Darksiding my GL1500SE

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oldmopars

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Graham Wa
So, for years I have been interested in going to the dark side with a bike. I had a GL1100, no tire options for that, a KLR650, no reason to on that one even if tires were out there. A CB500X, again no tire options, and a BMW K1200lt. The BMW had a swing arm design that would not allow the wide profile of a car tire.
So, The GL1500 is my first opportunity to give the dark side a try.
I ordered a Nokian 185/75-16 C-Line for cargo vans. It is a 6 ply tire and looks good. I wanted to have a tire that was narrow and tall. I did not want to give up any height as I am tall with long legs. The Austone would have been my first choice, but they are not making them anymore and there are only a few left to be had. I did not want to get a tire that was discontinued, seemed like a bad idea.
So, I mounted the tire on the rim, no issues there. It went on easy with just a little elbow grease and tire lube.
Getting it into the bike was another story. It took several tries to get the tire to fit in the space and not rub anything (So I thought). I had to use my heat gun and work a few things out to make room. I also had to remove the Acorn nut and bolt that holds the tool box bungee as it would have hit the tire.
Once installed everything seemed OK. At the same time I also installed a set of Progressive 416's.
So, for the test ride. I live on a gravel road and I found no issues dealing with the gravel. It seemed a little more stable and planted. I had read many accounts of dark siding that the tire seems to lift the bike as it transitions from the flat tread to the sides, and that the tire want to resist turn in and then will drop in. I found none of that at all.
I was very surprised that the tire felt like a normal Motorcycle tire. No resistance to turn in, no transition at all as I hit the corners. I have also heard of issues with tread squirm at high speeds, I also felt none of that. If you did not know the tire was for a cargo van, you would swear it was a regular MC tire.
Now, I only have about 50 miles on it and I have not adjusted the tire pressure yet, it's at about 42 right now. So far, so good, except....
Because this tire is tall, and has a slightly more square profile than the MC tire that came off, I have some rubbing. It is at the edge of the tread and not horrible, but annoying. At this point I am not sure if I am going to let it "work itself out" or go back in, remove it again and try to clearance things a bit more. I might be able to pull the fender forward and zip tie/wire it forward to give the require space. I do know that most that run the Austone have to do the same thing, so this is not a real big deal
The only other issue I have found that could be a slight negative is I have found that from a stop, if you are leaning as you take off and give it power from the stop into a lean, like from a stop sign then turn right, you get a little bit of "wiggle" out of the tread. It is kind of like the tread is flexing under the load and you feel it in the seat of your pants. It did not slip or loose traction, but I could feel the flex of the tread. I know that I will get used to it and so far the only "negative" I have found other than the rub that I need to fix.
So, all in all I am very happy with the tire and how it performs. I hope to get some more miles on this tire soon, but I have a very small coolant leak I need to track down and fix. Then I hope to do an Iron Butt ride in June and I will be doing at least 2000 miles this summer out to Montana, to Yellowstone and back. By the end of the summer I should be able to give a full report on the performance of the Nokian tire.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=209503#p209503:1mlp2vyt said:
Rednaxs60 » Yesterday, 2:12 pm[/url]":1mlp2vyt]
Check this thread on GWDocs. WingAdmin had the rubbing issue and this thread explains what he did to resolve the issue.

Cheers
Thread? What thread?
marty-feldman-igor_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNJjoeBT78QIaYdkJdEY4CnGTJFJS74MYhNY6w3GNbO8[1].jpg
 
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