Goldwing Darkside

kendoo

kendoo

Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
1,307
Age
59
Location
Wallkill, NY
Bike
2016 FJR
STOC #
8541
As some of you know I purchased a Goldwing last year (still have the ST) for my wife's comfort. It had pretty new rubber on it a the time. As soon as I burned up the rear I went darkside. Did a bunch of reading over on that other site with all the crotchety old farts.....actually some are ok, but not like ST-O. Anyway, I went with the Michelin Primacy runflat that was getting decent reviews. I ordered the summer version of the tire instead of the snow tire that everyone raves about. Sounds crazy right...a snow tire?? The tire on the wing is not exposed like it is on the ST, so I never really paid much attention to the tread. I check pressure every now and then but generally just ride the $%^t out of it. Well yesterday a decided to get down on one knee and see how it looked. Holy smokes!!, down to the wear bars in like 14K. ***? I guess the folks on the other site that were claiming 30K must have really been flower sniffers. I ordered a new tire yesterday, this time the snow tire version which has another 1/32 of tread on it. Hope I can milk at least 20K out of it. Sheesh, I got 44K on a GYTT on my ST and I had more to go.
 
I went darkside on the ST last year and haven't looked back. I feel just as planted in the corners as before, although I only had about 3,000 miles on a motorcycle tire before changing.

I'd have to double check but I believe I put 12,000 miles on the car tire last year and it still looks pretty good.


Brian
 
i have a Michelin Alpin on because Bob Donaldson told me he was getting 34K out of them. Mine has a little over 20K on it and needs to be replaced soon.
 
You just can't go by what another guy got,,too many variables.
Ken, did it wear out the center first? Finding the right pressure is the hard part for me. I start at 32 and work my way down till it feels right. Each tire has been different.
 
Bigmak96 said:
You just can't go by what another guy got,,too many variables.
Ken, did it wear out the center first? Finding the right pressure is the hard part for me. I start at 32 and work my way down till it feels right. Each tire has been different.
Click to expand...


The center DID wear more. I kept it around 32psi because most of my wing riding is 2-up. I may drop that a bit with the new tire. What tire are you running Mark? How many miles you been getting?
 
T_C said:
So you should have stuck to riding the $%^t out of the ST???

Is there no GYTT in the wing size?
Click to expand...


That's correct, no GYTT in 195/55/16. ST has a right side oil leak I need to address. Besides, the heated grips and seat on the wing are feeling pretty good this time of year, LOL
 
kendoo said:
I ordered a new tire yesterday, this time the snow tire version which has another 1/32 of tread on it. Hope I can milk at least 20K out of it. Sheesh, I got 44K on a GYTT on my ST and I had more to go.
Click to expand...

Generally the winter versions are a softer compound, that may offset the additional thickness. Keep us updated on how the snow tire works.
 
Last one was the Alpin, which I ran too high. Next is a Yokohama.
 
Ken, I'm running 28 in my Alpin when I'm one up. With Janis on the back, I bump up to 30 or 32 for slab running. I haven't seen any heat problems at the lower pressures. Since I don't run the twisties too hard, I don't need the higher pressure to deal with the squirm.

John
 
I Just took an Alpine off my wing... still on the rim, but got 20K on it. I would have gotten more if I had left the pressure set at 28 psi. I bumped the pressure up only 1 psi when my wife and I pulled the trailer up to Upper Michigan. I thought the extra person on the back would require a little more air. Well, it prematurely wore out the center on the tire. It is now down to the wear bars in the center only. The tread was even all the way across before starting out and had 14k on it already. Try to avoid the urge to "over inflate". Remember the wing is much lighter than a cage. Headed to the tire store to buy another Alpine next week. In the mean time, I am running a standard Dunlap E3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom