New to ST and the DDarkside !

Hi all,

I just bought an 06'ST from an awesome member here and it was fitted with Goodyear TripleTred on rear, Bridgestone BT-45H on the front. I'd never ridden an ST let alone one setup like this, but figured the 2300miles home would be a good introduction.

The first few corners were interesting with the bike not handling like my brain thought it would but a ffew hundred miles in I was railing the corners and could almost forget about the setup. I'm very impressed so far and am looking forward to putting it through its paces in the mountains soon !.

I did notice some wobbling at speeds over 115mph and am unsure if that's the infamous ST tango or related to the DD setup. Any ideas ?. Its not really a problem as I don't intend to spend that much time at those speeds anyway.

fnmag said:

Congrats on your '06 ST.
I'd wager that the 115 wobble is not connected to the tires.

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I'd wager you are totally wrong and would warn not to go that fast with a car tire. The sidewall is probably flexing. That's the primary difference in car vs mc tire construction. I wouldn't go that fast. If you want to ride that fast put a regular tire on it.

YMMV

ZIAMON said:

I'd wager you are totally wrong and would warn not to go that fast with a car tire. The sidewall is probably flexing. That's the primary difference in car vs mc tire construction. I wouldn't go that fast. If you want to ride that fast put a regular tire on it.

YMMV

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double dark myself and agree 100%---darkside is for the long haul--not the extra fast ride

ZIAMON said:

I'd wager you are totally wrong and would warn not to go that fast with a car tire. The sidewall is probably flexing. That's the primary difference in car vs mc tire construction. I wouldn't go that fast. If you want to ride that fast put a regular tire on it.

YMMV

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Hogwash.
Since the tire is rated for another 35 mph more speed, I'd say it ain't flexing. Ever heard of a car wobbling because of flexing sidewalls? They stress them a lot more than we do.

Welcome to the ST and DDside.

I find my steed will wobble at 111mph (gps indicated , can't trust the speedo) if I have the trunk on and no passenger or back seat luggage.

I have the same tires as the OP. I get the pan weave at about the same speed when I have the topbox on.. sometimes. With the topbox off I haven't experienced it. I don't spend too much time at that speed so I don't really worry about it. I had the same issue with motorcycle tires.

Welcome to the forum from Alberta. I also run the Goodyear on the rear.

T_C said:

Hogwash.
Since the tire is rated for another 35 mph more speed, I'd say it ain't flexing. Ever heard of a car wobbling because of flexing sidewalls? They stress them a lot more than we do.

Welcome to the ST and DDside.

I find my steed will wobble at 111mph (gps indicated , can't trust the speedo) if I have the trunk on and no passenger or back seat luggage.

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Since I feel this is such an important issue I'll respond. It's not "Hogwash" (and thanks for such an intelligent reply).

A car tire will work on a motorcycle but surely we can all understand that a .150" thick rubber section (the car tire sidewall) with no radial or bias cords will indeed flex much more than a motorcycle carcass which has cords in the sidewall running in a bias and or radial pattern. Have you ever followed another motorcycle with a car tire through some curves? Did the 160 mph rated sidewall flex? The speed rating of a tire is a pretty weak basis of whether a tire will flex or not on a motorcycle at high speeds.

If an ST often starts a weave at over 100 speeds with a normal tire then it's very capable of turning that weave into a tank slapper when the rear tire starts flexing back and forth from the side to force of the "weave".

TC your turn with some facts or thought out opinions this time. Save the hogwash style insults for another forum.

Haket you started the thread saying you're new to the ST and to the darkside. I'm not new to the ST (180,000 miles) or to car tires on bikes (300,000 plus miles on car tires). I have ran 3 on my ST and over 200,000 miles on other bikes with a car tire. In my opinion AND EXPERIENCE, a motorcycle can get into a violent fast weave at high speeds with a car tire on back. It's pretty easy to avoid this problem. Either don't go real fast with a car tire or stick a motorcycle tire on back. You want to see how fast your ST will run go install a motorcycle tire please.

Can you go 100 plus with a car tire? Yes. Can the car tire flex side to side and start a high speed tank slapper you will never forget? YES YES YES. Choose wisely please.

The Goodyear TT is my choice for the ST as it has a lot less flex than a Hankook in my experiences.

Yes it had about 10lbs in the Hondaline topbox. I got the feeling that it was more about aerodynamics than the tires, (based on the speed at which the wobble surfaced when compared with wind speed/direction.

My bike starts the "weave" between 115-120 with ANY tire on the back. My trunk is always on. I've never tried it without the trunk.

I definitely take note of your advice/experience and thank you for it. High speed cruising is not what I bought the ST for though I'd still like to investigate the wobble further. I'm enjoying the bike immensely over the last week, its a little wide for lane splitting here but does a good enough job. I'm confident the extra weather protection will help during the El Nino winter we're all hoping for on the west coast !.

stgolfer said:

My bike starts the "weave" between 115-120 with ANY tire on the back. My trunk is always on. I've never tried it without the trunk.

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Then something is wrong with your bike
I've had several ST1300's up to indicated 140+ with no signs of weave, and this was with/without the oem honda trunk, loaded saddlebags, and the stock shield in the low position.