Going to the Dark Side

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Anybody got a line on where to get an Exalto for cheap?
Used one

$163 at Tire Rack.

$147 - Here

$156 - Here

Thanks, but the used one is almost halfway worn - no bargain there.

$147 + $17.84 shipping = $164.84 Not bad. Still would like it closer to $150. Better than the one I found for $174 shipped.

$156 + $15.61 shipping = $171.61 Save a couple bucks. Still not cheap.

And Tire Rack charges $23 for shipping which makes them the all time loser at $185 shipped.
If you live in the northeast and have a use for TWO Exaltos, then this is a good deal: Clicky.

 
Cool.

The only thing freakier than putting a car tire on a motorcycle?

Putting a USED car tire on a motorcycle.
And you can top the freakiness by mounting it on THIS USED RIM . (Ebay ad for BENT FJR rim) That could complete the deteriorating handling process. :p

Disclaimer: I'm just kidding - no need to send the "car tire police" over to bust my kneecaps. :lol:

 
Anybody got a line on where to get an Exalto for cheap?
Used one

$163 at Tire Rack.

$147 - Here

$156 - Here
Cool.

The only thing freakier than putting a car tire on a motorcycle?

Putting a USED car tire on a motorcycle.
$174 total...newly manufactured and guaranteed no issues/problems

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-NEW-205-50-17-MICHELIN-PILOT-EXALTO-A-S-50R-R17-TIRE-/360452276465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Section+Width%3A205%7CAspect+Ratio%3A50%7CRim+Diameter%3A17&hash=item53eca140f1&vxp=mtr

 
Anybody got a line on where to get an Exalto for cheap?
Used one

$163 at Tire Rack.

$147 - Here

$156 - Here
Cool.

The only thing freakier than putting a car tire on a motorcycle?

Putting a USED car tire on a motorcycle.
$174 total...newly manufactured and guaranteed no issues/problems

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-NEW-205-50-17-MICHELIN-PILOT-EXALTO-A-S-50R-R17-TIRE-/360452276465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Section+Width%3A205%7CAspect+Ratio%3A50%7CRim+Diameter%3A17&hash=item53eca140f1&vxp=mtr
Yo Mikey, reading comprehension from above. That $147 price trumps the ebay price even after shipping is added. For me it comes out to $165.53.

 
you (mostly) get what you pay for...I'm impressed that my supplier advertised the date of manufacture

I have to say, between muscle memory and the tire's flex factor / break in over the last 10k miles, it feels very very close to an m/c tire back there

I'm certainly enjoying the substantial cost savings of a slab rider who rides approx 20k miles a year

 
Well I am off of the Darkside for now. After my little accident a few weeks ago the replacement bike came with a almost new set of PR2's on it, and there is no reason to change them for now. Also, I am not commuting the tons of slab miles to and from work like I use to, so I am not going through tires nearly as fast. Lastly, I was actually surprised at how easy it was to turn the FJY when I went back to a cycle tire; the bike just felt more fun to ride.

I am not saying that I wont go back to a car tire one of these days, and i have installed the different brake bar on the replacement FJR already in case I want to make the change back to the Darkside. there are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both side of the coin.
What freaking accident? Did I miss something? What replacement FJR?

Scooter......you need to visit the Forum more often.

 
Well I am off of the Darkside for now. After my little accident a few weeks ago the replacement bike came with a almost new set of PR2's on it, and there is no reason to change them for now. Also, I am not commuting the tons of slab miles to and from work like I use to, so I am not going through tires nearly as fast. Lastly, I was actually surprised at how easy it was to turn the FJY when I went back to a cycle tire; the bike just felt more fun to ride.

I am not saying that I wont go back to a car tire one of these days, and i have installed the different brake bar on the replacement FJR already in case I want to make the change back to the Darkside. there are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both side of the coin.
What freaking accident? Did I miss something? What replacement FJR?

Scooter......you need to visit the Forum more often.
I'm here all the time and I didn't know you wrecked either until I saw some reference made to it. Still don't know what happened. Spill it man!

 
I am pleased to announce we will soon be getting an additional long time forum member to join the darkside. He is out of Gilbert, AZ, and just got his Michelin Exalto and now just has to fab up his brake caliper arm, and then hopefully will post up about his experience :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

 
I am pleased to announce we will soon be getting an additional long time forum member to join the darkside. He is out of Gilbert, AZ, and just got his Michelin Exalto and now just has to fab up his brake caliper arm, and then hopefully will post up about his experience :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:
Amazing how easy it is to talk some people into being ********. :D

 
I'd like to issue a challenge of my own. I say that placing a CT on the back of an FJR is just as safe if not safer than a motorcycle tire.
I have no quibbles with the safety aspect of car tires. I'm sure they go round and round like an mcy tire.

My issues is why you would put something that handles worse in the twisties than a mcy tire? Sure, you can ride it in the twisties and some crazy nutter on a car tire can race another on an mcy tire and they can go fast. But besides some sort of longevity advantage, would you put a worse handling tire on your bike?

Car tires - make the bike handle like dog poop for a long time?

Head to head...same rider, a mcy tire will perform better and have a better feel in the twisties.

After hearing from two people that I have ridden with and respect take off a car tire because it took out that the fun times in the twisties, that convinced me. It's that last 10% of a well handling creamy smoothness on a sweeper or twisty that gives the wow factor for riding for some of us.

For others, its longevity of tires (yawn).

I have no problem saying that in the right hands, a CT is safe (yawn)...but don't tell me that a CT will give you that same warm and fuzzy feeling in the curves...cuz I have two former darksiders that have told me that they had to take that POS off.
I like you a lot wheatie........... But your wrong as hell on this one !! I have combined (2 Exalto AS ) over 30 thousand miles of *** kickin, railing , miles on them...

