Toyo Extensa HP double darkside; new tire report

[John Galt]

Toyo Extensa HP double darkside; new tire report. With Battlax BT46 rear on front.

Posting for reference as this new double darkside setup feels terrific.
Only have a few hundred miles on the Toyo DD, but this setup rides very well, maybe even better than the BFG g-Force.
Looks great, too.

It rubbed the swingarm juuust barely, at first, but that wore in with the first 30 miles.

With about 35psi in this rear, this setup steers very naturally; extremely good handling and very very smooth feel.
Will try to come back and update with more miles logged.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Size?

 

[John Galt]

Just the usual for 13.
205/50-17

Price was nice on TireRack.com and free shipping.

 

[John Galt]

Coming back to update with a few hundred more miles on.
The handling with this setup is terrific.
Sharp. Transparent. Like it was designed for this.
Much better than the Hankook, and even better than the g-Force

 

[NobodySpecial]

I see a bunch of variations. Are you talking about the Toyo Extensa HP "II" (2)? Which load range? The wet performance reviews leave a lot to be desired. :-(

 

[Sadlsor]

I've not gone dark yet, but 35psi seems higher than many I've seen.
Was thinking around 26-28 works well for many tires (but it's been a while since I browsed the dark side posts.)
With no experience, 28 seems low, but to reiterate... no personal experience.

 

[970mike]

Have you tried different air pressures in the rear tire yet?

 

[W0QNX]

I'll throw out some thoughts.

You should not have let the tire rub and ride the bike. Many of us have ground or sanded down the swingarm wear the tire rubs. No need to remove a big area just wear it rubs. I've done this to two bikes. If it rubs just place some 60 grit sand paper flat on the tire right wear it rubs and move the paper-tire back and forth to sand down the swingam. You don't have to remove the tire from the bike.

The thinnest part of a car tire is at the sidewall where you let it "wore in with the first 30 miles". The thickest part of the swingarm is right where the tire rubbed because of the casting "draft angle". Sand the swingarm not the tire.

 

[Art Franz]

I’m on my 3rd Pirelli P series, started off with a P6. And I have a good .25” to the swing arm. One of the reasons I stay with this tire. Run it at 28psi.

My question to you that run a rear on the front, which tire are you using? I ran a bias ply that was for the rear of a smaller Yamaha, and didn’t like it. It would pick up stones and roll them between the fender, ended up cracking my fender. But the worst was it would start to wash out on aggressive twisty riding, so I only ran it for a while and then took it off. And in the rain it was atrocious.

And X2 re what WOQNX says re sanding the swing arm, even tho I never had to do that.

 

[John Galt]

I've not gone dark yet, but 35psi seems higher than many I've seen.
Was thinking around 26-28 works well for many tires (but it's been a while since I browsed the dark side posts.)
With no experience, 28 seems low, but to reiterate... no personal experience.

I know this thread is getting old already, but just coming back to clarify a couple of things.

Agreed, 35psi is higher than most darkside.
After bracketing 25 to 36 and working in, I settled around 32, same as my prior two.
So it isn't something different about this tire that needs higher pressure.

For me, 26 just doesn't feel right.

 

[John Galt]

I'll throw out some thoughts.

You should not have let the tire rub and ride the bike. Many of us have ground or sanded down the swingarm wear the tire rubs. No need to remove a big area just wear it rubs. I've done this to two bikes. If it rubs just place some 60 grit sand paper flat on the tire right wear it rubs and move the paper-tire back and forth to sand down the swingam. You don't have to remove the tire from the bike.

The thinnest part of a car tire is at the sidewall where you let it "wore in with the first 30 miles". The thickest part of the swingarm is right where the tire rubbed because of the casting "draft angle". Sand the swingarm not the tire.

I hear you and don't disagree. I would not have ridden with the sidewall itself grinding down.
The situation simply was not as it may have appeared.
What made contact was only a raised rib, and it only partly wore down, close to the level of the surrounding area. The wear was a few thousandths off of only this rib.
I had already sanded the swingarm previously for a prior.
Adding a couple of recent pics to try to show this.
Didn't want this topic to scare anyone off this tire. I really like it, because it is stable like the G Force but nimble like the Hankook.