First Ride on the Darkside

Lester532

Turbocharged
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
928
Location
Cottage Hills, IL
Today I had my first ride on a Riken Raptor 225/55 ZR16 and I have to say it was the right choice for me. The guy at the custom chopper shop said it was illegal to mount a car tire on a motorcycle wheel. So the owner of a local biker bar took me, tire and wheel to the used tire shop across the street and we mounted it ourselves they just let us use their rim clamp machine and we had it done in about 15 min. By the way my bar owner friend was a auto mechanic for about 40 years before buying the bar. Anyway with the tire on the bike with 4oz of dyna beads and 36 psi of air I whent out for my ride. WOW thats nice. Going down the highway I thoght I was runnig aroud 65-70 when I looked at the speedo I was at 90mph and smooth as silk. Counter steer effort is a little higher but not too bad. Now I know some will say I'm wrong but my first impression is that the car tire rides better than the stock tire.
 
Welcome to the Dark Side.

Most of the Riken owners run about 30 psi in the tire. That seems to be its sweet spot. Play with the pressures to see what you think. I'm a 300 lb'r and 30 is right for me.
 
After installing the new Avon front tire I dropped the pressure in the rear to 32psi. Much smoother than the Metzeler probably due in part to the lower pressure. No adverse handling, all grins so far.
 
I know that Cadfather and a couple of others had the Riken Raptor 245/50 and it didnt rub but the Goodyear Eagle FZ1 in the same size did . . . careful when you get up into those bigger sizes. The design of the tread from manufacturer to manufacturer can be just enough to make a difference in how it fits. I went with a Goodyear FZ1 in the 225/50 and have no problems.
 
Lester532 said:
Just noticed Tire rack has Yokohama AVS Sport 225/55 16 on close out for $79 that's almost half price.
Click to expand...

The 220 treadwear is a positive in my book. My 225/55 has a 280 UTQG rating. While I may not get the 40k that others might get with the high mileage UTQG rated tires. A soft(er) compound gives me more confidence in the twisties. I'm going to have to try one of these AVS Sports; at $100 delivered, plus $35 to mount. At 38% of the cost of a metzler upfront and a $1400 saving in the long run (e32K). And most importantly, no sweating about how rapidly I'm going to need the next metzler and how prone the metzler is to punctures.

I run 45PSI rear and 36 front. I let the stock shock do the work they're intended for. I'm 245# and the wife is 115. I get no bottoming out on the roughest Alabama speed bumps (CSX RxR crossing).

The contract patch is on the order of 300% or greater with the 225 darksider. Wet road, dry road, or garbage strewn makes no matter, I love it!
 
Last edited:
tires

I run a 245/50/16 at 42-44psi and 38 on the lopdun front. The new bird looks real nice! I wonder what size tire you could put on that bike? It makes 84.7hp with no mods!
rockenrobert
gotta see the world, it will only take a minute
 
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