First Darkside Tire. Concerned about wear patterns.

RaYzerman said:
IMHO, you have to be mindful of all the comparisons with various bikes and tires. Your application to your specific bike is important. Example, Goldwingers and Valyrie guys use a 16" tire that comes in narrower sizes and they run pressures that work for them, runflat vs. non-runflat, etc., a whole different world. We're stuck with wider 205 width 17 inchers.
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I agree 100%. We all need to remember this is a CAR tire that we have decided to run on a Motorcycle.. I will only ride mine with 42+psi and that is me.. I have had mine on a track day and tried pressures from 47 to 32 and the wiggle got worse as the pressure decreased. I am running the Hankook and on my second tire..

I think everyone needs to find the SWEET spot in the pressure based on their experiments. I will give up some tire wear in the center to make the corners feel more confidence inspiring.
 
I'm running my Hankook at 35psi, but may go up a little.

Double darkside is MUCH better handling than running it with a standard front tire. I've also noticed from others, that if you live in an area of twisty roads, you might even wear out the edges of a CT faster than you would wear out a MC tire. The advantage of a CT is if you have to run lots of highway miles to get to the twisties.
 
I tried the Hankook on my ST13 at 35 PSI. I didn't like it at all. Squirmy. Felt like an underinflated tire! I bumped it up to 40-ish which I liked the feel better but wore it out in the middle at 13,500 miles. It was getting worn on the edges as well but the center few inches were shot.
 
I'm on the last few thousand miles on a Hankook. The Hankook has 17k on it with about 2k left to get to the wear bars. I've been running 34-36 psi in it. Most of miles have been touring, probably 80% straight up. So I haven't been using the sides near as much as some of you. The Hankook looks to be wearing fairly evenly all across. I also have not been experiencing the wiggles you guys talk about. My reasoning on this, is that somehow I've been able to train myself to never change throttle position while in a 'banked' position. When necessity requires throttle position change during a bank, I'll only ever do it very gradually. In my mind, the contact patch has enough to deal with when heeled over, without having to deal with acceleration input. I've got a GYTT on order; and I hope to be as happy with it as I am with the Hankook. BTW, I'm 165lb and when touring carry another approx. 80 lb

I've also been running a BT023F on the front. It's at about 12k miles with about 2k left on it. Been really happy with the combo. I'm considering putting another one back on vs a bt45, pretty much only cuz I like the idea of not mixing radial with bias ply. But I know lots of guys have done this and swear by it.

Could anyone here please comment on having used a radial front with the GYTT on the back and then switched to the bt45 front? Differences? Likes/dislikes? I'd like some input on what I could expect before I order another front.
 
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