Car tire thread for experience -not debate

oldbear

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I was just over looking at the ADV site (don't care for it so I seldom go there) and some dude is talking about putting a Car Tire on an S10 ???. Never ceases to amaze me. A guy will spend 15K + on a new bike and then bitch about tire prices and run a tire that is NOT designed for a motorcycle on a bike!! For the life of me, I cannot understand it. Used to see a lot of this idiocy on the Gold Wing forums and on the old Yamaha Venture forums. Thought it was nuts there, but on an S10?...Too weird. Ever notice how, whatever the area, there is some character around who always "knows" more that the team of professional engineers that design vehicles? And they are always more than ready to argue about how great their ideas work!
At the same time, you just KNOW they'd be the first one to scream about how the bike is a POS when it crashes for "no reason". Forest was right! Methinks there's not enough chlorine in the gene pool.....
 

justbob

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Re: Car tire?

A few years ago I followed a guy down around Tellico Plains, he was running a car tire on a V-Strom, I was impressed with how well it handled the curves.
I've seen several V-Stroms with car tires. I said it was something I would never ever do.
Well that was before last year, when I went darkside myself on my Victory Cross Country, now at 10,000 miles on that tire.
OK go ahead slam away, I can take it.
 

snuffcityrider

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Re: Car tire?

I tried it once on my Rocket lll and it did okay. With the crown in the road I allways felt like I had to lean just a bit to go in a straight line. It cornered okay but didn't transition from side to side quickly. It was a short lived experiment...
 

Bappo

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Re: Car tire?

I believe all of the FJR1300's in the Ironbutt Rally this year were running a car tire on the rear. The only complaint I remember was that the front cups more. People do what they gotta do I guess.
 

Chump

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Re: Car tire?

I had a car tire on my VStrom, best tire I have ever had on a bike. Handled as good if not better than a motorcycle tire. Only negative was it moved around a bit on rain grooved concrete interstates.
 

Pterodactyl

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Re: Car tire?

I have a CT on my FJR and it does just fine. I can still scrape the pegs, although I don't fancy myself to be the next coming of Valentino Marquez. But I can see no good reason to put one on my S10.
 

nondairycreamer

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Re: Car tire?

RFlagg42 left this observation at fjrforum.com

Tires:
- I used a car tire on the rear and only had about 7,000 miles experience using it prior to the start. My thoughts was that (1) I was fairly certain that I could not make it through the rally on a single rear tire, (2) at the end of the day, there are many interstate miles during the typical IBR, and (3) I never want to risk an unplanned tire change on the IBR so that left me with no choice of doing a planned wheel change or using a car tire. I can say with certainty that using a car tire on an event like the IBR (11 intensive days of riding), is absolutely more tiring than using a motorcycle tire. I had to use much more pressure on the handlebars throughout, regardless of what type of road I was on. I felt it in the palms of my hands, in my triceps, and in my traps. It also just isn't as fun as riding on a motorcycle tire. I can't really say what I would do next time until next time happens, but as of right now, I would probably have a wheel ready and do a rear wheel swap at one of the checkpoints. Having said all that, I did enjoy the confidence that the car tire gave me during some torrential downpours.
- Front tire was a PR4 GT. It is severaly cupped after the rally. The last 24 hours it felt like I was on a washboard surface any time I had the bike leaned over. I have heard from some that the car tire increases the cupping effect on a front tire, but I don't know whether that is true. Visually, there still seems like there is plenty of tread (maybe I'll take a pic and attach to this post). I am pretty sure that Erik Lipps felt that as the rally wore on, that wouldn't be able to get through the rally on a single front PR4 GT and arranged for a tire change at Checkpoint 2.

My italics editing of his post.
 

RIVA

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Re: Car tire?

Handling and longivity aside when using tyres (tires) or any piece of kit not designed for a motorcycle, would there be an insurance issue in the event of an accident. Here in Éire and as far as I know also in The UK there have been instances of insurance companies refusing to payout claims when non oe items have been added or used on motorcycles.
 

OX-34

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Re: Car tire?

Bappo said:
I believe all of the FJR1300's in the Ironbutt Rally this year were running a car tire on the rear. The only complaint I remember was that the front cups more. People do what they gotta do I guess.
Some of the FJRs (and others) ran car tires, but not all the FJRs.

Some riders find they can still get around corners ok on car tires despite what the naysayers say.

 

greg the pole

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Re: Car tire?

just slap an MEZ 880 on it, and you're good for 30 thou miles ::025::
 

Zuan

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Re: Car tire?

I won't say a lot.... but I have run a car tire on my Goldwing for 3 years now... All around in all conditions, it handles better then with a motorcycle tire. Limited lean angles on a GoldWing will allow an appropriate car tire to function very well. Not all car tires are the same and I believe you need to find the ONE that will work with your bike and not every bike is suitable for a CT. That being said, I would not consider putting a car tire on my Super Tenere.
 

Pterodactyl

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Re: Car tire?

[Edit - CW . . . ]
with over a million collective miles on CTs among the Darksiders there is no reported failure of the CT nor any accident attributed to the tire. To each there own, and the CT is not for anyone, but predicting gloom and doom for the many riders who use them is unwarranted and demonstrably untrue. To be sure, I do not see a good reason to run a CT on the S10, but on my FJR it has shown itself to be a safe and reliable tire for use on all kinds of roads. And yes, when I was running through $6-800 in rear tires on the FJR every year, having a $109 tire that can run for 40-50,000 miles is an advantage.
 

