Anyone running Darkside with a Tow Pac?

[dadztoy]

Hi guys,

Just picked up an extra rim with car tire mounted on it for my 09 (yes, it's has the TPMS sensor in it too)... The rim came with a Yokohama Avid Envigor run flat tire on it... The tire is just abiut at the end of it's service life but there is enough tread left to get an idea of how it will work on the Tow Pac and if I will like it...

So the question is: anyone running a car tire on their Tow Pac, or perhaps Voyager or other outrigger type trike, and if you are, what make and model and what tire pressure are you running, and what if any negative or positive comments do you have about the setup...

Thanks in advance,

Les

[Mick]

When I had a Voyager mounted on a 2003 Suzuki LC1500 Intruder back in 07 I mounted a car tire on the rear. To me it helped improve the ride and handling. The Suzuki with the Voyager seemed around town to bounce more with the suspension and with the bike tire on the back catch centerline cracks and try to follow them. The car tire just rolled over the cracks and didnt care. I was running 21lbs air in the outriggers but with the car tire and its softer sidewall it seemed to help this. On the highway the bike rode smoother seemed more stable and even the missus said it had a softer ride. One time I had an adjustment made to the kit and took it to Voyager to have them do it. The mechanic saw the car tire and commented that he'd never ridden one with one. Took it for a ride and came back all smiles and commented that it should be put on with all kits. If you're going to keep the kit on I would say give it a try. The one thing you have to find is a tire pressure that works for you. I finally settled on 36psi for mine and I was running a Falken 512. The upside is you should get more miles out of the rear tire as the kits have a tendency to wear the stock rear tires out faster due to the extra weight

[Woolie]

I have never tried running darkside but I sure would like to learn more about it. What size is the tire that is mounted on the wheel you have?

[dadztoy]

Thanks for the comments Mick... What you have said is pretty much what I have been hearing from other darkside riders... Quality of ride and tire longevity is what I am concerned with, and I think the car tire might be the answer...

Woolie, the one that came with the rim I purchased from another darksider is a Yokohama Avid Envigor run flat and the size is 195/55-16... The rim is also a TPMS rim so there is a sensor in it as well... MY bike is an 09 and I have TPMS and I also have the pre-production Tire Watch monitor that Fred Harmon of the 1800 riders forum tested, so I get an actual readout in numbers of my tire pressure and tire temperature... This is a great asset as the Tire Watch monitor marries up to the OEM sensors without any registering needed...



The Honda TPMS system's low PSI threshold is around 34PSI so the OEM TPMS system will flash a warning until the tire pressure gets up to 34 PSI... I plan to disable that system and use only the monitor in the photo as the Yokohama tire like to run around 31-32 PSI...

I have no plans to remove the Tow Pac in the near future and I am going to purchase a 4.5 degree rake kit from "zook" in the near future... I will probably at some time in the not to distant future go to a full trike kit on the bike but the Tow Pac is working so well for me I do not see the need to do that right away...

And truth be told, I kind of like the idea that the bike is still totally stock so if there are any driveline issues or other problems, it can go back to Honda under the extended warranty... That's one of the great advantages as I see it of the Tow Pac and other kits like it...

Les

[slick rick]

,,,,Dadztoy ,,brother in law been using the same one on his last two Goldwings and the way I see it ,,if you like it I like it for you,,,to each his own . RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT !!!!

[dadztoy]

Well, I have my Yokohama Avid Envigor (run flat) mounted on the bike and I am happy to report the ride is quite good... It's a bit of a softer ride which pleases both the wife and I and it seems to handle quite well with the Tow Pac...

The downside of the Tow Pac, at least on my InstaTrike and 09 GL1800 is you can't install or remove either the stock tire, or a car tire, without disassembling the Tow Pac sub-frame and prying it up for the clearance needed... Here are a few photos of that... This photo shows the Tow Pac bracket that interferes with tire removal



This photo shows the U-bolts that must be loosened and the next photo shows the bolt that must be removed so that you can pry the bracket up for additional clearance to mount the tire...





Tow Pac didn't tell me I wouldn't be able to change the tire without loosening these bolts... It's not a real big deal, but it would have been nice if they said something up front!!! It only adds about 15 minutes of work to the overall project...

I used the "tip the bike over on it's side" method for changing the tire even though I have a drive on Handy Lift - it's just easier to do it this way... You can see the Centramatic Balancer on the rear wheel hub of the bike, and I just installed Centramatics on the Tow Pac as well...




And no - I don't own two Goldwings - that's my buddies bike sitting on the Handy Lift in the left of the photo of me cleaning my rim... You can see in this photo that I removed the rear fender cover to gain access to the necessary Tow Pac sub-frame bolts...

Hopefully I will only have to do this every 30K + miles with the car tire on the rear...

My bike is a 2009 so I have the OEM TPMS system... I also have a pre-production Tire Watch Monitor that reads the OEM sensors on the bike ...



The OEM TPMS complains about the 34 PSI pressure in the Yoko run flat tire until it reaches about 38-39 PSI and then it stops... If I can borrow a Ateq VT15 tool, I can reverse the tire registration on the OEM system and it will stop complaining...

So far I am very pleased with the car tire and going "Darkside"... We're taking the bike to "Wings Over The Smokies" next week with the Tow Pac on it and I'll be pulling the Timeout Dart Cargo Trailer, so I'll report back after that experience, but I really don't expect anything negative...

Les

[dadztoy]

Latest developments on darkside additions... I am now running double darkside with Bridgestone BT-45 Battlax on the front wheel... Originally I had it mounted backwards but there was a strong vibration in the handlebars at 20-45 MPH so I reversed the mounting to it's normal configuration and the buzzing in the handlebars is nearly non-existent - just a little at about 20 MPH...

I also borrowed a Vteq-15 from another darksider on another forum and reverse registered my front and rear tire... Now the OEM TPMS doesn't complain about the Yoko rear tire running at 32 PSI...

Bike feels pretty good on 2 wheels and felt good with the trike kit installed and just the Yoko on the rear and G709 on the front... I have not yet reinstalled the trike kit with the BT-45 up front but I'm not expecting any issues... Currently running 38 PSI on the front BT-45 and 32 PSI on the Yoko rear...

Les