[Zackybilly1]

I've never really given much consideration to the CT/MT thing. Naturally, I've run across the pros & cons here on the forum but have stayed out of that debate as I didn't feel I had any dogs in that race. Admittedly and initially, I had my own views on the CT (which I never verbalized) but from the bits and pieces I've picked up from people I respect, I'm more than sure my first inclination was wrong.

Now, I am building a "purpose-built" mega long-distance bike and I don't see anyway to ignore the option of moving to the darkside. Perferably, a run-flat tire on the rear. Now, I wish I had paid more attention to all the threads but didn't. I recognize alot of names/handles of folks here that I respect their views and opinions that are on the "darkside" and thought I would just simply ask for advice. I could write a pretty big book on what I don't know about CTs on a bike.

This bike is, more or less, going to be a highway monster and less than a "canyon carver" I usually go for. Thus far, have not taken any short-cuts on this bike and it's got the best of the best as far as accessories/farkles. You could make a list of all the things that can be done to a Wing (short of things for appearance....bling/chrome or LEDs, etc.), this bike has it times two. It's pretty safe to say that I don't think anyone here has seen the likes of this bike and I know I haven't because it is that far off the beaten path. Figure if I'm going to run the long miles, it would be good to have something that will provide more service than a MT. Keeping with the theme of the bike, if running a run-flat car tire, I would want the best or what is considered the best.

The IronButt Magazine crew asked that I document this build therefore, I have been playing with my cards close to my chest on this one. I didn't want to dribble information all over the internet about the bike only to provide them with "sloppy seconds" once the bike is finished. I'm sure IB will only use a fraction of what I provide them and the balance will show up here. I've been working on this bike steady since March and still have a couple of months more to go.

Not trying to start a "flame" thread similar to a "what oil is best" threads. Just looking for the top contenders in the run-flat department. He11, maybe I don't need a run-flat...or maybe there is a reason I should consider something else. That's why I'm asking for advice rather than trying to re-invent the wheel.

If you were building a bike for high-mileage use, less sport riding and using "darksider" mentality, what would you mount? Double Darksider? I'm primed and ready to be converted.

Thanks in advance.

Z

 

[BIG AL 57]

friend of mine here BGBLK06 has done some serious rideing with the ct, curves and all. check out his profile albums and then send him a pm if he dont chime in on this post....hes been there done that coast to coast!

 

[JohnACman]

Any of the 195/55/16 run flat tires will fill the bill. Kumho has a little better record for miles than some of the others. It is a summer tire and has a little harder rubber compound. Some of the others are winter tires with softer compound and don't last as long, but still work fine as a tire you can depend upon to get you to a safe place if it is punctured.

 

[31261]

Overall through the years there are two good choices. Both use the 709 stone front tire as a match.

But you cannot go wrong with either the Kum'ho or the Pirelli.

I am quite interested in the michelin myself, but have not tried that one yet.

But overall one of those two you cannot go wrong.

 

[Bucfan11]

Goodyear Tripletread will by far give you the longest life and it handles great but it is not a RF tire.

 

[BGBLK06]

If you are going to be running a lot of miles each year and mainly strait up, I don't think you can do better than the Goodyear Tripltred on back and a BT-45 on the front. With a decent amount of highway miles, you can plan on 45-50,000 miles out of the Tripltred if you run it around 32-34 psi, and you will never wear the Bt-45 out on the super slab. I put 31k on my first one, replaced it just to start the spring riding season with a fresh sneaker. It came with .250" tread new, and still had .200" at 31,000 miles with just a little but of cupping. That is the combo I use but the Tripletred is not a run flat if that is what you are definately looking for.
Good luck with whatever you chose, and enjoy !!!!!

Kurt

 

[EarnhardtSPortsman]

Tims,
I just went over here with a Kumho. So far I LIKE. You can ride mine BUT The WOLF is YELLOW and I know how you feel about yellow bikes.:wrong::wrong::wrong:

 

[Rocketman911]

Zackybilly, are you wanting a 195 55 16, or something in the 205 either 55 or 60 16.

 

[EarnhardtSPortsman]

Hey I am SURE Tims has a grill in that man cave? What say we show up there with cameras in hand? MAYBE test ride? :joke:

 

[TXREALTOR]

A RF is certainly a good choice and speaks for itself. I wore out a Kuhmo in 13K. I am running a Dunny sp 5000 NRF right now. Only have a 1200 miles on it but here goes the difference I have seen till now.
NRF is more neutral, has a little better ride( Not knocking the Kuhmo by any means), a little quicker to transition, again the other wasn't a slouch to me, a little quieter, and to tell the truth just a bit more comfortable for some reason.

The RF searches a bit more, is a tiny bit bumpy going hared L to R, but nothing worth griping about, has the RF ability which speaks for itself, is a little heavy when spinning up fast, this too isn't worth griping but needs mentioning.

