I hear 'ya, Willie. Allow me to share from my experience.
I am coming over to a rocket III in about 3 weeks or less. For the last seven years I have ridden 2 Honda VTX 1800s, one a C model, the other a Retro. Both threw 100+ HP to the rear wheel and about 120ft/lbs of torque. I am a very agressive rider who spends more time than not attacking the twisties. Any lower bits and pieces that could scrape on my Xes were pretty much bevelled down to 30 degree angles. Over 45 years of riding and approx. 20 different motorcycles owned.
Metzler 880's, B'stone Battleaxes and Dunlop Elites wer the MTs I ran on my Hondas until 3 years ago when I went Darkside with B'stone Potenzas. Mind you, when others rode with me I often was told that I threw the 1800 cc beasts around like they were sport bikes. With the MTs, when I powered through the apex of hard banked and inclined corners, the rear wheel would often break loose on me and naturally the result, often, was a prudent and quick decel. That has never, ever happened one single time since I've gone over. BTW, both the VYTXes had Progressive 440s in the rear and their progressively wound springs up front.
Hard as I tried, the furthest lean I could put those bikes into were about 30 degrees over. I'll assume that the same could be said of the R3. I never was able to put any wear on my CT any closer than within 1"+ from the chicken strip. It is not only a myth that you can or will ride on the sidewall of a CT while cornering, there are several videos that have been made to show the flex of theses tires in the turns and further, showing that a good, directional tread CT has more contact patch connecting with the road a virtually anytime and/or condition vs. a MT.
Now, I am not preaching that all big cruiser riders or anyone else, for that matter, should abandon MTs on their rides in lieu of a CT. For me and anyone else, this is strictly a matter of personal choice and preference. Fact is, I did an enormous amt of research before I decided to give the Darkside a shot. Like most others, when I first heard of the phenomenon, I said to myself that those @#*!ing CT people are gonna' kill themselves, they'll be riding on their sidewalls and that CTs are not engineered or designed to work on motorcycles. That last part there is absolutly true but, guess what? They work and they work ****ed well! They hook up better, they stick better, they corner and, overall handlebetter, they ar infinitely superior and safer in wet, slick conditions, they absorb more bumps and road imperfection better and they last a lot, lot longer than MT's at half the cost or less tire vs tire.
For the first 15-20 minutes that I rode on the Darkside I thought I had made a huge mistake and nearly turned around to go back to the dealer who installed the CT for me to have the MT remounted. However after another 5-10 minutes and as I got into some good twisty, hilly roads a big grin spread over my face. Do understand that the rider input, necessarily, is way different for a CT than it is for maneuvering with a MT. But like any other performance-oriented deviation from a stock or OEM setup, the car tire requires some adjustment or accomodation in rider response and behavior. I believe that that is one key reason alot of people who try a CT, albeit for usually too brief a period of time to judge them accurately, decide that they don't like them - these are often riders who don't have the experience or skill to make the necessary accomodations. Or, they just don't want to change and that is 100% O.K. by me.
In your case, specifically, BigWillie, teaching at the MSF is a definite impediment simply because going Darkside still largely defies many established motorcycling conventions and protocols. Hopefully, someday that will change. For an accomplished rider, in my experience, a CT not only doesn't present any susbstantial limitations to one's riding experience on large cruisers, contrarily it will almost invariably expand one's possibilities and riding pleasure with very few exeptions!
Whatever you do, do it safely and have a good time at it.
