The Darkside (Car Tire on Rear of Bike)

[rcj_houston]

Update: 27Jun09:

Finally got the video camera figured out. What a pain in the azz!

We have a long video which we had to trash because it was 2 meg too big for photobucket. WTF!!! Sighs...

These two videos are a bit jumpy. This is after 3 tries with my kids and two with the wife filming. (rolls eyes) I figured I would stop with these because my kids (21 & 16) were just getting way too much of a kick out of this...HAHAHA (had to be there)

Anyway, The rear tire seems to stay planted on the ground a lot more than I ever thought it would. After having this mod now for right at 1000 miles, I am sticking with it. The tire shows no wear at all and it corners very well if you have the balls to trust it. I take it to where my pegs are dragging and see no reason to push it past that point. I have gotten used to the harder push when riding on crowned roads. The two videos i am posting were taken on crowned road of around 3 degrees. The roads in my neighborhood slope from the middle to the outside on both sides of this road. When i am on the two lane one way road, it is sloping to the right side of the road at about 2 - 3 degrees. You will notice it is grey on the sides of the roads, that is from the sprinkler un off. You can see it only stains by the curb. The slope is pretty good.

If you can handle the jerkiness of the camera, you will notice how much of the tire stays in contact with the road when I am at full tilt. It was surprising to me. I now feel safer than ever before after watching 5 total videos of it. Also, you wil notice that all of the roads around here are made of concrete. I believe i have spoken about those a few times on here.

So, here we go...

Video number 1: they cut it off some after rambling on about my blinker.



The second part of the first video: If i can teach them how to not shake when holding the camera, i will try to do better ones in the future...



Update: Ok, got it done today. It definitely rides different, especially on a crowned road. It takes a little more effort to turn, but it rides nice. I will give updates on just how good.bad it is later.

Enjoy...

After the old 250 taken off.




Getting beaded up...



JR putting the tire on the rim and getting it ready for balance...



16,889 miles and still looks nice here...



Pretty aggressive pattern huh?




JR putting the zecl in and red loctite on the axel threads. I don't run a cotter pin because of my plate mount.



And here is the finished product. This will take some getting used to.







Purchased tire. Thanx Zoom for the idea of this tire! And also thanx for all the PM's discussing it. The photos don't do it justice.


Tire size bought: 245/40ZR18



As you can see, my other money went for flooring



Shameless plug here. This tire arrived 2 day after I ordered it online through www.tirerack.com. It was only $127 shipped.




A comparison. The new tire is a little bit wider than the 250. By the way,
I am an idiot (like you had to tell us Russ) it was my previous set that was Metzlers, these are the E3's. *rolls eyes at myself






I commented in a post then realized it was in the C109 area and not in the general area.

http://www.m109riders.com/forums/sho...34#post1083134

I am going to try putting a car tire on the rear of the bike. I have talked with several people on the road that run them. If anyone here has done this on their 9, please comment. Of the guys I talked to on the road, they love it. They get great handling and no trouble in the corners. Then again, they are not hammering a corner at top speed either.

It is something i will do, so i want to make sure i do this correctly. The right tire size would be 245/40-R18 or 245/50-R18?

I go through tires like candy for some reason here in Katy. It is pretty much do to the roads being concrete (Sand paper) I don't burn off and all that crap. I gave that up years ago. I think a nice 40K or 50K radial would do the trick. I am only getting 5k to 6k out of a good Metzler 250. The front is lasting about double. I have 16k on the bike and this will be my 5th rear tire. I don;t need one yet, but it's getting close. My second tire was used.

I remember Lamont and Joe had to do this on a trip a long time ago.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/d.../1CIMG1159.JPG

Let me know your thoughts. Good or bad.

Cheers all...

[WVrider]

I wouldn't do it, there are car tires and motorcycle tires for a reason.....JMO

[BobbyMac]

I think if you mainly ride straight roads it should be fine. There are many guys that are doing it over on the VTX boards. I just wouldn't feel good about running them up in the mountains; although some of the VTX guys swear by it up in the curves, too.

[Foo]

You know from reading a lot of different forums over the last few years, I see that there are riders, mostly from 3rd world countries, that use car tires and it seems to be pretty common place. We here have a stigmatism about car tires on bikes. Personally I think it's because we have a lot better access to parts and tires, and they're priced fairly. In other countries there can be substantial markups to what we know as retail. In Mexico a couple of years ago I was visiting a friend in Cancun and the tires we put on his bike were nearly double what tires cost in the states. So he put a car tire on his 1100 Shadow and the last time we spoke it was still on there...of course I laugh at him for doing it, but I do understand why.
I say if you are having tire wear issues and you think that may be the solution to the problem...do it. If you have issues and you don't like it you'll just pop a Metz or what ever motorcycle tire you like on it and just be back to the way it was.