Mileage, time will tell on the Dunny. I know what I get out of the Kumho and was fine with that. Wouldn't hesitate to run one again, and may depending on how the Dunny pans out. Oh the 195 55 is a lot easier to come by than the 195 60, so that could be a consideration too. I would think the 195 and 205 55's would be the easiest to find in a pinch.

Good luck in your search.

 

[ssncob]

Kumho

Zackybilly,

Grampawinger speaks highly of you, so with that in mind he and I run with a Kumho.

Here's some info regarding summer/winter tires. Gist of the article is Summer gives you the best performance if you're not planning in riding in the snow.

http://www.insideline.com/features/t...vs-summer.html

 

[Mad Meteor]

I have to agree with BGBLK06 and his assessment of the Goodyear Tripletread being the tire with the greatest longevity. I have heard of no other tire that has run as many miles and the GYTT has. I will also agree that the BT-45R would be the front tire with the reputation for going the most miles. Together they are a proven combination.
MM

 

[revrunt]

Those who know me know the Triple Tred is by FAR my favorite tire. Mine are 205/60/16. If you are putting on slab miles, the extra height from the 55 series drops the rpms about another 2%. One of the main reasons I run a car tire is it exponentially increases the outlets available for a replacement if ever needed on the road. (and I want my bike set up to include the extra clearance needed. accomplished by zip-tying the inner fender to the frame) Any tire shop, Walmart or tire store will have a usable 205/60/16 in stock and if I pull the wheel, can have a new tire mounted and be back on the road in less than an hour. The "boss" also notices and far prefers the ride of the TT over the RF khumo 195/55 we rode for 14k miles. The TT also has a rim protector and stiffer sidewalls than many other NRF tires. I had a complete deflation on I-40 in Arkansas a year ago 2-up with a trailer when an OEM valve stem completely broke off at 75 mph. Felt a bit squirrelly and I assumed I had a flat on the trailer. Rode it a mile 2-up to get it off the freeway then another 6 miles at 50-60 mph 1 up without the trailer to the nearest tire shop. Put another 10k on that tire before taking it off at 42k miles.

obvious downside: sensitivity to uneven pavement and SOME have experienced clearance issues with the inner fender and/or the swingarm.

Just my $.02..

 

[Zackybilly1]

Glad I came here and asked. I'm already leaning toward the NRF and a more "pliable" ride. For the trade off and for me, I think days and days of even a slightly more amount of cush is better than a few miles at 0 psi.

On long hauls, I bring two different patching kits, an on-board compressor and spare rear wheel along in my trailer so maybe a RF isn't necessary in my case. No reason why I can't do the same running CTs. My long-time riding buddy now rides a Wing so the spare makes even more sense these days. I'm certainly not above changing a wheel out most anywhere...if I have an extra on hand. With that in mind, a RF may get me 50 extra miles but a spare may get me 31k more miles (its still hard for me to wrap my head around that kind of mileage out of tire on a bike). I think the RF would be better suited for me if I weren't a trailer geek. Most of the trailer's contents are riding gear and related anyway (various riding suits, variety of gloves, spare boots, spare helmet, tools, cold weather gear, hot weather gear, laptop/mapping paraphernalia, various rain accesories, cold water/drinks, a toothbrush and a spare wheel...just "go" stuff). The ice chest with contents, the spare wheel and tool bag account for a big percentage of the cargo weight and the rest is mostly fluff but does contribute and is used as ballast.

On my daily rider, when hauling the loaded trailer, an auxiliary fuel tank on the pillion (7 gallons), loaded bike and barreling across West Texas in the heat, I use a TPMS to keep tabs on the back tire. At sustained high speeds on blistering hot roads, the rear tire pressure will start to build beyond its normal heated-up pressure and then, escalates at a rapid pace. I have seen it climb 8-9 psi higher than the normal heated-up pressure and it appeared that it was still climbing...fast. I can back the speeds down to 75ish and within a few miles, the pressure starts gradually tapering back down. Once closer to normal heated pressures, I run the speed back up for a while until I see the sharp upward trend again and then, start the cool down process all over again....that's too much work, requires too much thought and probably too many high-heat cycles. Personally, I'd hate to go back to riding without a TPMS. Many racebike slicks are good for 12 heat cycles then they turn hard and don't hold at all. I wonder how many Wing riders have "baked" their back tires and then wonder why they don't hold up, delaminate or splits wide open when they try to plug it. When it comes to tires, ignorance is not bliss....especially on a 900+lb bike.

On the road, I feel like I (and Honda reliability) have control of most aspects of the bike...except what the tires are in contact with and what goes in the fuel tank. Just about every problem I ever had on the road involved one or the other. These days, I'm asking more out of the rear tire and just need to step it up to something more suitable for the job. I wouldn't preach to the choir, would I?

