question on car tire option for the rear

[voyager]

It seems this topic is popping up on numerous blog sites about the advantage of going to a cage tire on the rear. I understand some of the advantages of cost, availability, wear and tear, but my question is about handling. Wouldn't the more " square " profile make the bike harder to turn, especially at slow speeds?

I've ridden two, exactly. One was a H-D back in the 70's. It had a Michelin tire originally made for the Jaguar XK-120/XK-150 I believe. It didn't handle much different than regular H-D tires did back then. Kinda square, but the owner had had the tire "shaved" too. I don't know of anybody that does that nowadays, though some racing teams may still do it.

The other was my friend's Vulcan 2000. It definitely felt "squarer" on the rear end. You did NOT want to pu$$y that bike into the corners. If you did, it wanted to run very wide. OTOH, if you tossed it into the corner, and grabbed a handful of throttle to hoist it back out, it had phenomenal traction. You could smoke it around a dry corner with no fear of breaking traction. I was able to break it loose a little on a hot 1-2 upshift, but we had it pumped up to about 40 pounds to make sure it seated well.

Once we let the pressure down to around 30 psi, it was a little easier to put into a corner, and rode a whole lot softer; but I didn't try to smoke it loose that time.

[Yellow Jacket]

Here are a few sites that have a lot of info on using car tires. There are also a couple of threads in the Blowndoges's Garage. Try searching on the word Darkside.

http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...r-tires-4.html

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/CarTire/home.htm

http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/...eDarkSide.html

http://www.tomfranken.com/Darkside/Default.htm

[pablo]

I am running a 195/55 R16 on the rear and very happy with the handling. It is only a subtle change from a bike tire even at low speed. I gave a pretty detailed report on this on one of the dark side posts a while back.

[beezer]

I'd say if you can afford a bike tire you should stick with it. Save your brain alot of thought.

[blowndodge]

But some of us have the extra brain to process these thoughts father beez?!!

[ringadingh]

I agree with Beezer.

[bobzinger]

Don't underestimate the lure of the Dark Side!

[blowndodge]

It's still tugging at me bob!

[pablo]

The only issue I've had with the car tire is a wobble when I got over 105 mph (indicated). I haven't had it up that fast since, so don't know if this is something to worry about. I've had it up around 90 to 95 mph numerous times without any hint of wobble. Otherwise, I'm more comfortable with this tire than I've been with any motorcycle tire.

[dirtysteve]

Friends, I have torn myself up thinking this very subject though. It always comes back to my insurance. If a person wrecks a vehicle and the insurance company investigates the cause and then finds the wrong tire----- will they pay????? ???

It does not take much for a claim to be denied. More over- hurt someone else in a wreck with that questionable tire...... is anybody ready to loose all they have in a law suit?

That being said- my 4th tire is need of change- 180/70 E3 with 9,000 miles. 2/32 of tread left. Damn bikes just peel tires to pieces!

[pablo]

I think that it would depend on the circumstances of the accident. If it is a case where the rider looses control, they might question the tire. If some idiot pulls out in front of you at an intersection or rear-ends you, then I don't think they would question the tire.

[rewindgy]

The pull to the Dark Side is great on this Jedi also!! Pullin a trailer 2 up loaded for Bear takes quite a toll on the mileage on even the Avon's! Man a Runflat tire that doesn't care about the extra weight of a Trailer and actually lasts more than one season - Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

[blowndodge]

I know rewindgy! A 185/70/16 would be a perfect car tire!! It would clean up more that half of the speedo error and last about 35K miles! runs flat no less!

I believe that pablo and maybe some other have had and semi-handling issue becaue their tires are not unidirectional. In other words the sipes on either side of the center tread bar should run in the same direction. This might cause the tire to try to "walk" in the direction of the sipes if they all point to the left or right.

[pablo]

Mine is unidirectional but the tread is symmetrical. The handling problem was at high speed (indicated 105) and I haven't had the balls yet to see if it is repeatable.