Jeff

[Robert May]

To each their own. I was gonna try it and see how it worked out. I got a great deal on the Elite 3 250 so I postponed it for now.

This guy rides a Rocket and it's got a car tire on it. Seems to handle very well on all of his vids. http://www.youtube.com/user/RiderRocketman

[rcj_houston]

Found a few cool videos

You Tube

You Tube

The tire seems to have more contact patch than my 250 Metzler.

Thanx for the replies guys...

I will probably run a little bit less air pressure than this guy did so i get a little bit more flex.

How about a few figure -8's

You Tube

You Tube

cheers...

[devilboy]

You need to watch the speed rating if your going this route. Too low a rating and your asking for failure........

[Robert May]

rcj houston I am anxious to see how this works out for you and your long term overall satisfaction. Be sure and let us know how it works out.

Ride Safe!!!

[Kev]

Hey RCJ....

Ya might get the miles...but....ya lose on the cool factor

[BCB]

Would your insurance cover you if there was an accident.
Here they will pick any little excuse to get out of a claim.

[keitho]

I have seen 2 109,s in Fl. with car tires and in my opinion it looks horrible!!!!!

[Highwayflyer]

looks like

[big69]

Originally Posted by rcj_houston

Found a few cool videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZKhoFbL7Fo

The tire seems to have more contact patch than my 250 Metzler.

Thanx for the replies guys...

I will probably run a little bit less air pressure than this guy is so i get a little bit more flex.

How about a few figure -8's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAHlbSzwjsg


cheers...

good luck with that make sure its a really sticky tire try one that they use for street/track they might do better .

[CBR1000DUDE]

I've read about this on many different forums, and I don't think that anyone who has done this switch has died from it, but they all say it affects the way you have to ride the bike. Lots of counter steering all through the corners. Apparently you get used to it.
But is does look bad to me, ugly and out of place. I wouldn't do it just for this reason.
One guy rode to Alaska and back several times, and needed the extra miles between tire changes. Maybe in that case it makes sense.

[RGM109r]

IMO 5 to 6k is not badand that metz 250 is gona be a hell of lot safer all around I wouldn't do it
your saftey is not worth saven a few bucks

save money ride the bus

[da piglet]

A friend of mine has run auto-tires on the rear of his Speed-Triple for years.

So far I've got 8800 miles on my OEM 240 with a new 250 E3 sittin' in the garage 'waitin' it's turn.... probably put the 250 on after Americade.

[ooinkk]

i agree , BCB , that would give Suzuki a easy out if you ever had a swing arm problem ,however i dont think Gental / relaxed riding with that kind of tire on the rear would hurt any thing ,i'm no engineer just my opinion, I did see a boss hoss at a car show this week end with a car tire on it ,, that thing had a gvw of 1800 ,,,,,,go for it ,let us know what YOU think
good day Rob

[olyeller]

I understand the getting more miles out of a tire thing.......I just don't ever want to get to where I trade miles for looks. Sorry but the CT thing on a MC is just butt ugly in my 2 cent opinion.
Perry

[HayaCruza]

Originally Posted by rcj_houston

I remember Lamont and Joe had to do this on a trip a long time ago.

I remember that as well.

The car tire especially a drag radial or slick would be near perfect for drag racing with one big exception, you will likely get so much traction on launch that if you have modified your bike significantly you will likely break the swingarm.

Cornering performance will not be so good and will take some getting used to. BTW, the contact patch actually seemed as good for the light leaning that guy did as a big motorcycle tire.

The Valkyrie guys have been running car rear tires forever.

This is one of those things that everyone has some kind of opinion. I put this in the same category as the 280 on a stock rim, using tire plugs or patches on a motorcycle tire, and running a motorcycle rear tire backwards on the front of your bike. Some people have had great success with these, others have had back luck with them, but most people just want to give their opinion and have no experience to speak with.

As for Suzuki, my bike has been out of warranty for 2 years, I have no expectation that they will repair anything even with bikes still covered under warranty there have been issues getting things repaired that should be covered.

[stepink104]

i know someone who did that on a triumph rocket 3..........big mistake.i would not do it or put anyone you cherish on the back of your bike...........

[nukeblade]

Originally Posted by da piglet

A friend of mine has run auto-tires on the rear of his Speed-Triple for years.

