Darkside Riding

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woody1

Bachelor Dog
Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
13,202
Reaction score
1,997
Location
Riversdal Weskaap
Bike
Yamaha Super Tenere
So this is a topic that opened a big can of worms all over the world.
Lot's of YES and some NO people out there.

All I can say is that if you have not done it yourself you cannot speak with.
You can try and discuss it, but like I said you can really only find fault with it once you are a Dark Side Rider yourself.
Once you are "CONVERTED" you will be a darksider for the rest of your life.

So it all came about when I fitted the sidecar to the Yamaha.  Bike tyres at a price did not last long enough to my liking, even with a well setup rig I would be replacing tyres every trip.
That left me with no money for beers, so I had to find a solution.
I Googled DARK Side Riding and found a lot of information, and like I said a lot of people for it and then the peanut gallery that has not done it against it..all sorts of excuses...maybe they are getting a kickback for every bike tyre sold.

The Yamaha has a double swing-arm and a 17 inch rim.

Try and find a 17 inch car tyre in South Africa that you can use...none zip nada nothing.  Maybe a space saver, but then it is underrated and not easy to find in Pofadder when you might need a new one.

So I set about making a new HUB so that I could fit a 15 inch car tyre on the bike.
If it was a BMW it was easy, just make a new rim adapter and bolt straight onto the diff.
On the Yamaha I did not want to make any permanent modifications  on the bike.
The new hub must use the same cush rubbers, ABS pickup ring and disk rotor from the old wheel.
I also did not want to destroy the old hub, so something new had to be made.
The prototype was made of wood to check dimentions and fit.
After I was satisfied all would work I bought the aluminium billet and a friend did the final machining for me.
I bought some old Volkswagen Beetle rims, had the inner part cut out and new inserts to fit on the new hub welded into place.
The only tyres available in 165/80/15 were Hankook and Federal.
Both not my fist choice, but they did the job. 
They were also not that cheap..more than R 1000.00 for a tyre.
Doing more research I saw that 195/65/15 is a very COMMON tyre and I will be able to get this about anywhere, including Pofadder.

BUT !!! will it fit in the swing-arm of the Yamaha.

Well only thing is to try and find out for yourself.
So off to the local tyre dealer.  Picked up an old 195 tyre, put that on a rim and go test.

Well glad to say it fits into the swing-arm with ease.

Now I can ride a R 800 tyre of known brand like Bridgstone, General , or Dunlop.....but it gets even better.

Bridgstone makes a RUN-FLAT in this size and the price... R 1060.00

So this weekend it all happened and so far I am VERY happy.


 

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