Tell me, what percentage of motorcycle riders are riding on motorcycle tires compared to car tires. The way I see it is that the percentages are much higher for motorcycle tire users.

Lets not forget about the guys running motorcycle tires till the cords are showing or not checking air pressure in them. Either one would also cause a car tire to fail prematurely.

Does this make a car tire safer?

Also if I do this search, is it going to point me to a study comparing motorcycle tire failures to car tire failures (installed on a motorcycle)?

 

Using a car tire on a bike is like **** sex......it's a hole, but is for a specific purpose !

 

They'd better, or you'd be riding on the rim. CT's have that wonderful flex that they're built for that simply keeps half the tread on the deck for those of us who choose to ride them. Unfortunately, of all the videos I've seen, only 2 had a decent amount of flex - most are running far too much pressure, probably from the common suggestion to start at 40 lbs. One way some of us check a tire out to begin with is to get a buddy to ride behind and adjust pressure until it halves the tread in a corner.
Also, I haven't seen any vid where the rider was really cornering much, scraping things as many of us do. The more centrifugal force, the more downpressure on the tire, and therefore the more flex.

Percentages - really? What about the percentage of riders on CT's or the percentage of their millions of miles without incident? Don't you think that if ANY CT's were failing (assuming having tread and air) on bikes, we'd be getting our ASSES handed to us in a basket???
Funny, that ain't happened. Just 2 Khumo runflats, run flat and bald.

First Darksiders to restart the idea are the Goldwingers, who've been doing it en masse for many years now. Those bikes are heavy, damn powerful and can outlean most Harleys. Go on THEIR websites and tell THEM it don't work. Be ready to have your *** handed back to you.

Personally, I have ZERO doubt that the CT on the back of a Cruiser is MUCH safer than a MT in all departments save one: the tendency to follow grooves slightly more than a bike tire will. (I75 around my house is raingrooved) And that isn't bothering anyone, since it still goes where ya point it.
And again...they ain't for everyone, so just don't if ya won't.

 

Dropped mine to 35 yesterday and drug the floorboards. It still seemed a little twitchy and quick to steer at 70 75 on good flat road. Ya think i still a little too much or was that just the 40mph side gusts f*ckin with me? The twisties were MUCH improved

 

So we've moved past the touring bike aspect. I'm curious about the compromises at greater lean angles - 40-50+ degrees - the sport bike arena.

And you're claiming the sidewall will flex further to accommodate that? And that isn't unstable? Because if you adjust the tire inflation high enough, it will be on its sidewall at that lean angle with a contact patch of seriously compromised quality.


Taking a picture of your bike with no cornering load and it's weight supported by at least 2 different points of contact really makes your argument weak.

 

Key words: improved in the twisties.

Now leave the rear tire at that pressure and experiment with pressure in the front tire. Start with max pressure as stated in the sidewall and go down from there. Also check the steering bearings adjustment, this has a lot to do with stability. The dealer screwed the adjustment on mine, so I had to learn to do it myself, and once I got it right, the combination of this adjustment, tire pressures, and the CT, it became a very stable platform, at low or high speeds, rain or shine, sidewinds or headwinds, and its a delight in the street. Something simple like a short run to the supermarket is a treat, flicking my bike from side to side, the whole bike feels like it is one piece. It sure wasn't like that when I bought it.

In my case, I had a front end wobble and I raised the front tire pressure, I had a bad air pressure gauge when I started, and this was throwing me off, but once I raised the pressure, the wobble was almost gone. I had very light steering at high speeds and I tightened the front steering bearings and that was it. The last 10,000 miles have been trouble free, except for three flats.

I adjusted the steering bearings three times until I got it right, a little on the tight side. On the front I am running an 18" E3 radial at 38 PSI (41 on the sidewall) and the CT stays at 30 PSI solo or two-up.

Don't get discouraged. It might take a little work, until you get it right. Some bikes require a lot of experimenting to get it right, like mine, and some take no work, like my buddy's '07 Ultra on a Vredestein. He didn't have to do nothing, lol.

Regards,

 

Y'all still arguing about this ****... it works, it's been proven..... You know the Naysayers are mostly Phucking with you right....You ain't gonna convince them..

 

Bump bump bump

 

Naysayers, if you own a 2010-2012 HD go check your front mc tire. Dunlop 408's are known for cracked side walls and splits in the threads. These have been found in tires coming right off the truck with zero miles.

Dunlop may need to do a recall on these.

Car tires don't sound too bad now, huh.

The rest of us, keep an eye on those front Dunlops.

http://www.roadglide.org/showthread.php?t=8771

 

Good post as usual Easy - I've noticed now that 36 lbs. working for me has now worn about 3-4mm more in the center than to the sides, so I've dropped to 34 with no noticable change in cornering yet. I thought mine had wallowed a bit at 30, the lowest I ever tried. I've erred on the high side unnecessarily.
Oh, 18k now with 3mm to go to the CENTER wear bars.

I had to tighten up the softail shocks almost all the way to make this bike act right - which made it smoother. Then adding the CT made it even much more so. Nothing to the front end for problems, but I did thicken the fork oil and add a 5/8" PCV spacer over the springs to keep the head up in the twisties. Just can't afford ride valves.