[Guest]

I'm going for a 245-50-16 Kumo car tire. The standard tire sucks. I haven't ever made it to 7k without a flat or wearing it down smooth. Any body have any input on handling? What I have heard so far is pretty positive. I'm not a peg grinder but I have been into the 120 mph range so I guess I will find out shortly. I live in Colorado Springs and we are in a snow melt down so it might be a little while.

Please let me know if anyone out there is riding a car tire!!

Rick

 

[PriorityOne]

I can't tell you about that particular tire, but a few years ago I had a set of Kumho tires installed on my Lincoln Town Car. I think back and can't remember ever having a worse set of tires than those - out of round, poor performance, just terrible. (I got those from a dealer that I don't normally deal with) I went to my regular guy, who told me he wouldn't put Kumho tires on his worst enemy's car. It was a great day when I finally got rid of those. Now that's going back about 7 or 8 years ago, so maybe they are different now. Anyway, that's my input.

 

[HOTRODSRJ]

That's funny... Kumho actually got pretty good ratings on Consumers. I have had no less than 7 sets without a problem.

I always buy from Tirerack and if you have a problem they fully back them up!

[ This message was edited by: HOTRODSRJ on 2007-01-08 19:09 ]

 

[NYTBird]

The Metzeller wears because it is a very soft rubber which provides excellent traction. I hear a lot of guys putting car tires on their cruisers. I would never do this in a million years. A motorcycle tire is designed to withstand lateral forces on the tread because a motorcycle leans in turns. A car tire would be absorbing these force in the side wall which is an entirely different material than the tread. Even if i were a conservative rider I would be looking for a cheaper Motorcycle tire, Not a Car tire.

My two cents
TBird :???:

 

[dougl]

On 2007-01-09 10:22, NYTBird wrote:
The Metzeller wears because it is a very soft rubber which provides excellent traction. I hear a lot of guys putting car tires on their cruisers. I would never do this in a million years. A motorcycle tire is designed to withstand lateral forces on the tread because a motorcycle leans in turns. A car tire would be absorbing these force in the side wall which is an entirely different material than the tread. Even if i were a conservative rider I would be looking for a cheaper Motorcycle tire, Not a Car tire.

My two cents
TBird :???:

Good explanation.

 

[Sharkee]

Afternoon guys

Not yet a Captain, but will be early in March when the "new" 07's come in over here. Have been looking at this forum (as opposed to the Tiger forum) for a while now, but have to agree with the idea that a car tyre is not designed to be cranked over at all. IMO the side walls will be absorbing a lot more energy than they are designed for, which would surely shorten their lifespan. The tread might however go first, but if not, it won't be pretty.

Good luck

 

[JohnRimmer]

Why would you risk a cheap car tyre on such a powerful bike ? When it comes to how much you value your life then surely you invest accordingly ? I don't have a Rocket but when I had a Daytona 955 I was on my 4th set of tyres in 15000 miles. You have to accept the price for performance. You only know how good your tyres are when it really matters. Pay the money and enjoy the performance - you only live once. Alternatively trade in for a Bonneville and get long tyre life and modest performance.

 

[TallRocket]

Ah the good Car Tire vs Motorcycle Tire post.

Guess I fall into the buy the best quality motorcycle tire I can afford camp. I am approaching 9K on mine so I too will be in the market come spring thaw.

The biggest down side I expect you will discover with your car tire installed is the lack of lean angle. From what I have read, you should experience a learning curve with this tire. This is the amount of lean you can make before the tire lets go of the payment because the car tire has an edge. You need to remind yourself that if you lean you fall. Others have written about how they have wore the edges round to regain this lean angle and once done the tire behaves more like a motorcycle tire but with better traction and higher miles of service.

I agree everyone wants more miles of service and better traction. I just want it from a tire designed for my bike. What is funny to me about your post is you live in Colorado Springs, where there has to be at least one wonderfully curvy mountain road where you might actually use all the lean angle available.

My first street bike, a BMW 750/5 came used with a rear tire that was likely used with a sidecar. Flat like a racing slick. After 20 or so years I still recall the first ride after installing a new set of Metzlers. What a feeling, felt like a new bike.

