It's called "Dark-Siding". Putting a car tire on the rear of a motorcycle.
This is the sort of thing I want to do. A good rear tire for a bike like mine can cost $350, and with the roads around here, they last maybe 10k miles. I put 10k on my bike just this summer. I ride. I ride much like that guy in the video, hitting the canyons and throwing sparks. So I've spent $700 this year just on my rear tires, plus mounting and balancing because I don't have that equipment in my garage. That adds up quickly, and when you start seeing flat spots on your tires, and the wear bars are gone, your pucker factor goes way up. A car tire would give me at least 30k miles.
The science, if you read it, says it cannot be done. The thousands of people who are currently doing it says it can.
Anyone wanna take a crack at this and give me your opinion?
3 comments:
Ithink that you are planning a trip to "experimental".I have some observations but no hard "conclusions"
1) Rubber. Motorcycle tires are big on traction/adhesion which generally mean less endurance/milage. I tried some "forever" tires on an ancient beater that I used way back. They carried load just fine, but under combined braking & turning, they tended to go "sideways". They probably would have worked well on a sanely driven farm pickup, but with my driving, they were an invitation to get up close & personal with the scenery. I don't know how tire adhesion is rated. You probably don't want something hard and "slick" on your machine. They were exciting enough with 4 wheels.
2) tire profile. Auto tires have a flat cross-section compared to bike tires. When you are banked over/leaning there probably is quite a bit less tire on the road with an auto profile. The auto tire has a "sharper" edge on its tread so that "falling off" the tread could be exciting. Also most bike skins have tread up the sides of the tire. With an auto tire, the vulnerable side wall is right where the action is. Sidewall damage typically can not be repaired and usually involves a sudden failure.
I don't know how much you will be stressing tires on a touring bike. Auto profile tires seem to work well on trikes ("Tri-Cars") and side hacks (side cars) but those are different beasts. I don't know anything about tire composition or traction on those critters. Or about load capacity and price.
You don't mention front tires which makes me think that you may be running a very heavy machine on standard tires.
Unless you like "drag racing", most of the wear usually comes from braking and turning up front. You might look into some "Fat Bob" rears that could handle more load but still have a motorcycle profile. Whatever, running a different breed of rubber front v rear is going to change the handling in turns, especially if there is free grit and or moisture. I didn't like "broad sliding" bikes through turns and intersections. The cheap *****s here in the midwest are fond of "resurfacing" roads like warehouse roofs, gravel over black slop. Only some post signs, "Warning! Grey Marbles Ahead".
Good Luck & safe riding.
I was going to keep my front tire a moto tire. I'm not getting the wear on the front like I am on the back. My last rear tire barely made it 10k, and it was worn bad enough that I was ordering the new tire at 9k just to make sure.
Utah roads are less gravel over blacktop, and more concrete that's been grooved. I think that's part of the problem I'm having here; grooved pavement eats motorcycle tires, and there's not a single bit of interstate that doesn't have miles upon miles of grooved concrete. My last tire should have lasted 15k miles, but the roads here just destroy them.
I worked with a guy that had a buell he always ran auto tires on the rear. President of a Pistolaros chapter.
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