2112

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Re: Car tire?

It just seems odd to me, perhaps because we have corners that are less than 300 miles apart in little old England ? I can sort of see the logic in the long distance riding and not having to swap out tyres, but... I guess it takes all sorts.

Has anyone hear of anyone doing it the other way and putting bike tyres on a car ?
 

justbob

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Re: Car tire?

I cant think of any reason to put a bike tire on a car. They cost more and dont last as long and have a lower weight rating.
I believe there are a lot of touring bikes on the road that are exceeding the motorcycle tire manufacturers weight capacity when riding 2 with luggage. I know one couple with a Goldwing that experienced 2 rear tire failures before switching to a car tire and now have traveled many miles with no further problems. He is the type person that checks and maintains his bikes properly, not the guy that never checks tires or pressures.
 

Don in Lodi

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Re: Car tire?

2112 said:
It just seems odd to me, perhaps because we have corners that are less than 300 miles apart in little old England ? I can sort of see the logic in the long distance riding and not having to swap out tyres, but... I guess it takes all sorts.

Has anyone hear of anyone doing it the other way and putting bike tyres on a car ?
I did a pair of tires on the front of a T Bucket that I thought would make an awesome motorcycle tire. Beautiful directional pattern, 100-150 pounds more load capacity than most bike tires, and it didn't look like a car tire. What's that hand made car over there that looks like it's on mc tires, the Morgan? Maybe not...
As the crow flys it's 275 miles across Wales and England. I've done 350 for lunch.
And Greg, I wish there was an 880 that fit, size smaller, size bigger. 16,000 miles is the best I ever did.
 

EricV

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Re: Car tire?

[Snipped by CW . . . ]


For those of you that believe it's an insurance issue waiting to happen, the short answer is, no, it's not. "round and black" is all an insurance/police crash investigators are looking for on tires, unless it's obviously a tire related incident. There are extremely few actual tire related crashes involving CTs on bikes. It's been done for decades. The FJR forum group alone has well over 2 million miles w/o issues or a single tire related incident.

I personally only have about 70k of experience running CTs on my FJR, (sold it for the S10). It's not for everyone, but it's simply not that different from a moto tire. The different handling characteristics of a CT will be accentuated by a worn front tire. My first hand experience is that the front wear is not changed by running a CT on the rear. Cupping is primarily a result of braking into turns. Ask a moto tire engineer about cupping, that's what they will tell you. Lower pressures increase the potential for cupping in the front. (and I know the person that made that quote from the FJR forum, and was there during the IBR, spoke to him first hand, etc. Remember, first hand, direct experience always trumps forum BS. :D

In terms of the S10, I haven't researched it, but am not aware of a CT that is rated for the width of our rim.

The last comment I will make today is to remember that every tire is different. Moto tires, car tires, each has it's own unique feel. Some CTs work better than others for moto use, in terms of feel and performance. Gee, just like some moto tires work/feel different. O:) Remember who the engineers work for, and what their focus is. They know full well who they are working for. As for knowing better, any engineer that wants to come forward, please do. >:D I'll teach you how to do your job better, regardless of what field of expertise you are in.
 

KeithE

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Re: Car tire?

Chistopher Columbus was once told the earth was flat. I say this because I was once a non car tire guy. However after running one on my Goldwing for more than 30K miles. I am a beleiver. Ride is far superior and handling even in turns is great. Darkide rules!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 

RCinNC

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Re: Car tire?

KeithE said:
Chistopher Columbus was once told the earth was flat. I say this because I was once a non car tire guy. However after running one on my Goldwing for more than 30K miles. I am a beleiver. Ride is far superior and handling even in turns is great. Darkide rules!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

No, actually, he wasn't. Columbus was perfectly aware the world was round, as was the rest of Europe. What he was seriously in error about was his calculations of the distance to Asia, which is one reason he had trouble raising funds for his expedition; most people in a position to finance him knew that he was off his nut with his estimated distance.

These darkside threads always generate the same responses; lots of doom and gloom predictions of imminent disaster, insurance claim denials, the basic stupidity of anyone who would try it, etc. What I've never seen reported anywhere was an account of a motorcycle accident where the accident was directly attributable to the presence of a car tire on a bike. Surely, as hot button of a topic as darksiding is on motorcycle forums, there'd be no shortage of people wanting to report that a motorcycle crashed specifically because it had a car tire installed. Anecdotal evidence is the worst kind of evidence, but there is certainly some weight behind the fact that there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of miles amassed by darksiders, and yet I have never seen any accounts of an accident that was attributable to the rider using a car tire.

I'm not saying that darksiding is good or bad, and I've never tried it. I do think that, if it was as dangerous as so many people claim, there should be some actual evidence to base the claim on.
 

ace50

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Re: Car tire?

Yep, first time I heard of darkside, I thought they were out of their mind! ::005::

3 years later I had one on my Royal star and liked it. Smoother ride and longer life. ::014::

I'll never put one on the S10 though. ::001::
 
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