dARKSIDE

[Pbpd183]

Nexen on the rear and Avon on the front. I will continue to expirement and try to dial it in. Sounds like I might be too low on psi both front and rear.

[doug of so fla]

I went for a 100+ ride today on the new tire. I found that at 65 mph and up, it felt very "squirrelly" like it was chasing center. I am running 38 psi in the tire and 32 on the front. I know I need to adjust tire pressure but should I go with more psi or less?
Should I also adjust the front tire pressure?
I have progressive shocks front and rear. The rears are set to the highest preload. Would it help to lessen the preload?

Is the rear a Run Flat or NoN- RunFlat? 38 on a non-runflat is used only in the twisties and if you live in Fl you do not need that psi. I would suggest lowering the rear psi to 25 to 32 & increase the front to 38 to 41 psi depending what is recommended for that tire. Set rear suspension for your weight, heavy, high setting, light wt, lower, normal is 2 or 3. The XII is very touchy when it comes to handling. A psi change of 1lb in shocks or tires makes a difference on a XII, so you have your work cut out for you to get the ride you want.
Normally a tight steering brg will make the XII wander at speed a loose one will make the front end wobble at slow speeds.
Start at the high settings and work your way down to the low settings to find out what works best for you, is what I would do.

[Pbpd183]

It is a Nexen non run flat. Thank you for the info.

[Highway Rider]

No the Nexen is not a run flat and I have not located a run flat for a Voyager II. also if you were to run a run flat tire it would be recommended to have a tire pressure monitor so you would know that you were loosing air and not running on a tire with no air for a long distance.

[Pbpd183]

No the Nexen is not a run flat and I have not located a run flat for a Voyager II. also if you were to run a run flat tire it would be recommended to have a tire pressure monitor so you would know that you were loosing air and not running on a tire with no air for a long distance.

Incidentally, I do have a TPMS just for piece of mind. I will mess with pressures as time permits.

[Pbpd183]

I went for a 100+ ride today on the new tire. I found that at 65 mph and up, it felt very "squirrelly" like it was chasing center. I am running 38 psi in the tire and 32 on the front. I know I need to adjust tire pressure but should I go with more psi or less?
Should I also adjust the front tire pressure?
I have progressive shocks front and rear. The rears are set to the highest preload. Would it help to lessen the preload?

Is the rear a Run Flat or NoN- RunFlat? 38 on a non-runflat is used only in the twisties and if you live in Fl you do not need that psi. I would suggest lowering the rear psi to 25 to 32 & increase the front to 38 to 41 psi depending what is recommended for that tire. Set rear suspension for your weight, heavy, high setting, light wt, lower, normal is 2 or 3. The XII is very touchy when it comes to handling. A psi change of 1lb in shocks or tires makes a difference on a XII, so you have your work cut out for you to get the ride you want.
Normally a tight steering brg will make the XII wander at speed a loose one will make the front end wobble at slow speeds.
Start at the high settings and work your way down to the low settings to find out what works best for you, is what I would do.

Doug,
WOW- Thanks for bringing that up. I did re torque the steering stem bearing while the bike was apart for the stereo upgrade. It is quite possible that I did that wrong and made it too tight. I used Gene's tool with Don Medina' method on you tube. It feels smooth with no binding. Maybe I went too tight. I will back it out a little and see if that helps.

[Pbpd183]

I went for a 100+ ride today on the new tire. I found that at 65 mph and up, it felt very "squirrelly" like it was chasing center. I am running 38 psi in the tire and 32 on the front. I know I need to adjust tire pressure but should I go with more psi or less?
Should I also adjust the front tire pressure?
I have progressive shocks front and rear. The rears are set to the highest preload. Would it help to lessen the preload?

Is the rear a Run Flat or NoN- RunFlat? 38 on a non-runflat is used only in the twisties and if you live in Fl you do not need that psi. I would suggest lowering the rear psi to 25 to 32 & increase the front to 38 to 41 psi depending what is recommended for that tire. Set rear suspension for your weight, heavy, high setting, light wt, lower, normal is 2 or 3. The XII is very touchy when it comes to handling. A psi change of 1lb in shocks or tires makes a difference on a XII, so you have your work cut out for you to get the ride you want.
Normally a tight steering brg will make the XII wander at speed a loose one will make the front end wobble at slow speeds.
Start at the high settings and work your way down to the low settings to find out what works best for you, is what I would do.

Doug,
You are a freakin genius I backed the steering stem bearing nut out 1/4 turn and BINGO, very stable at 70+.
Thank you

[voyager55]

v

[Stormryder]

I will be Darkside soon. Everything I have been reading here is very positive towards going that way with the only negative issue being the mounting. My question is which tire for the front seems to work best with the Nexan? From reading this forum topic here I learned that Carl Leo has said that the Dunlop E3s are recommended. I have met and started a friendship with a fellow member named Neal. Neal has gone Darkside and he likes the Avon Venom or or a Metzler 888. Looking for some more feedback to make a more informed decision. This is my first Voyager XII and I have only put 75 of it's 44,000 miles on it so far. The AVA has been awesome for learning about this bike.

