Darkside, the 1st ride

[RandyO]

Awesome day for a ride, I had to work actually, meet a client 9am and check out a few other job sites, a typical day of work riding typical route as well

Route on Google map

first thing I did this AM was check the tire pressure, the original inflation was to 40 psi and in a heated garage, I'm still parking my bike outside till snow flies, temp was 18° this morning, the tire was down to 35psi, I pumped it up to 45 based on more darkside research

even at 45psi, the cage tire feels softer rubber and carcass than the TKC80 I've been running. the TKC80s I believe are Bias Ply so I'm runin a radial ply car tire in back and bias ply knobby bike tire in front

when I first hit the pavement, my bike had been warming for close to 10 minutes, so it was completely warm on the temp guage, I grabbed a handful of throttle to se if I could spin it up, it gripped well on cold pavement , then a brake test , it skidded probably the same distance as a bike tire, hard to tell, pavement is getting cold, it did skid straight, no tendancy to kick out to one side or the other like a bike tire, from that point, I took it easy and gradually leaned more, cornered faster, it became very confidence inspiring

One thing I have never been able to do with a bike tire is slide all my weight off the bike in a corner without upsetting the bike with this tire, it's easy, it gets around corners plenty good cause its so easy to get your weight off

turn in doesn't feel any more different than comparing a 17" front tire to a 19" if anything, its quicker, but I'm comparin from comming off a bald knobby TKC80 in back that was squirley all over the place

On gravel and even loose freshly graded gravel traction is fantastic, I think as good or better than a new TKC80 or Karoo

much more rear brake power

corner on gravel, hang off just like on pavement , my pace was 45-60 most of the day

I'm sold, bikes otta come with a car tire in back, how does it handle ? like a radial tire, the sidewall squishes on one side, the other side stretches straight, when yer straight up, both sides bulge a bit, isn't that the way all radial tires work

Now I'm planning to get a studded Hakk 5 for after snow flies to compliment the front studded Karoo T I have left over from last winter

[breakdirt916]

wow, you actually did it...kudos, and thanks for the ride report

the fact that it squishes worries me. if you're starting to lean the bike over, and the sidewall is in the process of squishing, won't that make leaning + accelerating, unpredictable?

I'm also interested to know what the actual tire life is; I'm guessing it's drastically more than any motorcycle tire

and will this work on a street legal dirt bike with a 17x3.5" rear wheel

edit: definitely not on a 3.5" rim...I'd be going from a 100/100-17 to a 195/45-17 at best

[Rossco]

Nice! what kinda bike were you riding?

[RandyO]

Nice! what kinda bike were you riding?

V-strom 1000, General Altimax Artic 205/50-17 on the back



Track Day maybe ?

[breakdirt916]

how's the warm up time compared to a regular motorcycle tire?

[RandyO]

there isn't really any warm up time to speak of, they don't get as warm, as a bike tire, at least on the cold pavment we had today

the Altimax I have has sipes that are over 1/2" deep, rubber conforms to road imperfections without being heated


yes, that ice you can see in the puddle in the photo, strong enuf for my 300lb lard ass to walk on

[Stoneman]

Those last pics, Randy: where'd you take those?

[RandyO]

Those last pics, Randy: where'd you take those?

Ridge Road, Eaton/Conway

[Stoneman]

You'll never use all that power...

[JettaJayGLS]

If its any help at all....I run those same tires for winters on my FWD Jetta. I love em. I'd put it up against any all wheel drive car/truck/SUV with all-seasons any day of the week....awesome in the snow, and I have had no issues on dry or wet roads.

And I am a frequent driver to Jay peak and have not gotten stuck on the hills. If anyone has driven there in a snowstorm (all the time) they know how much of a pain it is.

[RandyO]

If its any help at all....I run those same tires for winters on my FWD Jetta. I love em. I'd put it up against any all wheel drive car/truck/SUV with all-seasons any day of the week

ya, I still consider it a summer tire on my bike, I got it cause it was cheap to experiment with

[RandyO]

anybody that travels on gravel roads in northern new england knows what they are like today, a week or so of freezing nights has driven the frost in few inches, yesterdays rain is stuck in the top 2-4", road are a sea of mud

the Altimax Artic is AWESOME, doesn't get sucked into ruts or when you ride into one, is just as easy to ride out, and didn't spin up my front is a TKC80 about 40% wear left and was slip sliding, with Karoo's or TKC's on both ends, the rear spins out before the front slip slides around

I was getting yanked around, following the front in places, in curves I had to slow right down to 1st gear or take a wide front wheel not wanting to steer the bike kinda turn, but after I got the hang of it, pushing the front wheel thru the mud wasn't bad

what's available in a 19" (stock 110/80-19) that would be better than a Karoo or TKC in the mud

[markbvt]

what's available in a 19" (stock 110/80-19) that would be better than a Karoo or TKC in the mud

You could try any of the 19" motocross rear tires. They'd obviously be squirrelier on pavement, but they've got much more aggressive knobs to bite into the mud. Kenda makes a version of the Millville with a softer rubber compound for better grip on hard surfaces, so that might be a good one to look into.

--mark

[Paul_E_D]

There's only one solution: Fit a car tire to the front!

Do it.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (HTC EVO "DROID" : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Sprint APA9292KT Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

It would have to be a 19" spare tire

[zxme]

That tire is great, i have them on the wifes car.....But on a bike? thats awesome...

[RandyO]

about 6000 miles so far, no visible sign of wear yet

I freaked out yesterday, putting bike away I noticed tire tracks that looked like a truck had backed up to my workshop turned out to be my own tracks

downsides of the car tire on back

1. it's not an ideal tire for agressive sport riding, while its got the traction and can do the job, it required more effort, I think not because its a car tire, but just because it's a 205 instead of a 150

thats about it for downsides

advantages of a car tire on back

1. rubber that doesn't need to warm up to stick
2. long lasting tread, I expect even the softest winter tire rubber to last 25k+
3. deep tread, good in wet, good in snow, good in mud, good on gravel

[xrocket21]

that square carcass has to feel a little funny

[RandyO]

that square carcass has to feel a little funny

its a radial carcass flexes the same as a radial motorcycle tire, its only the treadcap that makes it appear square

[breakdirt916]

I freaked out yesterday, putting bike away I noticed tire tracks that looked like a truck had backed up to my workshop turned out to be my own tracks

[breakdirt916]