Buy what you want, many have car tires and will tell you they are very happy. Just be aware of the edge on that car tire, my firend.

 

[sully]

I rip the metz out in 3000 miles , I ride hard , no burnouts or like though , scrape plenty in the twistys and see high speeds . Decided to go car tyre route just to see , and so far like it , only put couple of thousand on it , can push as hard , just needs a little more input on the steering .

wear the front tyre out in 6000 miles but can live with that .

 

[Guest]

Check out this link. It shows a view, (although upside down...you might want to look at your monitor upside down!), of a car tire on the back of a wing. Not taking sides either way....just thought this was interesting.

http://news.motorcycle.com/article.motml?sid=4439

 

[LEE]

I agree the metz are soft, but they hold better and it costs alot more to fix the bike if you go down. Car tire lacks the ability to bank and the tire's hardness might increase the risk of not holding. Just my opinion.

 

[Trapper]

Goat


Sense you live in the Springs go down to Apex and talk to Gary Bensberg about those car tires. He knows more about cycle tires than anyone around and I know that he will tell you that a car tire is a very bad idea. I ride double most of the time and 4000 miles is about the best I can get B/4 the center tread is gone, but I figure if I could afford to buy the best HD smoker on the road I should be able to buy a couple of extra tires.

Ride Safe

Trapper

 

[LEE]

Well said! :gpst:

 

[Molinoman]

Since I have a Wing I follow our boards pretty good, there are a lot of Wingers who have gone over to the "dark side" (they're called Dark Siders and it doesn't mean they've gone out and bought an HD) and most of them swear by them. They do take a bit getting used to and the side walls will visibly flex doing "hard" turns in the twisties but for the most part they give excellent traction and even going into a sharp turn they still provide more contact patch on the road than a normal motorcycle tire. Instead of just throwing your bike into a turn like it does naturally, you will have to steer it with a lot more input from you. The benefits are a lot longer time in between tire changes. All of you guys know that the tires on the Rocket are not cheap, same goes for the Gold Wing. In fact there are a lot of Wing riders that ride just as agressively as you guys do and they wear out tires just as fast. We are just not as guilty doing "burnouts" as much as you guys do, but they can be done and believe it or not you can wheelie a Gold Wing there is that much torque available, just depends if the rider wants to do it or not. Most Wing riders are usually changing their tires out in the 3,000 -9,000 mile range depending on how agressively they ride.

The only thing more favorable to Wing riders is the availablility of different types of tires (Avon, Dunlops, Bridgestones and Metzlers, to name the more prominent ones) as opposed to just the Metzler being available for the rear tire on the Rocket.

One thing I have found missing in the discussions on tires on the Rocket is the front tire. Are there any recommended choices for it?

As for the so called "expert" on motorcycle tires that lives in Colorado Springs, personally methinks he speaks from ignorance on the matter as most who have spoken out against it have not ridden on one. A lot of the Wing riders have two different rear tires, the regular m/c tire for riding in the twisties and for long trips they'll swap out the rear tire for a car tire in an instant (changing the rear tire out on the Wing is pretty easy). I'm not saying I am moving in that direction, but there are advantages to the car tire just as their are advantages to the motorcycle tire, just depends on what kind of performance you are looking for.

Also, and this is from personal experience, the Wing is a fast machine especially for a tourer and it can lean a lot more than a Rocket, in the twisties it would or should leave a Rocket behind it's just the nature of the beast, however once you get back out to a straightway, even though the Wing is fast (118 HP, 125 torque) and I've had mine up to 131 on the speedo (didn't even know it as it was so smooth, then I looked down at the speedo and slowed down fast, I was toying with a Lexus at the time) the Rocket should definitely leave it behind just because of the acceleration alone even though stock they have close to the same speed.
And no I don't want to race anyone, I just enjoy the ride these days (or at least when I am home anyway).

Dennis

 

[sully]

On 2007-01-12 18:39, Lee wrote:
I agree the metz are soft, but they hold better and it costs alot more to fix the bike if you go down. Car tire lacks the ability to bank and the tire's hardness might increase the risk of not holding. Just my opinion.

