In the preceding post is a good source of info for your quest but the reality is is we are on our own with this.

There's nothing wrong with the Sonar brand tires even though they are made in Taiwan. They have the right size for the NT I'm running.

The one you mentioned has too low of a profile though. You would have a very hard time mounting it I think and it'll just be too short. You will lose ride quality with it. Even though a tire size looks like it might fit you never know till you physically measure the width.

I ordered a tire some time ago and it was too wide. Unfortunately I waited too long to measure it and the vendor wouldn't take it back so I had to eat the cost and give the tire away.

Good luck in your search but I don't think you'll find anything in the size you're looking for. I do believe 180 is about as narrow as we can go for availability.

 

I've mounted my share of car tires on motorcycles. You folks with the wire spoked rims can't use a tube - you'd have to get the rim sealed. But I don't like the way that the car tire mounts up on a wire spoked rim. I've never seen one that the bead fit quite right. The bead profile is different from a cast wheel. A little too much pressure or the pothole from hell might pop the bead over the rim. My personal opinion, you understand.

Car tires are less problematic on bikes with shaft drives, as there are no belt clearance issues. Probably why you'll see more on the metric cruisers and the Gold Wings.

Another thing to think about is that a car tire is much, much, heavier - and may become an issue for wheel bearing life.

Before you decide on a car tire for your motorcycle please do your research. There are some that swear by them - and some that have used them and have gone back to motorcycle tires. They're not for everyone. Enter with caution.

 

If you can't afford the right parts for your bike, then sell it. Don't make something a rolling road hazard. Yeah, alot of things can be done but it doesn't mean you should. Bikes need a tire with some curve to it so they can lean. That's why the tires are made so. If it wasn't a problem, then we all would use flat car tires.

 

Don't know about a car tire on a specific Harley rim (or model of Harley for that matter) but I've been running car tires on the rear of my '99 Valkyrie Interstate for the past 70K miles (on third set) of 205-55-16's. It's quite common for Valk owners to go over to the 'dark side'...literally thousands of them on the road for years. You use a rounded profile high speed rated radial, and it works better than a standard motorcycle tire, especially in the twisties. Much bigger contact patch. Most Harley's have pretty narrow little tires, so finding an appropriate car tire with good clearance might be a real problem....and spoked wheels definitely wouldn't work as well unless you wanted to fool around with a tube.

On a big powerful heavy bike like a Valkyrie you're lucky to get 7K out of a back tire....I get 25K per car tire, and I discard them long before I get to the tread wear bars. Let's see....$120 for a car tire that handles great and lasts 25K versus $300 for a motorcycle tire.

Of course, most all of you are going to venture strong negative opinions about which you, in actuality have no personal experience (nor contact with riders who have actual experience)....but go ahead and flail away about how it couldn't work, handling problems, safety hazards, etc....yada-yada-yada. Whatever. Reminds me of how non-motorcycle riders yammer away like saggy t*tted worried old aunts about how motorcycles are just too dangerous to ride.

 

Aw man, c'mon, tell us how you really feel!

 

I'm no newbie and I choose not to run car tires. I have zero experience with such and don't ever plan to. Coming from a sportbike performance background I tend to forget that most of the bikes here are ridden at slower speeds on open roads. Still getting used to the cruiser life.

The key to tire life is maintence. That also means adjusting pressures for different load conditions. Check you pressures often, hell, check over the whole bike often. If you can't remember the last time you checked something, then check it.

 

Yeah, you're right. I just get a little testy when people tell me something can't work when I've (and a lot of other people) been doing otherwise for a lot of years! Call it a 'pre-emptive strike' on the same bone-headed thinking that probably said 'two-wheeled' vehicles could never work...cause you'd obviously fall over!

What can I say?....'anticipatory counter-aggression' is a Marine trait.

 

All very valid comments, though my 'open road' experience includes this sort of thing on car tires, in prime sport bike territory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j0frj2Zsgw

 

Thanks BoomerBob and everybody that's rsponding.

I have been watching the dark-side forum. I've been paying attention to this issue for over a year now, from several sources, including dark-side friends that I ride with weekly, (Goldwing's and Vulcan's). It seems to me the biggest reason harley riders that believe, aren't using a car tire is because we can't find a car tire that will fit.

I was curious about the aspect ratio and the shorter sidewalls, and will these sidewalls be able to safely flex enough. Thanks for your opinion on this. Do you think an aspect ration of 45 vs 35 would be enough to mount and seat safely? Remember that's 45% of a slightly wider tire. ops!

After posting last night I googled the company that makes the tire, looking for information to convince me the tire is of good quality, and I found a 165/45/17. The rim width on this one is 5.5".

http://www.nankang.com.tw/home.php?f...t_1&no=8&pno=6

Mr. Lucky wrote in an earlier post in this thread "The recommended range for the stock 160-70 is 3.75" - 5.0"; for the 205-50 it's 5.5" - 7.5". These are manufacturer recommendations in order to keep the tire bead sealed."

I wonder if I can get this tire (165/45/17) to safely seat on my rim? I believe the rim is 4.5" across (anybody know for sure?) and is considered harley's premium laced wheels. It's like half round with no ridges or welds.

Someone mentioned you can't use tubes on laced wheels. My bike came stock with laced wheels and tubes. How would you keep the air in a tubeless tire on a laced wheel, without a tube?

Thanks, ride safe.

 

A few years ago a shop advertised laced wheels that they modified to run tubeless tires (tubeless tires have been demonstrated to run cooler, with less chance of catastrophic and sudden blowouts than tubed tires). Don't know if they're around anymore. You could try tubes, or if really daring, seal the spoke nipples with permatex. Personally, I wouldn't try the permatex route...but that's just chickensh*t me.

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/tec...eal/index.html

There's really only two advantages to spoke tires that I can really see:

1) They look cool, if you want the retro look, and like to clean spokes (I have a couple of bikes with spokes, and I can think of much better ways to spend my time than cleaning spokes) nothing can beat spoked wheels. I think they're a remnant from bicycling days.

2) While you're never going to do a field repair of a flatted tubed tire from a puncture, you can generally have a shop replace the punctured tube without replacing the tire (if the puncture is a clean penetration). I wouldn't consider a tubeless tire puncture repair as more than a very temporary situation; you're stuck replacing the punctured tubeless tire with a new tire. I've known a fair number of people (including myself) that have had to replace very low mileage tubeless tires because of a minor puncture.

That being said, I doubt I will ever own another bike with spoked wheels....unless I win the lottery, and have a motorcycle garage butler to take care of such details.