So far I've got 8800 miles on my OEM 240 with a new 250 E3 sittin' in the garage 'waitin' it's turn.... probably put the 250 on after Americade.

Do yourself a favor and switch now!

[rcj_houston]

Originally Posted by HayaCruza

I remember that as well.

The car tire especially a drag radial or slick would be near perfect for drag racing with one big exception, you will likely get so much traction on launch that if you have modified your bike significantly you will likely break the swingarm.

Cornering performance will not be so good and will take some getting used to. BTW, the contact patch actually seemed as good for the light leaning that guy did as a big motorcycle tire.

The Valkyrie guys have been running car rear tires forever.

This is one of those things that everyone has some kind of opinion. I put this in the same category as the 280 on a stock rim, using tire plugs or patches on a motorcycle tire, and running a motorcycle rear tire backwards on the front of your bike. Some people have had great success with these, others have had back luck with them, but most people just want to give their opinion and have no experience to speak with.

As for Suzuki, my bike has been out of warranty for 2 years, I have no expectation that they will repair anything even with bikes still covered under warranty there have been issues getting things repaired that should be covered.

Thanx bro

cheers

Originally Posted by BCB

Would your insurance cover you if there was an accident.
Here they will pick any little excuse to get out of a claim.

They would have to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the change in rear tire caused whatever problem or accident that i might have.

Appreciate the idea though

Cheers...

Originally Posted by Kev

Hey RCJ....

Ya might get the miles...but....ya lose on the cool factor

I am so cute KEV, that I could stand to lose a few cool points hahahaha

[JROD]

if you run metzlers and your roads are crappy then thats your problem..........the metz is a softer tire and will wear quicker, be sure to stay on top of your pressure too it will help your mileage........not to mention car tires look like crap on motorcycles....but to each his own!

[Jack Daniels]

Why on earth would you want to put a car tire on a bike?

[kurtlin_aus]

I have done it, see my posts there are some reports attached. I just had to change back (insurance thing), was not sure if they back out of repair. Just make sure you have very low pressure ~28psi, it's a beast to turn at <10km/h (walking speed, athough I have the C, which is a little bit heavier). I have done about 4500km on the car tire, but there is hardly any wear visible.
Takes about 200km to get used to it, does not slip on a wet muddy driveway!
Had mine mounted in a normal car tyre shop, as it's not a sproked wheel they can do it on their mashines.

Good luck!

[holden,on]

let us no how you get on .
here in new zealand we are paying $500 for a back tyre fitted .
dont think i would try it my self but am real interested on how you get on cheers
ride safe bro

[BCB]

Bike tires have very soft, rounded edges for one reason.
Car tires are more square, harder and last longer, wonder why ??

[BCB]

Originally Posted by holden,on

let us no how you get on .
here in new zealand we are paying $500 for a back tyre fitted .
dont think i would try it my self but am real interested on how you get on cheers
ride safe bro

holden,on have you ever looked at getting tires sent to you from Aust, at $500 each thats crazy. Don't quote me but i think i paid $250 / 260 for my last E3 250, well it was well under AU$300 anyway.

[big69]

A good high pro car tire that is really soft is going to cost $300 or more just being a low prof 18" is the problem.

The guys on the C's you could run them older style wht wall or red line car tire's or the newer caddy one wht wall.

http://store.coker.com/

[rcj_houston]

Originally Posted by big69

A good high pro car tire that is really soft is going to cost $300 or more just being a low prof 18" is the problem.

The guys on the C's you could run them older style wht wall or red line car tire's or the newer caddy one wht wall.

http://store.coker.com/

Thanx Big69

I checked with a friend of mine who works at discount tire. He can pick me up a good 245-40-R18 for right at $150. It looks very simular to the tire that was on Joe's bike.



There is a big difference if I go with the 245-50-R18. Those are around the $300 you were talking about.


Just to let everyone know, I do not need a tire just yet. I will, however, need one in a few months or so. When i do, i will try this and see "what's - what" and report it here. I also need to say, I still have a year on my warranty and need to call Richard and see if he is cool with it. I didn't think of that before, so thanx to whomever it was that mad that commented.



Just to clarify, we do not have crappy roads in Houston/Katy, they are made of Concrete. There is a difference.

It is not a money issue. I have no problem getting a new Metzler 250 if I want. I had both tires replaced not too long ago for $350ish, installed. I get tired of having to change the tires. In 16,000 miles, i am about to get my 5th tire. (I updated the original post from 4 after talking with the Mrs.)

I just want to try it out. Some don't like the looks, I happen to think it looks fine.

Thanx for all the comments folks. Keep'm comming!

cheers...