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Display Mesage #104603


Dark Side for a Day: a Metzeler guy's thoughts on The Dark Side
Written by eleveldb on 6/15/2011 at 06:24 pm

Ok, here's Bart's perspective of the darkside for a day ride. I should start
off saying Douglas's bike is just a lot tighter in all respects than mine. I
think mine was "rode hard and put away wet" by one or more of the POs (which is
not the same as POS--letter case does matter). My frame of comparison up until
yesterday was very worn Dunlaps, and compared to them, the Darkside was
certainly no worse. Having ridden the new Metzlers, I agree that they're
sharper, more immediate and sure in their response to fast cornering. Douglass
was ahead and pushing a bit faster than I normally do, not because of road
surface but my degree of comfort with sight lines. The ride shows me that I
probably have a relatively conservative riding style. I have a lurking
apprehension of lurking obstacles around the bend--deer (I bagged one of those
once with a thirty ought Buick), pedestrians, equestrians, stopped cars (I once
laid a Dodge minivan over on it's side in a Sam Peckinpah rollover as a result
of coming upon one of these). Then there's always loose gravel/grit (leftover
from anti-ice sprinkling) or broken down payment (from our underfunded
infrastructure). So yes, color me yellow, call me chicken, but I'm a
conservative rider.
I did repeat the ride yesterday evening, trying to push my own darksider to
as fast as we went earlier, and agree it was not as "automatic" as on the
Metzlers. But also agree with Douglas that it felt by no means out of control.
He articulates the qualities of the ride better than I do, perhaps because he
has far more recent riding experience than I have.
Prior to a year ago, I have to go back to 1972 for any significant mileage on
a motorcycle--only very brief "test" rides in between. To clarify tire
pressure, I try to keep it at 32 front and 30 back, but it's been a few weeks
since I checked them. Must say that the pressure is very stable. I've not had
to add at all to keep them at that over the past 6 months or so. I started with
much higher pressures (~40 in back, 35 front) and I then experienced the "knife
edge" phenomenon I described in a very early post immediately after the new
tires went on.
Also my evaluation of the Mick-O-Pegs, which was my quid pro quo reason for
the bike switch. I preface the remarks by saying I'm pretty tall--6'2" or 3" if
I stand up very tall--and yes, at 62 years, I'm starting to shrink a bit. They
are quite comfortable in allowing for leg extension. But boy oh boy do they
make me appreciate the benefits of full fairing wind protection. I don't think
I would use those pegs much in winter unless I was wearing high shoes and had my
pants tucked into the tops of the boots or socks. I should have tried my
bicycle pant clips. Also, the crash bar covers are right up against my shin
bones. Moving my feet back on the extended pegs puts the back of my leg agains
the brake and shifters, so that's not much of a help. Getting on and off of the
pegs takes a little getting used to, but Douglas recommended using my toe to
find the outside end of the pegs before settling fully onto them. That helped a
lot. My impression is I would use them for occasional temporary relief, not for
extended positioning. Given their price, I don't think they'd be worth it for
me unless I start doing a lot more distance riding than I do now. My wife won't
get on a motorcycle, so all my rides are solo and not very far unless I want to
make them a "spousal vacation". Since she's already a golf widow, I'm reticent
to make her a motorcycle one as well, even if it's only the temporary variety.
She's already worried enough about becoming the permanent type.
Anyway, thanks Douglas for participating in the swap. I think it was
instructional for us both, and hopefully for the readers as well.

Bart

--- In ipcrc@yahoogroups.com, "revconprince" <daveinet@...> wrote:
>
> Progressive loss of traction is a characteristic of BF Goodrich tires anyway.
I had them on a '71 Cutlass and that is the way they handled. You could have the
car sliding in a corner, but yet still under full control. They never abruptly
let go.
>
> --- In ipcrc@yahoogroups.com, "douglasvanb" <douglas.vanbossuyt@> wrote:
> >
> > Wade,
> >
> > I will have to let Bart chime in on tire pressure. Didn't check before the
ride.
> >
> > You will also have to ask Bart just how far I was pushing it. Didn't take a
measurement of lean angle. I know I didn't touch the pegs to the ground. But I
did get a nice good set of leans through the twisties. Not sure if this is what
was happening, but it almost felt like I could feel the side-wall deform ever so
slightly just before it started its slow slide to the side. Not really sure
though. Without putting a good high-speed camera on the bike to watch the tire,
I couldn't tell you exactly what is happening. The important point though is
that I never felt unsafe. The entire time I felt fully in control of the bike
and secure with what the tires were doing.
> >
> > How does that Avon Roadrider handle in the rain and on loose gravel? Those
two conditions make up for about 85% of the riding in Oregon. Sometimes I want
to mount knobby dirt bike tires on my PC!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Douglas
> >
>

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