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 ragtop69gs |
Exploring the Darkside |
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/27/08 5:17 PM |
I have been looking into trying a car tire on the rear and have a few tire prospects I'm looking at. Does anyone know the width of our swingarm close to
the area where the tire tread is (up near the swingarm pivot)?
If this all works out I'll have some ride reports, pics and tire sizes to post up in the next few weeks.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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bamaTrider |
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 3889 03/27/08 9:34 PM |
I can tell you this much. My Metzeler ME880 180/70-16 tire leaves only about 1/2 inch between the swing arm and the sidewall. Same on shaft side. At the widest
point of the side wall it measures approx. 7 inches. I would say that 7 inches wide would be the max for the car tire. I would not go any taller than the
factory tire size due to the fact that the auto tire will have a less rounded edge at the corners. The swing arm cross over is rounded like the MC tire tread
is.....as well as the inside of the fender.
Stan
"We are different - yet we are the
same"
2004 GL1800 Goldwing (Titanium) 1999 Ace Tourer (Silver over Black) |
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ragtop69gs |
#2 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/27/08 10:16 PM |
One of the tires I'm looking at has an OD of 26.2 with a section width of 8.2" measured on a 6" rim. Putting it on a 4.5" wheel should
bring it real close to 7" like my 180/70-16 E3.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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fedspaz |
#3 | |||
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Posts: 654 03/28/08 12:31 PM
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I think it would be a bitch to corner.
Keep your knees in the breeze!
-Kirk |
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ragtop69gs |
#4 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/28/08 12:47 PM |
According to the many people I have been talking with, cornering is a bit of a different feel than with a motorcycle tire but all say that after a few rides
you don't even notice it. Most say after getting used to the CT it has increased their confidence level in corners, wet or dry. For every 10 that try it
maybe 1 or 2 don't like it and go back to a MT.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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CleRider |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 1908 03/28/08 6:34 PM
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Jay,
I read some write-ups on the GL1800 forums about using a car tire on the rear of a bike. I don't know... it will probably work but I don't think I would want to chance it. Maybe, if I was stuck in the middle of, say Oklahoma or Kansas, Sunday afternoon, a couple hundred miles away from a m/c shop, I might be tempted to mount a car tire, but only would use it for a short while... only until I could get a m/c tire mounted. I guess it all depends upon the kind of riding. Cruising along at 40-50 mph, back road, kind of easing through the turns... yeah, it might work. For me, I try to run the turn at 2-3 times the posted speed limit, dragging metal, jamming gears and using every available part of my tire, right down to the sidewalls. I just cannot see doing that with a squared off car time. Then again, I could be wrong. Andy |
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ragtop69gs |
#6 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/28/08 7:04 PM |
CleRider wrote: Andy,
Now if you're a knee dragger forget everything I said above 
All I can say is there are enough happy darksiders to make me want to try it out. Most all the negative on this subject has been from people who never tried it. 
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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alepel |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 8083 03/28/08 10:38 PM
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ragtop69gs wrote: Jay....from what I've read I like the approach you are going to use to experiment with the CT. Just be careful. Its good that you're willing to do the test and put this debate to bed once and for all. We could debate this issue forever, but your test will finally give us some answers.
alepel
"Ride with the Spirit always, and in all ways"....hombldr |
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ragtop69gs |
#8 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/29/08 4:45 AM |
alepel wrote: Alepel
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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alepel |
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Posts: 8083 03/29/08 11:20 AM
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No matter what I find, some people still won't agree that it's a good thing to do.Jay...that is true. But if all of us reading this were to be affected by what the Nay-sayers think, none of us would riding and enjoying motorcycles.
alepel
"Ride with the Spirit always, and in all ways"....hombldr |
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rod rounds |
#10 | |||
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HSATF Tail Gunner
Posts: 170 03/29/08 9:12 PM |
Jay,
If you find a c/t that fits, don't keep it a secret. ROD
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burninfilm |
#11 | |||
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HSATF 2nd Officer
Posts: 464 03/30/08 7:10 AM Tail Gunner |
Please keep us informed. I have read both negative and positive comments about the car tires and will really appreciate your findings...Bob <><
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ragtop69gs |
#12 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/30/08 5:02 PM |
When I find one that fits and I have test rode, then you'll all be the first to know. Stay tuned.
