Car tire thread for experience -not debate

[EricV]

Re: Re: Car Tires - What people think are the negatives or want to debate

We had a couple fro Austrailia stop by a few times this summer. They store an FJR in Dallas and come over to the states for a couple of months each summer. They ride two up and ride hard. In three years (six months of riding) they've put over 30,000 miles on the bike and have seen far more of the USA on motorcycle then most US riders. They run a car tire on the bike and get only about 15,000 miles on a tire. The first time they stopped in this summer it was to have me install a new tire they had purchased on Amazon. The old tire had over 1/3 of the tread left except for the shoulders. They were worn nearly bald. The couple are in their mid-60s, are heavily loaded and he's riding the edges off the tires. He has a second FJR in Australia with over 120,000 miles on it, all on car tires.

They are either very aggressive riders, or running less than optimum tire pressure or tire choice. I put over 70k on CTs on the FJR and that was two tires. Both wore very evenly and were easily 40k tires. I personally never experienced any increase in cupping of the front tire. The genuine motorcycle tire engineers will tell you cupping on the front is primarily a facet of braking into turns and/or low pressure.

I have seen that type of wear on a very aggressive rider using the same tire I ran. Lots of throttle use, especially out of corners.

There is always a way if you want to do it. I am not comfortable running the most commonly available size in 17", (205/50-17), on the 4.5" Super Ten rear wheel. The Vstrom guys do this, apparently, but that tire is rated for a 5.5" minimum width rim. Rubbing is typically just the brake caliper tension arm, which is easily changed to a single sided steel one, providing equal or better strength. That gives you plenty of clearance on the caliper side. Likely no issues on the other side.

 

[Xclimation]

I've put about 25k miles on my 2005 Honda VTX 1300C Darkside. On that bike or any cruiser; highly doubtful I'll ever go back to an MC tire. My VTX only weighs about 60lbs. more than my Tenere. The weight distribution is different. I have a very good after market suspension on the VTX (Progressive 444 in the back and Racetech progressive springs with gold valve emulator up front.) My VTX is pretty primitive by today's bikes in that no linked brakes, no abs or tcs. The bike is carbed. 95ft./lbs torque and 82hp. I spent many hours researching the Darkside topic before going through with it. I was only getting 8k miles on my rear tires. The most convincing evidence for me was that no matter how hard I looked....I could not find one incident of a car tire causing an accident.
Based on my experience: WAY better stopping and traction. Especially on wet roads! As far as cornering and at different speeds: It actually feels more precise to me. (Best way I can think to explain it.) I counter steer and understand the concept of counter steering. I didn't always understand the concept of counter steering but once I "got it" I became a much better rider. I think that rider's who don't understand counter steering will feel nervous and tentative on corners with a car tire. In my case, the Car tire is 3lbs. lighter than the MC tire it replaced.
Am I going to put one on my S10? Maybe. On my S10 I notice cornering requires much less counter steering. A little different dynamic. But as I'm reading here; It sounds like many have had success with them on FJR's. My father (who is in his mid 70s) and has been riding for a loooong time and has ridden many miles and many different bikes; Has an FJR1300. (Wondering if he's on the FJR forums?) He thinks I'm crazy going darkside on any bike! And many of his friends use them on Goldwings.
The funny part has been just hearing all the inaccurate information for shops and MANY people who I have asked. I didn't make the decision lightly and asked around A LOT! Just wish I would've done it sooner!

 

[matjo27]

Bringing the thread back to life

Just installed a Maxtrek M900 205/50-17 Winter tire on my 2012 Vstrom 650

Love how smooth and silent it is on the pavement compared to my old Shinko 705, gob of grip too

Even made an installation video :

Happy watching

 

[RIVA]

Bringing the thread back to life

Just installed a Maxtrek M900 205/50-17 Winter tire on my 2012 Vstrom 650

Love how smooth and silent it is on the pavement compared to my old Shinko 705, gob of grip too

Even made an installation video :

Happy watching

 

[Checkswrecks]

[Moved into this existing thread - CW]

Just finished it. The finding of the 175 tire was the biggest pain, and if you have done this have you relocated the brake arm to accomodate a larger tire?

 

[scorch]

Anyone make an adapter for the brake arm positioning to allow larger car tires? The 175mm car tire i could find is no longer exist.