I know I need a tire with a higher load rating instead of dealing with pushing a marginally-rated tire to its limits. Beyond the load-rating of the CT, the high mileage of the tire is just a perk and a damn good one at that. After going full circle, I have landed on Stones F&R lately but had bought an E3 to see if I could live with it for the slightly higher rating but for this bike, I think it would just be a stepping stone to a CT anyway. May as well cut to the chase and just use the E3 on something else.

With the taller profile CTs, is there any problems of scrubbing bike parts (inner fender, etc.)?

Thanks for all the responses and your experiences. I'm coming to terms with this decision.

Z

 

[Zackybilly1]

Together they are a proven combination.
MM

Not to de-valuate anyone else's much appreciated advice/recommendation, I believe there has been a strong case built in favor of the TripleTread and BT-45R combination. Along with Revrunts re-iteration of the taller profile, I don't see how I could go wrong and therefore, the route I'm going. I came here wanting to hear something good but never dreamed the mileages some have gotten out of CTs. I just need to do a little digging on the clearance thing.

There's strength in numbers and it shows up here. In just a matter of a couple of hours, I've been provided with good, sound advice based on years of experience, trial & error and untold thousands of miles.

5hit, I'm speachless, if you can imagine that.

Z

 

[Zackybilly1]

.....and I know how you feel about yellow bikes.

Fast Eddie,

That started out as a joke...well a joke for me...not so much for the fellow I was jousting with. There was a thread sometime back where the fellow was bashing a non-Wing brand or something in a manner really uncalled for...so the theme for that day was "those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"....or "try the shoe on the other foot". Just so happens he was the proud owner of a Yellow Wing so that's all I had to work with. Some missed the point and assumed I was serious...sometimes that's the risk you take. I should really be ashamed of myself but I have to admit, when I think of my "target fixation" rebuttal to the "saftey" color still makes me laugh. I'll probably burn in hell for it. There are some motorcycles that l like better than others but I've never disliked any of them. Maybe some riders...but not the bikes.

Actually, my project bike was bought as a Metallic Black but as you can see, it has some Yellow roots. That's Honda's doings, not mine. In reality, I don't mind the yellow bikes at all but, personally, I like counting on electrons to be seen rather than pigments.

May have been cleaning out the parts bins at Marysville.

Z

 

[Zackybilly1]

Zackybilly,

Grampawinger speaks highly of you......

He only does so because after we drank both bottles of Crown and smoked a few Cuban cigars, I had his back while he was fighting his way out of the strip club with a few "soveniers". We were lucky to get back on our bikes and get out of there before they got to us with the tazers.

Don't let him fool you, he's an animal...

Z

 

[31261]

Baked rear tire.

One plus one equals two and we can all learn something or put one thing with another and add it up.

The unexplained rear tire failure, proper air in it, carefully checked, but there sits a big bubble in the tread.

Some time ago Tom Finch said he figured some of it was due to the heat build up that happens when beating it down the road and you pull in for a gas stop and all the heat under the rear fender and bags tended to cook the tire.

I do know in South Carolina the roads get really hot. You can see heat waves dancing up like a mirage in the desert. When you stop and put your hand on the tire , the tire feels sticky, you can tell it is hot.

So........heat cycles huh?? I think you are on to something there. And under some conditions does destroy a tire. Conditions just right to retain the heat and the tire compound becomes stiff or different and the thickness of the tread separates from the tire casing.

Heat and the transfer of it can even be dependent on a good breeze. For example if I am outside trying to braze a two inch copper line on a calm day with no wind I can use my small hand held torch and obtain enough heat to accomplish the job. If there is a breeze , no way, I have to unload the big torch to get enough heat.

So I think two plus two equal four on this heat thing. Now load the bike up , put two riders on it and many factors come into play and yes I think this is why the occasional tire blows and takes responsible safety aware riders down.

The harley riders have a lot of similar situations with the Dunlop tires they use. And if you search the web for motorcycle tire failures, 99 percent of those that are documented and have some type of lawsuit pending, are on the Harleys. And for sure there is a lot of heat build up under the fender on those.

Makes sense to me. I think that explains the why. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Grampawinger]

Originally Posted by ssncob
Zackybilly,

Grampawinger speaks highly of you......

He only does so because after we drank both bottles of Crown and smoked a few Cuban cigars, I had his back while he was fighting his way out of the strip club with a few "soveniers". We were lucky to get back on our bikes and get out of there before they got to us with the tazers.

Don't let him fool you, he's an animal...

Z

I think it was CDOG that touched it off, he had been sippin Red Dagger all day from his Camelback, and made a smart remark to that 400 lb Cajun chief machinists mate. After that chief threw CDOG through the screen door we knew we had better high tail it. Man o man, you jumped on the wing just like Kirk Douglas used to mount his horse from the rear and away we went.....all three of us........and left that bunch of Harley's in the dust.

Gramps

 

[Bucfan11]

A 205-60 non-run flat...best one I've ever rode was a General Altimax. An absolutely wonderful tire. I don't know the average mileage but this one has 15,000 miles on it.