[Pbpd183]

It seems to be dialed in with 32 psi in the rear and 38 psi in the front tire. Very stable and smooth with no wandering. I did find that I had my steering stem too tight. The more I ride on this nexen, the more I like it.

[6ft1_grand]

Valuable information about the steering stem here. I also went darkside over the winter and tightened up my steering stem. At about 60ish, she wanted to get a little squirrely on me. I backed the steering stem nut off just about an 1/8 of a turn and it's like a totally different ride. Thanks for posting that information!!!

[ekap1200]

I am off the topic a bit but the spec is 95 inch lbs. I go right to 100 inch lbs. right off the bat. And never over 115 inch lbs. Glad it didn't get away from you at that speed. Too loose is better than too tight, at 30mph the wobble is much easier to gain control of than a surprise wobble at higher speeds.
Good to hear you have it adjusted now. Most auto parts stores will rent out an inch pound torque wrench for a small fee, but a large deposit is required. I realize that unless your a full time mechanic buying a inch lbs torque wrench just for this job is not for everyone. But with it , it is done and back together without having to adjust it a second time. 7.9 to 8.3 foot lbs is not very much torque and it is not accurately read on a dial foot lbs wrench. That is why the spec is measured in INCH pounds.
Gene K.

[djones100rt]

tv new

I have had ZERO problems at all, Lori has said many times how much she can tell the difference in the ride from the back seat, much smoother. I played with shock air pressures and damper a lot and mine felt good at 50 lbs in the shocks and set to 3 on the damper, your may be different according to the weight your hauling, then I changed to progressive rear shocks and it was a whole new bike, she really liked that upgrade, the only problems I have heard reported is mounting the tire on the rim, I had no problem at all doing it, others had to work at it, and a couple have exploded the tire trying to do it by trying to force it on with more pressure, DON'T DO THAT. If you decide to use a CT contact me and I will give advise and some tricks I and others did that worked. Yes I am running a E-3 on the front, BTW, my Nomad has a E-3 bias on the front and a E-3 Radial on the rear, was like that when I bought it and the rear was brand new, so I left it alone, rides great, when the rear wears out the Nomad will be Darkside too. On a side note, if the tires you have now are worn out, either choice will make a big difference, XII's are picky critters when it comes to tires. E-3's are the most common used and the one recommend by Carl Leo.

As a new member iam interested in using an auto tire on th rear of my voyager 12 i attemped to mount a nexen tire, one bead seated after a long struggle the second however would not at 85 lbs pressure tire failed i would very much like any advice you might have. djones100rt@yahoo.com

[Neal]

I've mounted several Both Nexen and Federals. None of them Popped until I got around 100 to 120 #'s. If a tire failed before that I wouldn't want it on the bike anyway.

[cranky]

+ 1 .... Firm handshake on that one!!!

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

Let me try to be as politically correct as possible:
Here is what happens when an "Intellectually Challenged Donkey" just keeps adding air in a "failed" attempt to seat the bead of a car tire on a bike wheel!
T'was a sad day, especially for the lad who's head was within feet when it blew!!!!

When mounting (going darkside) be patient and use caution! Oh and a little K-Y Jelly helps the bead seat I've been told!

[cushman eagle]

Scott,that looks like it added some excitement to the day!

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

Back in the day, I was a gas station attendant and I've changed my fair share of tires. Both by hand and with machines so I knew to stand back when the fool just kept adding "just a bit more will do it"! I advised that he just let it set and wait it out, assuring him that it will seat itself in time but what do I know!
Fortunately the shop owner was a friend so I knew it would be made right in a worse case scenario, and it was.
I still want to try a c/t on my bike but I've still got good tread and can't justify "fixing what aint broke" at the moment.

[madmax]

I’ve been thinking of going over to the dark side for a number of years, but never got around to it. As most of you use the Nexen SB-802 tyre, I thought lets find them on the Nexen web site for more info on the tyre.
I tried the US & UK sites. No joy! Not only do they not make this tyre any more, but they don’t make a 165/80-15 tyre at all ! I even tried the International site
I know you can still pick them up on EBay but must be old stock. So what is the best alternative?
The only firms that make this size of tyre over our side of the pond is Hankook, Nankang, Maxxis, Vredestein, Toyo, Michelin, & Continental.
Michelin are nearly 3 times the price of all the others.
Has anyone tried any of these & if so what do they recommend?

[cranky]

... don't know the physical size limits you are looking at be be very aware that
different manufacturers of a 165/80-15 tire will put out different physical
sizes!!!! I got burned when I put a replacement car tire on my Nomad, right
size and I got a Michelin as I like the brand... the tire would not turn!!!
Rubbed the driveshaft housing!!! VERY expensive mistake!!! I've learned that
"everyone" knows about different manufacturers having different sizes for
the same measurement... but me... sigh.....