I get better grip with with the CT

 
You're missing the point Skooty baby. You are a better rider than me, however that has nothing to do with my point. Read again.
No, YOU read again. I totally got your point and you are STILL wrong! :finger:

Same rider (me), I am FASTER in the twisties with the car tire. I think for two reasons: One, it gives me more ground clearance before pegs start scraping, and two, and this is the big one, it FEELS better giving me more confidence to regularly hit maximum lean angles.

It doesn't make sense to me either, and lord knows I was one of the biggest critics of ******* running Car Tires around here for the longest time, but what do you know? Sometimes real world personal experience trumps theory.
Glad ya feel the force Skooter.... I wasn't sure at first either.... then the seat of the pants trials prove out.... ;)

 
I am pleased to announce we will soon be getting an additional long time forum member to join the darkside. He is out of Gilbert, AZ,
CRAP! Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought Doug was talking about me. :)
Great Minds Think Alive, Paul! I hope to God Doug is not talking about Arturo Montoya, I know for a fact that vectervp1 is not muy y mas Estupido enough to run a car tire!

 
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I am pleased to announce we will soon be getting an additional long time forum member to join the darkside. He is out of Gilbert, AZ,
CRAP! Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought Doug was talking about me. :)
Great Minds Think Alive, Paul! I hope to God Doug is not talking about Arturo Montoya, I know for a fact that vectervp1 is not muy y mas Estupido enough to run a car tire!
Una llanta de carro es bonita y bueno para tu motocicleta.

Estuve ayudándole al chofer a cambiar una llanta.

¿Pudiste cambiar la llanta?

 
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OCFJR aka IvinsS10 asked me to write about my experience using a car tire equipped motorcycle in a motorcycle training class. So I will X-post this from the LD Riders for those on the forum who don't get over there:

OK,

Per EV's request, I have used a Darkside FJR in two different motorcycle training courses. I was a very early adopter of the CT and FJR combo. I got the FJR in March 09, and after riding the Nevada 1099 and having to keep a close eye on the well used PR2 rear tire throughout the rally, knew I didn't want to do that again. So in June 09 I switched to a Bridgestone Potenza Grid 019. I was the third person to do this, the second person in the US. The only significant difference was it took additional steering input to turn. It took me two weeks to get used to, and after that it has been 100 percent normal. I compared it to driving a car without power assisted steering, where you can turn just fine, but just need to turn the steering wheel with more effort to make the turn.

So 11-14-09, I signed up to take Walt Fulton's Streetmasters course, held at the Horsethief Mile course at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA. We had a wonderful dinner together as a group the night before, and in the morning, had a brief classroom session at the hotel, during which the other instructors looked over the bikes. I was still in the classroom putting on my stich, when one of them came in and told Walt that one of the bikes had a CT. Walt said, "Sh@@, who is it". I said nothing, and then when I walked out to my FJR, Walt came by and saw it was me, but said nothing.

We rode over to the track, and my group did the parking lot practice first. Ironically, it was taught by John from the notable JBJ Cycles in Santa Ana, who has worked on numerous Darkside Goldwings. I did great in the drills, showing significant improvement over the last class I had taken.

Then, as we were getting ready to get on the track, Walt said to me, "What are you doing with a Car Tire on that". I said I had 4K miles on it safely, and said he could take it for a ride and try it himself. He refused the test ride. Obviously, he did not want to kick me out and refund my money, so he let me do the track, and I did just fine. In spite of my completely normal performance, that he saw with his own eyes, he remained unconvinced.

In an unrelated note, that is also where I met Paul Palika, who would be later killed by a rogue SUV in a rainstorm, and who has a stone in the Circle of Honor in Gerlach. RIP Paul.

The second course I took was the Ride Like a Pro class, in Feb 2010. There, after the class, I offered to let the great instructor, Mark Paz, take it for a spin, and after he blew one turn, then successfully completed the Iron Cross, which is the most difficult practice drill he taught. It only took him one turn to get used to it and adjust his steering inputs. He had no problem with me taking the class, and I was impressed that he was willing to give it a try before forming an opinion, something I wish others would do.

I now have 50K miles on Car Tires my FJR, and with all that, my plastics still looked the same as when I first put on the CT, until my recent Deer Strike, which added a few beauty marks, but that is not related to tire choice in any way.

 
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I am pleased to announce we will soon be getting an additional long time forum member to join the darkside. He is out of Gilbert, AZ,
CRAP! Oh, thank God. For a moment I thought Doug was talking about me. :)
Great Minds Think Alive, Paul! I hope to God Doug is not talking about Arturo Montoya, I know for a fact that vectervp1 is not muy y mas Estupido enough to run a car tire!
Una llanta de carro es bonita y bueno para tu motocicleta.

Estuve ayudándole al chofer a cambiar una llanta.

¿Pudiste cambiar la llanta?
1) Yes, I do agree a car tire makes perfect sense for a motorcycle; I've not ruled it out completely. I just enjoy teasing the car tire whack jobs, I mean Dios Mio Doug: You have Bust, RadioHowie and Big-D amidst your ranks ese!

2) After Bustanut joker comes to Arizona and uses my Miss Lucy Liu for the Oregon Ride to Eat 9/15, the current Pirelli Angels will be worn out. If I make the move to a car tire on my 2003 FJR, that'll be the perfect time to do so!

3) Has Arte already mounted the car tire on his rim? Are you looking for someone to do it? I recommend my friend Danny at Moto-Tire in Phoenix for this. Have Montoya contact me at [email protected] or 480-440-4666.

 
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