Folks,

This post is intended for all those people that have emailed me and PM'd me about a car tire for baggers '08 and below. If you don't like the idea of a car tire on your bike, no need to read this post, no need to get all worked up over it. Nothing wrong with bike tires.

My riding buddy has been riding his '07 Ultra with a Vredestein Comtrac 175/75-16 car tire on his Ultra, with an OEM 16X3 rear wheel, no physical changes or adjustments were neccessary, and he is very happy with it.

He doesn't own a car (by choice) so he puts a lot of miles on his bikes and his tires, and rides in all kinds of weather.
The Vredestein is a close fit, little clearance on both sides of the fender but nothing rubs. He decided to go ahead and do it for the same reason I did: insane traction, wet or dry. Handles a load or overload like it wasn't even there. We know its loaded because the engine feels it, but the bike gets even more stable with more load. Did I mention a huge contact patch....???
He is running 36 PSI on the Vredestein and 40 PSI on the front D402.
The car tire is very forgiving when it comes to air pressure, but the front is still A MC tire, and the pressure has to be kept up there.
Couple of pics:












Regards,

 

Thanks for this post! I have some friends that will be happy to hear there IS a Darkside option for them...

 

So no rubbing running two up? Looks really close to the fender. Cool concept.

 

Damn that looks close....I might have to break bad and try it....My fender is a bit offset so i might have to tweak but damn....I will have to wait until i go through 4 tires i got deals on before i pull the trigger...I might find me a spare wheel and have 1 mounted....
Thanks for posting this.

 

damn and just when i was sure i was out of luck for my 05 rk custom , time to really measure

 

Roberto, thanks for the info. I googled the tire to try and find out rim width information on it, and came up with this site and chart. No rim width is mentioned, but I think it is noteworthy that the speed rating of the "R" series is 106 mph. The Dunlop motorcycle E3's, in comparison, have an "H", rating, which is 130 mph.

http://www.tirefactory.net/comtrac.htm

 

Where did you get the tire from? I can't find that size anywhere.

 

Roberto,

I see that you mention you are running a 195/60-16 and your pal is running a 175/75-16

Are both speedos correct at this ? There is roughly a 4.25" difference in circumference -

Are you getting good clearance with the wider tire -- especially 2-up?
And how well does the different sidewall heights work out ?

If I'm doing this right, the 175 has a much taller sidewall and has a larger circumference, but with a narrower tread -- the 195 is wider, but shorter sidewalls and smaller circumference.

I wonder what handling characteristics will be different between the two ? or if it'll even be felt..

BTW, I found a Bridgestone Turanza in 195-60 that hits the H speed rating and 50k warranty.
HERE

Thanks for the hard work, and looking forward to more info-

.

 

try www.tiresweb.com

 

Regards,