Can ride just as hard on car tyre and it has never slipped unlike the metz which you can break out on the twisties .

 

[rockenrobert]

Car tires are better in the rain and last longer. All around a better set up.
rockenrobert

 

[DHarvey]

Metz is fine.. we get 4500 miles tops out of the rear because we ride 2 up mostly (call it 3 up as I go around 265 all by myself), we ride the twisities hard, yada, yada, yada. It's the price of admission for the world's best motorcyle. Car tires? Fine if you wanna ride straight ll the time but otherwise, stay with the Metzler.

 

[Molinoman]

One follow up on my comments on the Gold Wing and car tires. On the Gold Wing forum www.gl1800riders.com the moderators have decided that, due to liability reasons, they had to discontinue any further discussions on the car tire type thread. It wasn't because it was considered unsafe but in today's "sue everyone" mentality they felt (the owners of the site), and were advised by their legal advisor, that theoretically they could get sued just for "allowing" the discussion which may be construed as condoning it. Which meant that in today's "I'm not responsible for my actions" mindset that is prevalent they could be liable.
So much even for the discussion of ideas.
Dennis

 

[Ugarte]

On 2007-01-20 03:23, Molinoman wrote:
One follow up on my comments on the Gold Wing and car tires. On the Gold Wing forum www.gl1800riders.com the moderators have decided that, due to liability reasons, they had to discontinue any further discussions on the car tire type thread. It wasn't because it was considered unsafe but in today's "sue everyone" mentality they felt (the owners of the site), and were advised by their legal advisor, that theoretically they could get sued just for "allowing" the discussion which may be construed as condoning it. Which meant that in today's "I'm not responsible for my actions" mindset that is prevalent they could be liable.
So much even for the discussion of ideas.
Dennis

Hmmmm, does that mean that soon we will not be able to disucss car tires here anymore? What about wheelies and street race discussions......eh? Such could be construed as condoning.

In actuality, motorcycles themselves are dangerous even when operated in perfect condition.....I guess they will just have to ban motocycle forums altogether..... :hammer:

 

[Molinoman]

Ugarte, I know what you mean. I think their reasoning was because it was a "car" tire that was designed for a car. Using it on a motorcycle and then having an accident (no matter who is at fault), a guy could conceivably get a lawyer and the lawyer would get around to asking questions like:
1. A car tire, who installed this on a motorcycle? (nevermind the car tire didn't just hop on the bike and force itself on the rim) So now the shop that installed the car tire could be liable.
2. How did you get the idea to install the car tire on the bike? Oh, my buddy told me about it and says he gets longer tire life using it. Now the "buddy" could be liable.
3. To the "buddy": Why on earth would you put a car tire on a motorcycle? Well I heard about it on this forum I visit on the internet....and so on and so on.
The GW forum moderators just didn't want to deal with the potential hassle as the other products they deal with are covered by their liability coverage as they are meant for motorcycle use. I imagine they couldn't find anyone to say they were covered because someone sued because somebody "mentioned" it on the forum.
It's like bike helmets, when I (you too I imagine) was a kid, bike helmets didn't exist, you rode a bike, you fell off cleaned up your scrapes and kept riding. Some poor kid fell off his bike, hit his head on a curb, busted it open, now we have a suit because some lawyer thought there were some big bucks to be had (note to lawyers...not all lawyers do this, but there are some out there who do) and went after the bicycle manufacturer...somebody got a big settlement, lawyer got a huge fee, other lawyers see that there is potential to go after this type of claim for a big payout, now everyone who rides a bike is "supposed" to ride with a helmet so that liability can be limited. This is how we got helmet laws for motorcycles, seatbelts, airbags...etc.
I'm not saying all these things are bad, but now you have a lot of people and businesses that are just not willing to take that chance anymore so they choose to limit their liability.
Eventually a lot of us may make the choice as we get a lot older to let the motorcycle go and just use a car/truck, because we want to limit our exposure to the inherent dangers attributed to being on a bike and having a target painted on us from cagers who don't pay attention to what they are doing.
Dennis