Cheap Tyres

[Cormanus]

About 18 months ago Enzo, Pterodactyl and I met a bloke on a Triumph Rocket that he'd found 'a bit gutless' so he'd bored it out to 2800 cc. As I recall he'd done something hideous to the exhaust so you could hear him from 100 kms away and was also running a car tyre on the back of it.

Turns out that may be OK according to some—http://www.motorcycle.com/features/skidmarks-dark-side-riders.html

Discuss below ...

[the Ferret]

I know and have ridden with dark siders ( guys who run car tires on their ST Hondas and Goldwings and FJR's. ) Their perrogative, and not for me

However I do find it a shame that a good motorcycle tire costs $175 befor mounting, and lasts 10k miles, and a car tire costs 1/2 of that and runs 8x as long. I know the reasons..I just wish they could close the gap a little, both in price and mileage.

[kmoney_imp]

I can at least sympathize with the price problem, as they (manufacturers) are amortizing all those R&D and tooling costs across a sales volume that is probably one hundredth the size. The mileage thing though does seem a bit ridiculous, especially among the more lifespan focused touring tires.

From what I've read on darksiding, I personally wouldn't do it. I've read that car and motorcycle tires are exposed to completely different forces (specifically extreme sidewall flex when leaning on a square profile tire) and that there is basically zero attention given by car tire manufacturers to account for this -- as they simply don't need to for the intended application.

[Paulb_imp]

Are these people only riding on straight roads? How can you corner at speed on a tyre without any shape? Perhaps if marathon runners wore hiking boots they would gets more mileage out of them and save money.

[Chapomis_imp]

Check this out, http://www.motorcycle.com/features/skidm...ubscribers
They also just posted sales figures on Ducati and BMW

[redbirds_imp]

Friend of mine has been running auto tires on his Gold wing for years without a problem. I'm staying with motorcycle tires, thank you.

[emptysea]

Here's a pretty fun little read about a friend of mine who rode his Triumph Sprint from Chicago to Alaska with a car tire on the rear. I rode behind him on a ride for about 500 miles when he was testing his setup. Really weird, especially on turns. His Alaska story is well worth the time.

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/al...e.1009331/

Oh and he totaled the Triumph when he dropped it on a 20mph turn a couple of months ago. He bought a BMW and is heading north to Alaska on it again this spring.

[the Ferret]

Fun little read? That was like reading Gone with the Wind. Too much adventure for me. Holy cow.

[emptysea]

LOL. "little" was probably not the right term, but I enjoyed the story. Too much adventure for me, too, but I'd have loved to be teleported into the middle of the trip for a day or two.

[Pete Erickson_imp]

I know and have ridden with dark siders ( guys who run car tires on their ST Hondas and Goldwings and FJR's. ) Their perrogative, and not for me

However I do find it a shame that a good motorcycle tire costs $175 befor mounting, and lasts 10k miles, and a car tire costs 1/2 of that and runs 8x as long. I know the reasons..I just wish they could close the gap a little, both in price and mileage.

The last time I purchased tires for my performance car, it cost a little over $1,300. They had a 20k life span. Sold it so I could play with motorcycles.

I purchased tires for my sport sedan a couple of years ago and the bill was over $800.

I suppose I could have purchased a set of tires for $360, but the cars would have handled like crap.

If I had say a Chevy Spark or a Smart Car $360 set of tires might be OK.

The thing is that performance costs $ whether it is engine mods, suspension upgrades or tires.

Would I like the tires to get better mileage, heck yes. But better mileage means harder compounds and harder compounds usually mean less grip. Since motorcycles only have two tires and those tires only have a few square inches of contact area, I want my tires to have the most grip possible, not only going straight but leaned over in a corner also.