I am trying to find some used tires for test fitting. All the shops around here have had their scrap tires picked up in the last few days so it may take a week or so to find the sizes i'm looking for.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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bamaTrider |
#13 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 3889 03/30/08 10:25 PM |
With all this talk of car tires being too flat treaded for a motorcycle has gotten me to noticing the older version tires on restored bikes. Yesterday I went
to a local show and noticed that all the old restored HD had what looked like car tires on them......front and back. In fact, they looked very much like todays
radials for auto's. If it was good enough back then, then it should be good enough now. The only exception would be if you are the type who likes to scrape
body parts in the curves, or do racing. I think it is fine for the rear, but in no way would I put one on the front.
Stan
"We are different - yet we are the
same"
2004 GL1800 Goldwing (Titanium) 1999 Ace Tourer (Silver over Black) |
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texcritter |
#14 | |||
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HSATF Tail Gunner
Posts: 86 03/31/08 12:47 AM Tail Gunner |
One of my club Brothers was on his third car tire on his VTX when he traded it in for a 2008 VTX. he has averaged about 30K between tires since switching to
ct's. He is a very agressive rider including riding the Dragon several times and he switched to a ct less than a week after buying the new bike. He runs
standard mc tires on the front because he says he isn't crazy.
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Chicago |
#15 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 1137 03/31/08 1:35 PM First Officer |
What size and brand of Car Tire was he running?
You meet the nicest people on a Honda (forum).
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ragtop69gs |
#16 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 03/31/08 9:17 PM |
Chicago wrote: A lot of the vtx 1800 riders are using a 205/60-16 . 205/55/16 . 195/55/16 Some may be to wide for our swingarm. The 1800 VTX uses a 5" wide wheel.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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texcritter |
#17 | |||
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HSATF Tail Gunner
Posts: 86 04/01/08 12:01 AM Tail Gunner |
Not sure...but will give him a call this weekend and find out.
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CleRider |
#18 | |||
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Posts: 1908 04/03/08 12:16 PM
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Jay,
Did a little more research on this topic. Started reading some articles with a lot of physics (not my strongest subject), motorcycle and car tire design, contact patch sizes and changing dynamics of a tire at rest, in motion going straight and in motion within a turn. I came away with a couple of thoughts: - Motorcycle tires are designed such that the contact patch size and shape does not drastically change when a tire is in a curve. - Car tires are designed to carry 2500-6000 lbs across four tires. Motorcycle tires are designed to carry 700-1200 pounds across two tires. - The contact patch size varies by weight and tire pressure. It would be great to get 30k miles out of a tire, instead of the 8-12k that I normally get. I'm not sure messing with the dynamics and physics are worth the $300-$500 in potential savings. |
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bamaTrider |
#19 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 3889 04/03/08 9:33 PM |
What I have gathered so far is that when the CT is run at 10# under PSI, the contact patch is close to the MC tire when in the turns. Since the suggested PSI
of a tire is based mainly on the weight of the vehicle on the tire, then the lower air pressure in the CT allows it to flatten out more on the edge of the
tread, and as a result increases the contact patch by allowing it to flex more easily. I think I said that right.
Stan
"We are different - yet we are the
same"
2004 GL1800 Goldwing (Titanium) 1999 Ace Tourer (Silver over Black) |
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ragtop69gs |
#20 | |||
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HSATF 1st Officer
Posts: 993 04/03/08 10:20 PM |
All reports from people already running a CT say cornering was improved over the MT. They say it just feels a litte different (not bad, just different) when
leaning into the turn and that after an hour you don't notice it. Only way to know for sure is to try it myself. I can always go back.
Jay
Patriot Guard Rider http://www.patriotguard.org/ 98' T Black & Chrome 69' Buick GS 400 Conv. " Never ride faster than your angel can fly" "Ask the American Indians what happens when you don't control immigration"
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