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Have you gone to the darkside?

1781 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  mumbles
Anyone here replace their rear tire with a car tire? For those that dont know.. its called Darksiding. Motorcycle tires wear in the middle first.. whereas car tires wear evenly.. also the added traction (has more contact) makes rear breaking more efficient!

From what Im reading its mostly done on the bigger/heavier cruisers.. so the vn800 being a lighter cruiser Im not sure if its a good thing to do...
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I have not done it but did research it a bit lately while tire shopping. I did not find anyone having done it on an 800. I believe this is mainly due to the narrow factory rim as well as the only ~20mm chain clearance. Not to say it can't be done (maybe with different wheels and a 520 chain that was offset as much as possible) - I just did not feel like being innovative on this one.
Anyone here replace their rear tire with a car tire? For those that dont know.. its called Darksiding. Motorcycle tires wear in the middle first.. whereas car tires wear evenly.. also the added traction (has more contact) makes rear breaking more efficient!

From what Im reading its mostly done on the bigger/heavier cruisers.. so the vn800 being a lighter cruiser Im not sure if its a good thing to do...
the 800 doesnt have a lot of room for car tyres. i have a 170/80 on the rear and its a credit card width away from the chain and the swing arm.

Its done a lot on the bigger vulcans though.
thanks guys.. yeah I too learned after I posted here its not really common on the 800s due to the width..
The darkside might be possible on a 15" mag wheel using a 165-80r15.
SunnyBob has an excellent write up on installing a mag wheel from a Suzuki Marauder 800. Also Bob Myers can machine an adapter to fit a mag wheel off an early model Kaw en500.
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