Goldwing and Car Tire
 

recently purchased a care tire to fit the rear rim of the Goldwing. I first looked for a shop locally to install the tire to rim, but apparently everyone is more worried about liability these days than making a few bucks. I decided to get the Harbor Freight changer set up and try it myself. I was surprised at how easy it was. it took about 70 PSI to set the bead.

Yesterday was the day I decided to install it on the Goldwing. I now hate Honda engineers and need a nice long ride on the GW to remind me how much I love the bike. :D

it took me about 6 hours in total to get all the stuff off the back end and replace the wheel. I'm sure I can do it quicker the next time. it was a learning experience. part of the time involved was due to removing the tow bar and hitch from the bike. I'm not using it and it was in the way of getting the axle out.

none of it was complicated. I followed a couple youtube videos and tried to take my time. it really took me longer than it should have, but I also learned a lot doing it too.

I just noticed you mounted the tire backwards. It's rotating the wrong way. :hmm: Now you have to do it all over again.

Not!!! :lmao: :p Oh, I have done that already. Got the tire mounted on the bike then realized it was wrong. :doh:

Mean while, Sports rider is going out to the garage to check. lol

You're an evil, evil person! :D

Yeah, I know. lol

Is the new tire that much taller or is it an optical illusion?

Oh boy. Cue dark side argument in 3... 2... 1...


(Don't stop on any slanted surfaces!)

I don't bother making the argument. The pros and cons are well known by most, so trying to start an argument/discussion about it is even more pointless than the constant motor oil discussions on every forum in internet history.

This is how I see it. I won't do it myself, but I have known others that have done it, ridden tens of thousands of miles without issue, and they are still alive.

I won't do it because I don't ride one bike enough to justify the longer life, which is the main reason most guys do it, especially on big heavy bikes like the Goldwings. They eat rear tires like I eat burgers. Even my GL1000, which by comparison to his bike was a feather weight machine, went through a rear tire every 6000 miles. 600lb bike and a 130 width tire isn't a good combo. For a fun comparison, my VFR1200 has 8000 miles on my Bridgestone T31 GT's, and I have at least another 6-8k in them if I want to ride them to the wear bars. That bike weighs the same and has more than double the power... and I use the power lol

it's really all about use cases. if someone is an aggressive curvy-road rider, then it wouldn't be the right choice (in my opinion). in my case, I'm going to be doing a great deal of long-distance riding. I have a Florida trip in March and I have a coast to coast trip in April. I will likely cover at least 8k miles round trip between those two.

if I was headed to mountain roads, I would either slow my pace to account for it, or swap tires to MC. that's why I went ahead and bought a spare rim to mount this CT on. I just need to get better at changing tires. it took me over 6 hours to get the bike apart and back together. (but it was my first time...learning curve)

Welcome to the dark side. The auto tire should work out nice on the Wing since they don't do a lot of knee draggin.

Let us know how it works out. My old Goldwing used to wear out tires like no other bike I've owned. Longest lasting tire I found at the time was the Michelin Commander but I didn't care for the handling.

so....got first test ride yesterday. first problem....I had a spacer out of place on the brake caliper bracket on the rear wheel. makes a lot of squeeling noise with that bracket rubbing against the rotor. :D

second test run was much better. I found that the tire, because it is taller, was rubbing against a small piece of the wheel well. had to take the tire back off to remove that piece. Fortunately that only took me about an hour this time since I knew what I was doing. :D

Third run today. I can tell you from the second run that the tire is really great. it handles better than I expected and I really can't tell it's a CT compared to a MT. This is my third bike I've gone to a CT on. First was a Vulcan 1500 classic. That was a failure. didn't work well at all. Second was my Concours sidecar rig. with the sidecar removed, the CT was managable, but definitely not suited for curvy roads. This one...best I've ridden. I would not need to change this tire for curvy road riding. Not that I'm going to be racing the big old barge through curvy roads, but it's definitely managable.

Once I solve the rubbing, I'll be pleased as punch!

For your intended purposes, the car tire is a no brainer. It's not like you're going canyon carving. lol

OK, now we need a pic of the GW with full knobbies and getting big air.....Dukes of Hazzard style.

Ha ha! I just happen to watch the same video on Facebook this morning.

Awesome!