Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by 02SE
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by 02SE
All tires are a compromise.
If sacrificing handling and grip at anything other than straight-line riding are acceptable, putting a car tire on a cruiser or touring bike is probably an okay choice. Yes I've ridden a few bikes with a car tire on the rear. In every case it affected the handling, and not for the better. BUT, yes you can get more miles out of a car tire. I've always preferred handling and grip over long life of the tread, so running a car tire would never be a choice for me.
Before any 'darkside' rider posts videos of people running car tires on a bike on a twisty road, I've seen them already. It can be done, but it's still a compromise, that doesn't deliver as good of grip and handling as a bike tire can.
Actually, from ACTUAL veteran darksiders, they are unanimous that it is better when braking and MUCH better in wet conditions.
The 2 darksiders I know switched for capacity reasons. One was tired of changing oil and rear tire every 5K miles, the other had 2 rear tires fail due to heat buildup on long trips. (Fortunately, no crash.) One now runs a Michelin winter tire, the other an Eagle Ultra Grip.
I'd be on my 5th tire at 5k miles on my most powerful bike.
As for the "veteran darksiders", I think that's just what they tell themselves and others to justify the compromised handling, and being cheap.
Nothing to do with "being cheap"...they do it for weight capacity and safety reasons. Loaded for travel, the rear tire on many touring bikes is at (or over) its weight limit.
Stock size M/C tires are rated for more than the GVWR of any motorcycle they are speced for. If these people you know are overloading the Motorcycles, then they have even more issues than using a poor-handling car tire. Putting a car tire with a higher load rating on a bike, doesn't raise the GVWR of the rest of the bike.
Every 'darksider' I've ever talked to, all stated how proud they were to be saving money with their car tire choice, despite the handling deficit.
But it's a free country, they can make whatever ill-conceived choice they want...