I almost crashed today b/c the cars/trucks in front of me slammed on the brakes/stopped short on a bridge. I don't have ABS on my 09 Ultra so I was pumping brakes and doing everything I could to keep from rearending the truck in front of me. The truck was smoking tires trying to stop. I was locking front and rear. I had to give up on the rear and just pump the front. Man that was scary. The rear kept locking and trying to wash out. It was awful. It's got me considering the more rubber on the road that the car tire offers. Man I was lucky...

 

I figured the agent didn't know what he was talking about. I think peoples opinions are so strong one way or the other that this debate is pointless. It's safe to say that the guys running ct's aren't going to change the opinions of the guys that don't want to and they're not going to change your opinions so the arguement is really beat to death. As for me, i'm going to sick with the MT's just because i've never had problems so why change, plus i'm pushing alot of ponies to the pavment and I prefer the softer compund. But I have no problems with people that want to run them, who am I to judge? I will say that we won't mount them at our shop, not my call, just the policy there. Good luck and safe riding

 

That one is another horse that got beat to death too, CAR TIRES ARE SOFTER, lol.
Arguing is pointless, you are right. When I did the change, everybody had a cousin that was a tire engineer and he said it would not work. But only a couple of people had tried it here, on the Softail section, and its impossible to convince somebody that has not tried it that it works. There is a huge segment of Gold Wing riders that have been doing this for years, and very seldom somebody says that they are going back. Not me. I am not going back, on this bike or my next one. I had no idea what I was missing.
Having said this, there is nothing wrong with motorcycle tires. If you want to stay with them, its fine, good choice.
If you notice, most of the detractors here (maybe none) have tried it. But if had never eaten grits, how would I be able to say I didn't like them? Wouldn't I be kinda irrational? hehe.

Regards,

 

Actually I was thinking it's the other way around. MT's are softer compund. That's why you get more miles out of a car tire right? Because they are harder compound

 

Sounds more like you weren't keeping an assured clear distance to me. Might not be the tires.

 

Distance can change quick when you're riding 35/40mph and the ppl in front of you lock'em down on a hwy (not a city st.) that doesn't have any stop signs/lights and you're not expecting traffic to come to a complete stop... fiik?

 

Car tires have softer compounds. Somebody went to the trouble of checking them out. See here:


http://mcdarksiders.forumotion.com/g...ometer%3C/a%3E

All this has been argued to no end, here in the Touring section and several Darkside forums.

 

That's why it's called "assured clear distance". You're supposed to have enough distance between you and the vehicle to stop safely, right? Just like you're not supposed to override your headlights, IOW's don't go faster than you can stop in the beam of your headlight. I'm not arguing with you about it, just pointing out the common sence. Sure i've had people pull out in front of me and had to lock up the brakes, but having to lock them up because the person in front of me came to an abrupt stop shouldn't hapen, at least not if you're paying attention Anyways, glad you got it halted in time.

 

It was explained once to my satisfaction why the harder MT's wear faster than the CT's. The MT is constantly slipping slightly on the pavement where the softer CT isn't. Plus you have around 1/4" more tread depth, a monster contact patch (even when hard cornering and it's 1/2 the tread on the deck) and just who the heck WOULDN'T like 3x more back brakes?
I wouldn't trade my Comtrac if it was mostly worn out for a brand new MT.

 

Seems to me that a MT has much less rubber than a CT. Ya think that might have something to do with life of the tire? Not all CTs are softer than MTs and vise versa.