Darkside Review ride

[mexican]

I didnt know you were going to iron butt it home. Proud of ya !!
How many miles are on your front tire?

5k roughly,

 

[HansO]

5k roughly,

EEERRRRR !!!! what breed of front tyre was that!

 

[nolton]

Hanso, thats a metz.

Mexican, I think it was around 7500 miles on mine Saturday. That was with the thread showing. Those curves really eat it down.

My total miles for the entire trip was 2033.

 

[mexican]

EEERRRRR !!!! what breed of front tyre was that!

Metzler marathon,

 

[Arkansas Rocket]

5k roughly,

Lupe,
looks like you ride in a straight line alot or you got an air pressure issue. All my Metzlers got over 10,000 miles on them even after going to the darkside.

 

[emwolb]

as far as a car tire on the rear, is there a car tire that has a rounder rather than square type of profile that anyone can think of? i'm only concerned by the thought of riding on a corner rather than being securely planted to the road.

 

[BehereNow]

as far as a car tire on the rear, is there a car tire that has a rounder rather than square type of profile that anyone can think of? i'm only concerned by the thought of riding on a corner rather than being securely planted to the road.

If you ride the twisties you will take the edge off the corners of your Darkside. Especially if you power through the curves. I like runnig at 3G's rpm.
If you ride straight roads you will put corners on your Darkside, just like with MCT.
I run Riken Raptor, over 13k miles now, and love running the twisties. I would not say it has round corners when new, but . . .not sharp square either. I have heard it described as rounded edges, and have heard others disagree. I'm on the fence.
If you are riding in the rain, or using the rear brakes in a tense situation, Darkside is wonderful.
I think the ZR rated tires (high performance) are built better for Darkside use, compared to standard CT, but I may be off on that, not sure.

I feel much more confident with my Darkside in all situations.

I went through two Metzlers before going Darkside. First one got 3500 mi and then on steel belts. The second one I changed at about 3200mi, and still had rubber, about the thickness of a condom.
I know some riders get 6000mi+ from the MCT, but I don't understand it.
I've seen the odometer and the tire, but I still don't understand it.
Nothing against other styles of riding, JMO.

 

[BehereNow]

Lupe,
looks like you ride in a straight line alot or you got an air pressure issue. All my Metzlers got over 10,000 miles on them even after going to the darkside.

I ride twisties mostly, and can't get over 7000 on the front, Metzlers or Avons. No flat spot, but no tread either.

 

[tdragger]

as far as a car tire on the rear, is there a car tire that has a rounder rather than square type of profile that anyone can think of? i'm only concerned by the thought of riding on a corner rather than being securely planted to the road.

Users that have mounted advertised "rounder" profile tires such as the Cooper Zeon have not been particularly happy with them. The fat, continuous center rib is also a negative since it tends to follow deformations in the road surface.

Toyo Proxies are popular but a few very aggressive riding users have reported that they can get up on the sidewalls with them. I'd avoid these.

The Goodyear Eagle F1 and the Riken Raptor ZR have had good service with little to no complaints and no reports of sidewall running.

I have over 23,000 miles on my Riken Raptor and it still looks fairly new. Plenty of tread all the way across.

 

[HansO]

I ride twisties mostly, and can't get over 7000 on the front, Metzlers or Avons. No flat spot, but no tread either.

try the Shinko 757 while it wont give heaps more wear it has given me a fair bit more already and it's not shot yet than the metz at 2/3 the cost also watch out the first corner you come to as it will literaly fall into the corner with less effort. the first front metz i had only gave me 6500km (while running a metz on back) not miles the second I pushed on to 7000km (with darkside Toyo Proxeis T1r 245/55 16) the shinko still with darkside has done 7000km with about another 1000km. The shinko is speed rated to only 240kmh while the metz goes to 270kmh but I never stray over the 200 very often and the metz used to start a wobble at 195kmh yet the wobble has not been there at all with the Shinko so I definately feel safer on the Shinko(formerly know as Yokohama) just my two cent worth make up your own mind oh and as far as getting more than 6000km out of a rear metz I bought the Rocket cos I don't ride like a ***** and even while getting used to the "The Mistress" and being gentle on the throttle I still managed to screw the rear metz in 6000km to just below the wear indicators pushing past that wear level is unsafe.I'm about to change the darkside (15000km) while the centre is still good for a couple more thousand km the edges are toast