WELCOME TO THE DARKSIDE

Ok here it is the and let me say right up front no wisecracks on the grammar or spelling.

Let me start with the beginning I had a nail in my rear tire and after asking a couple people on it was told that it would have to be replaced, that it could not be repaired well this was not to my liking and I tried to plug the tire and it held for about 2 weeks and the plug disappeared and tire went flat well I put another plug in and watched as the plug pushed itself out the tire will not hold a plug, that is not cool tire is done in by one nail I had 3,000 miles on the bike and was not happy with that outcome and I started looking into a car tire on the rear otherwise know as “””” DARKSIDING “””” and was surprised at how many had done it I saw all the cons and pros to doing it and I found 2 others that had done it on the Kawasaki Meanie and loved the look and decided that I would sacrifice the handling for the look. So here is how it went I meant to take more pics in the process but I think that I will be able to describe the in betweens fairly accurately for all.

Step 1 was decided the tire size from what I read I could go with the p195/45R17 that was said to go in with no modifications, or I could go to a P205/45R17 that would require slight modification of the swing arm .obviously no modification was preferred but I very seriously considered going with the bigger tire for a couple reasons, 1 bigger tire was available from almost all manufacturers in different treads and speed ratings, 2 the larger tire would have less to no impact on the speedometer reading that I read so much about.
However in the end I went with the 195 as I did not want to take a hammer and grinder to my motorcycle just yet. So I went with the 195/45-17 YOKOHAMA S Drive 85W.

So I ordered the tire on line as the local tire shops that I checked would have to order the tire and it would take a week to get there and they would not mount in any case. I got the tools I thought I would need rim protectors and tire irons (( wasted money )) and once I had it all went over to the parents house which is where the bike was at.

Step one was getting the old tire and wheel assembly out this was pretty straight forward I had a basic socket set and wrench set to work with at my parents house so I did not have the allen wrench that I think was a size 8 or ten to remove the caliper from the bracket I ended up removing the rear axhaust tubes from the bike and made getting at the axle nut and caliper bracket bolts very easy was maybe 6 bolts holding the exhaust on, so with the caliper and bracket removed and held out of the way I I removed the axle bolt all the way and gave the wheel assembly a jiggle and it came free from the final drive and tire rolled right out very easy.

Step two was checking the tire fitment with no rim I read on special K’s write up that when installing the tire on the wheel it would require the tire having no air in it and then giving it a good nudge well when I tried sliding the tire in with no rim it looked like I was going to have about an inch of tire to nudge and that did not feel right to me so I decided on removing the final drive it was 4 nuts on the drive and 2 nuts for the shock and it came right out, and now I had enough room that I could roll the tire in with no issues and see the fitment and looked like there would be no clearance issues,

Step three was swapping the tire out on the rim, I installed the rim protectors and started working the old tire off and it came off easily, then I lubricated the bottom bead and the first bead on new tire slid in with no problem, and then it got hard we had 4 guys on the tire trying to get the last bead to go in I have a lot of experience with tires and after 30 minutes of fighting it I decided I was not going to get this on with out mechanical assistance and scooped up the wheel and tire and found a used tire shop that also sold new tires that were in the 20 to 26 inch range and they grabbed the tire and wheel and finished installing tire and charged me 7 bucks so save yourself some time and just find them to begin with ;;; I have mounted hundreds of tires for cars and big trucks by hand in past this one was not going to happen just go pay for it it is cheaper than the tools to do it yourself . but I have them if you want to borrow them =-=- LOL.

Step four lets put it back together rolled the wheel into place and installed the final drive and put shock into place rolled the tire back into line with axle and started the axle into the wheel and started a slight back and forth jerking and twisting of tire and wheel to get gears to line up in final drive, placed my caliper and bracket back into place and finished sliding the axle thru --- note I did not have an issue with this but when ever I reassemble something with multiple pieces and brackets I only hand start all nuts and bolts it keeps them from binding with each other and then once the tire and wheel were in place and all bolts started I tightened and secured everything to make tight then I reinstalled the rear exhaust, note on the rear exhaust the front exhaust covers slide into the rear exhaust I ended up removing the rearward one in order to get in nice and flush all that holds it on are 2 hose clamps. And that is it I now have a meaner looking meanie and love it

Couple quick notes I know I may have removed more than was absolutely necessary but I have been a mechanic for 20 plus years and I have found with experience that sometimes it is just easier to take a component out of the way than to try and work around it I believe that the additional components removed ,,, the exhaust and final drive were very easy to remove and gave me so much room to work with that it was definitely worth it.


I know I said I would take lots of pics but I got rolling and did not want to stop for the pics but this is really straight forward tire change just a different size tire I do have some before and after pics and if you want more pics of a different angle let me know, thanks and I hope this helps.

By the way I have put about 200 miles on it and absolutely love it cornering is a little different just seems like you have to commit to cornering and do it honestly I think I am more comfortable on this tire riding it than before

He are some pics