The Dark Side, Car tires on motorbikes!?

Would you run car tires on a bike?

  • Makes sense!

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Hell No!

    Votes: 7 87.5%
  • Total voters
    8
Steve C

Steve C

XS650 Addict
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https://ridermagazine.com/2016/05/20/tales-from-the-dark-side-putting-car-tires-on-motorcycles/

This topic came up in my little circle of bike buddies.
Would love to hear the opinions of the deep moto thinkers on my favorite forum...

Would you ever?
Do you know anyone who has?
Seems like if you tried to ride with some spirit, you'd quickly be on thin ice and thin rubber!

dark-side-2.jpg
 
I remember that article very well, I had a subscription to that mag at the time. I did know a guy that ran a car tire on the back of his Triumph Rocket 3. At the time he was commuting daily from Tucson Arizona to Phoenix , he was putting on over 400 miles daily! 95% of those miles were high speed super slab highways. He told me that at those amount of miles he was burning through , very expensive , fat rear tires way too fast. He said he could get 40,000 miles out of a car tire and it rode just great on the freeways.
I’m not a fan of car tires on a bike, they certainly are not designed to roll over in a corner. But I could almost understand his logic. 90% of the wear on most rear tires is right down the center.
But....no I wouldn’t run one.
 
Mailman said:
And here is another great video from Fortnine, where he does a terrific job of explaining the different dynamics of motorcycle vs car tires in a very entertaining way.

Click to expand...
Ryan is always entertaining and informative.
 
I fitted one on the rear of my GS850 last year a Nankang CX668 135r15
CX668 02.jpg
nankang cx668 fitted on bike nov2020 05.jpg

No problems with it at all, and it's up there with the best quality tyres I've bought for grip and cornering. Of course, that might be helped by the relative skinniness of the tyre, as the older bikes were not endowed with fat rubber, nor the swingarm clearance for them.
The only downside is the increase in final drive gearing ratio - anything above 70mph and the engine is starting to work harder than it did with the std fitment size on the wheel. I'm looking at making a 16" tyre fit, with a larger rolling diameter that's close to standard. The annoying thing is, there's plenty of room to the right of the tyre, but the left swingarm tube is the limiting factor. I can move the wheel over by 10mm or so and make spacers both on the drive pegs and axle to make sure drive is maintained properly on the splines with full engagement.
Anyway, given the success of this one, I'm now looking seriously at using the same tyre on the XS, and the acquisition of a 15" rear wheel will be undergone soon. A bit of jiggering around with sprockets will be much easier than farting about with rear drive arrangements on a shafty.
 
as a canam spyder owner as well as my xs this is a constant subject on the spyder forums with most agreeing car tyres are a lot better on 3 wheelers but most insurence companys in aust dont like them and wont insure if on and good chance will knock back your claim after a accident (ANYTHING TO GET OUT OF PAYING)... yet if on back wheel of a outfit its ok with them. other thing wonder if in a accident where you are in the right, could they blame the accident on your car tyres (havent heard of that situation though) but could have repercusions on 3rd party insurence ... on a normal 2 wheel bike i wouldnt use them ,would put them in the same idea of running without a front brake ..you can get away with it but is it worth the risk
 
Steve C said:
https://ridermagazine.com/2016/05/20/tales-from-the-dark-side-putting-car-tires-on-motorcycles/

This topic came up in my little circle of bike buddies.
Would love to hear the opinions of the deep moto thinkers on my favorite forum...

Would you ever?
Do you know anyone who has?
Seems like if you tried to ride with some spirit, you'd quickly be on thin ice and thin rubber!

dark-side-2.jpg
Click to expand...
Guess you never heard of the awesome group of aisans out of northern cali called LNSPLTBLVD?
they special order front n rear car tires for their choppers
see for yourself-->

https://www.lnspltblvd.com
 
HOTEL71 said:
Guess you never heard of the awesome group of aisans out of northern cali called LNSPLTBLVD?
they special order front n rear car tires for their choppers
see for yourself-->

https://www.lnspltblvd.com
Click to expand...
I'm a fan of LNSPLTBLVD. That doesn't mean I'm going to emulate them. I didn't think they were Asians, but a mix of young men with similar interest. That's one of the things I like about them. They're Asian, Hispanic, white, etc.

1528672_10201284220043782_1568221326_n.jpg

This is how I roll. A car tire isn't going to get it!
 
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