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[Morgan Buchanan]

Got my car tire on yesterday...  I'm digging it so far.  It's differnet to be sure.

[onei]

Got my car tire on yesterday...  I'm digging it so far.  It's differnet to be sure.

I've been thinking of going to the car tire on the next change. Can you tell me what the difference is that you are noticing?

[murray_61]

Bike feels a little heavier when you turn is one difference, but you get used to it and don't even notice after a while.

The other difference is the rise in your level of awesomeness!  That one stays with you!   

[skipppy75]

Morgan Buchanan about time, I know you have been thinking about it for months

onei - you feel the road more - meaning everycrown & every dip either wants to spit you out or suck you in
Something to get use to, but I love mine, not like I can do 90 in a turn like a crotch rocket, plus the savings allows me to buy other shiny stuff when I get the chance

[Morgan Buchanan]

I didn't really THINK about it for months, I was just waiting until my Metzler wore out.  I wasn't going to throw away a perfectly good tire just because i wanted to go DS.  LOL

[skipppy75]

so what did you go with?

[Morgan Buchanan]

Bridgestone Potenza 205/55/16 just like Murray.  I'm sorta wishing I'd gone with the 60.  I have pleny of room, and I'm at about 10% speedo error now.

[dukester55]

was thinking of coming over to the dark side myself and was curious what my choices were so far as sizes go. I have a 04 1800R
i think the last size i saw on here was the 205/55/16. So there is a 205/60/16?
How much is a tire that size usually? 80 bucks?
My buddy has a Gold Wing with a 195 on it and does experience the odd speedometer reading but has no trouble doing the curves. So i figure if its good enough for him its good enough for me.
Should i consider a slightly smaller size due to my inexperience with a car tire on the rear?
Any and all suggestions, comments or advise are greatly appreciated.

All the Best,
Malcolm Duke
Hurst,Tx.

[Morgan Buchanan]

was thinking of coming over to the dark side myself and was curious what my choices were so far as sizes go. I have a 04 1800R
i think the last size i saw on here was the 205/55/16. So there is a 205/60/16?
How much is a tire that size usually? 80 bucks?
My buddy has a Gold Wing with a 195 on it and does experience the odd speedometer reading but has no trouble doing the curves. So i figure if its good enough for him its good enough for me.
Should i consider a slightly smaller size due to my inexperience with a car tire on the rear?
Any and all suggestions, comments or advise are greatly appreciated.

All the Best,
Malcolm Duke
Hurst,Tx.

Basically you can go 195 or 205, 55, 60, or 65.  I'm sure there are other sizes too.  Price depends on the tire you get.  My Bridgestone Potenza was 125 delivered to my door.  But it's a performance car tire.

http://vtxdarksiders.forumotion.com/index.htm  Here's a great place to go for more info and the experience of guys with your same bike.  I can't say what the size difference would be for more or less experienced riders, but it took me like 5 minutes to get 95% used to the 205.  I've only crashed and burned in a fireball of gas, rubber and twisted metal like 27 times since I went darkside, so I'm doing pretty well.  LOL

Seriously, I haven't had any driving difficulty at all.

The speedo error is calculatable, in general.  I have about 10% error with the 55.  The error would be less with a 60 or 65.

[hooter]

You can use this calculator to compare sizes and see the difference between sidewalls, width, height, and it will show you the MPH difference between the two.
Put your stock size in the first spot and then what you want in the second place and then hit compare.


http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

[Morgan Buchanan]

That went right into my bookmarks.  That's a cool site.  Thanks Hoot!

[skipppy75]

That is the same site I used
I posted some of my speedo error here
I compared with my GPS and speedo
I have a goodyear tripletred 205/60/16 on mine

I also posted here with my information
http://www.texasxriders.com/index.php?topic=7451.msg78140#msg78140
and here is my darkside
http://www.texasxriders.com/index.php?topic=7150.0

Murray also posted
http://www.texasxriders.com/index.php?topic=4866.0

[studdog]

Just put on my first 60 miles in the dark side mode.  I read countless message boards for months for all possible information.  This is not an event to be over-analyzed.  Saddle up and scuff up that car tire.  I did everything I could think of to make it misbehave and differences were slight.  I'm diggin it.  On mine the 60 is about 64.5 when the speedo reads 65.

[Morgan Buchanan]

Welcome!  Try to not



TOO often.  It's painful not being able to turn corners and dying in a horrible ball of fire every time we go out and ride, but hey, in the end, it's so worth the only benefit of paying less for the tire... at least that's what we've learned to delude ourselves into believing.

[dukester55]

Well i pulled the trigger saturday. Firestone was have a sale so i pulled in and set off a Firestorm of controversy. But finally was able to snag a Potenza 205-60-16 for $80 out the door.
Its so great to see people get that look on their face when you want a car tire for a motorcycle.
Now i have to put it on. I guess i'll take it to a local stealership to have it mounted and balanced.
Unless someone in the Mid cities has a lift and tire machine that could for a small fee do the exchange.

Anyhow can't wait to get that big old tire on my 1800R.

Malcolm Duke
Hurst,Tx.
04 Red VTX 1800R Spec 3