this time of year. In the mid 40'sF. I dropped the pressure to 25lbs. We'll see how that works today.....


UPDATE: 25lbs felt fine today. I'm afraid to go lower. I have a mirror that I can see my tire when sitting on my Nomad in the garage. Even at 25lbs sitting on it doesn't deform it whatsover. I was surprised at how high the pressure rises when you ride. When I got back home after 80 miles the pressure had risen to 31lbs. Going to take awhile to settle on a good baseline

[dogdoc]

SWB, BD will let you touch "it" in Custer. Yep looks like a new car tire to me.

[blowndodge]

CONTINUED AIR PRESSURE ADJUSTMENTS:

I've noticed and never really checked my Stones cold vs. warm tire pressure.

I started out today and had 26.5lbs on the car tire and took a nice 40 mile putt. Some of our freeways are concrete that have these "micro" cut grooves. Not the regular rain grooves that are straight and about an inch apart. these are like grooved "stucco". I felt the rear tire reacting to them more today. I had been riding about 1/2 hour at 65-70MPH. I pulled off the highway and checked the air pressure and it had climbed to 34lbs!!! I lowered the "warm" air pressure to 27lbs and did the same section and the reaction had all but disappeared.

It seems that I'm going to have to start cold with 22 lbs of air to allow for the warm up. Yesterday on a different section I almost touched 90mph and all was good. Remember 90 on my speedometer now was about 97 with the smaller stock tire.

[keith23]

You might try Nitrogen in the tires. Most tire stores can put it in for you. I did a little reading and nitrogen doesn't increase tire pressure much when the tire heats up. Also Nitrogen has an extremely lower rate of pressure loss, and will lower the need to frequently add additional air pressure in your tires. Just a thought.

Keith

[sturmannderss]

IMHO the reason for the fast wearing m/c tire is probably because most people, only put 3-5 thousand miles on their bikes in a year...... That would make the tire last 3-4 years before replacement and most people wouldn't think that was that bad.... Letting the tire manufacturers make their $$$. I guess most of us here put just a tad bit more mileage on their rides than most. So, it is a pain in the ass to have to change out the rear skin every year - year and a half... That's why I'm now a "Darksider"!!!!!!

[macmac]

Well I am not a real high milage guy either, only getting in about 10,000 a season. I like to think of it as safe sex with the road... LOL I just hope I can get 10,000+ from a CT....

[Kawhead]

Originally Posted by macmac

Well I am not a real high milage guy either, only getting in about 10,000 a season. I like to think of it as safe sex with the road... LOL I just hope I can get 10,000+ from a CT....

I think of tires/sex the same way mac in that in my younger days I didn't err on the side of caution with tires and now when I think back my worst tire was pretty d@mned good.

[Jared]

Has anyone tried the vredestein 175/75/16? It would be kinda tall...but it should fit?

[pablo]

Originally Posted by sturmannderss

IMHO the reason for the fast wearing m/c tire is probably because most people, only put 3-5 thousand miles on their bikes in a year...... That would make the tire last 3-4 years before replacement and most people wouldn't think that was that bad.... Letting the tire manufacturers make their $$$. I guess most of us here put just a tad bit more mileage on their rides than most. So, it is a pain in the ass to have to change out the rear skin every year - year and a half... That's why I'm now a "Darksider"!!!!!!

Yeah, I put over 14,000 on my bike the first year and replaced the rear tire twice. I was spending too much time riding around on worn out tires, not to mention the cost.

[blowndodge]

Originally Posted by Utah Motorcyclist

Has anyone tried the vredestein 175/75/16? It would be kinda tall...but it should fit?

Thats not supposed to be a good tire to ues Utah. I use an even taller 185/75/16 and it fits barely. Its a conti and the pic in in my signature line.

[Yellow Jacket]

The 175/75-16 has a diameter of about 26.33" compared to the 185/75-16 with a diameter of 26.93". So, I don't believe that there would be an issue with the height, or diameter of that size tire. You would have a narrower section width and tread also compared to the 185. I haven't heard of anyone using that size.

[blowndodge]

Update time:

emailed a couple of people running the tire I have and told them the differenct handling caracteristics from 20 to 30lbs.

Both told me to go way up, like to 45lbs!! I thought no way! that rear end would be hopping and skirting from side to side like a jumping bean.

Yesterday I aired the front to 40 and the rear to 45 and rode 100 miles. I was shocked to find they were right! With more pressure the car tire was now riding on top of highway pavement that has grooves and the bike feels like it tracks 95% like it did with stock tires.

Even at 45lbs the rear is still softer over bumps than the front. Mac thought the least air I could use the better but it's the exact opposite with my light truck tire. It's rated for a max of 70lbs!! Who knows, I may try 50lbs just because. I'm totally satisfied with the handling, ride quality and an accurate speedometer now! Looks like she's coming to Custer!!!

[macmac]

Well it isn't at all like the Dunlop 5000.. Is there any way you can try it on a dirt road?

You better before Custer, because you are bound to hit repair work going there.

[blowndodge]

I've never bought a motorcycle tire for a street bike and considered how it would handle in the dirt. I live in the city. I'm guessing the highway to Custer is 99.999% pavement so if I do have to take a dirt road I'll just ride a lot slower.

[macmac]

Well yeah BD, bit crossing the country I hit places under const, in repair. First time I ever encountered 'Pilot cars'... These Pilot Cars lead all the waiting traffic one way. The traffic goes and then the pilot leads all the traffic the other way.

The worst of this was in Cook City getting into Yellow stone, where the road was 15 miles of riptorn, and the last half was so soft the bike sank in hummas.. Hummas is duff from spruce needles, a soil that once on fire will burn underground, something like peat.

I rode the 10 wheel dump rut and still pressed down into it more. The hard part was keeping the mini trailer I had in tow out of the same rut I was in.

So far that is the strangest feeling on a bike I ever had... Sinking......