Car tires on motorbikes

[Tekime]

I keep seeing this topic come up on the social medias, now one of my buddies is drinking the kool aid. Granted it's mostly cruisers... so is there something to it? Anyone tried it? I guess if all you do is go in a straight line it might work, but it just doesn't sit well with me. "Dark siders" or something.. the alt-right of motorcycling

[Chippertheripper]

Buckle up kids, shits about to get weird.

[e30addict]

Winter is coming early...

[SteveM]

People do it and the rear tire apparently lasts a lot longer.

One look at the contact patch in the op picture is all I need to know.

It is mostly a cruiser / LD thing.

And yes, shit's about to get weird in her...

[Philkinson]

Ugh... Wouldn't be caught doing that even if it were free

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[RandyO]

Winter is coming early...

that is when a car tire is unbeatable, I've done studded knobbies, they hookup surprisingly well in the front, but not so well in the rear, where they are thrown relatively easy. Go to the darkside with a heavier tire that doesn't spin quite so easy, winter tire rubber that is designed to be flexible on frozen pavement (or compacted snow ice covered frozen gravel roads ), sipes to conform to the frozen road surface and tread designed to channel away slush and expel compacted snow

[Tekime]

Okay, I would run basically anything if it let me ride semi-safely in the winter months. Already scheming to get the DR out but options are thin on studded DOT rubber for that bike. Hmmm. Maybe the SV needs a winter conversion?

[breakdirt916]

Eh, the DR rim is narrow

[Tekime]

Yeah very.. spikes are road legal right?

No desire to go over 35 just rip around town in the snow would be great

Now I'm getting off my own topic

[aldend123]

Yeah very.. spikes are road legal right?

No desire to go over 35 just rip around town in the snow would be great

Anything is legal if no one catches you Bet you can give some persuasive talking should an officer bother to stop you for it since it's kind of a unique use case. You can stud your own tires. I wonder if a trials tire mimics a car snow tire in the way they pack snow between the treads for grip?

ADVRider has beaten the darkside to death at least twice and I'm pretty sure has some million page running debate thread on it.

[jasnmar]

Studs, like I understand RandyO to run, are Street legal.

I am acquainted with people who have done hundreds of thousands of miles with car tires on motor bikes.

I, personally, think it's a bad idea, but I've also seen relatively close up footage of a bike riding the same road in MC tires and car tires, at about the same speed and I can't speak for how it feels to the rider, but the result was the car tire was significantly better on the straights and arguably worse when tilted over (this is on a Goldwing, with limited tilt).

Strokes for folks. If you don't want to use a car tire please don't.

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Yeah very.. spikes are road legal right?

No desire to go over 35 just rip around town in the snow would be great

SRTie4k has a Grom for sale that might work for that... I plan to try out some Maxxis M6024 tires in the snow on my Z125 this winter.

[Chippertheripper]

Yeah very.. spikes are road legal right?

No desire to go over 35 just rip around town in the snow would be great
T
Now I'm getting off my own topic

They are, from nov to April.

[LuvDog]

Not for me, but if you're riding a heavy cruiser and you're riding straight highways, I can see why someone would try it.

[nt650hawk]

Randy's Darkside thread

the DarkSide of tires

[RandyO]

Eh, the DR rim is narrow

fwiw, I have a 205/50-17 that is ment fr a 5½"-7½" rim on a 4¼" wheel

the cruiser guys have an easier time finding tires for the 15" and 16" wheels they have, the car tires they run are close to the stock motorcycle tire size

unfortunately once you get to 17" wheels, tire options become limited and wider than the stock bike size, chain clearance is an obvious issue (on my V-strom, the 205/50 clears the chain by less than 1/8", even slaps when the chain is worn and loose) 17" tires that are narrower than 205, are always such a low profile (35, 40 or 45 series) you lose ground clearance and rim protection big time

did I say that my experiment with the darkside for winter riding was successful beyond my wildest imagination. the other 3 seasons, meh! I can take it or leave it, I ended up finding a spare rear wheel, so I am only running the darkside in the winter now, before I got the spare wheel, I ran the CT year round, put over 40k on it, still legal tread, but not what I'd call a winter tire anymore

[Tekime]

The DR I'd probably just go for studs, I've seen a few out there but not cheap!

But man, something like this looks completely absurd but also kind of beautiful

[number9]

The DR I'd probably just go for studs, I've seen a few out there but not cheap!

But man, something like this looks completely absurd but also kind of beautiful

Yeah bro, I went up +100 on the rear sprocket

[Johnpewpew]

The DR I'd probably just go for studs, I've seen a few out there but not cheap!

But man, something like this looks completely absurd but also kind of beautiful

if gets me to ride year round im in

[Chippertheripper]

The DR I'd probably just go for studs, I've seen a few out there but not cheap!

But man, something like this looks completely absurd but also kind of beautiful

Run some kold kotters into a takeoff set with some 5200.

[breakdirt916]

so the car tire might not work...I'm guessing the DR has an 18" rear rim and is super narrow. Most 18" car tires are for vehicles that have big wheels, which will be wider

the issue I had figuring out was a single setup for all the terrain you'd traverse if your bike is plated - anything with road-worthy studs weren't as good in deep snow vs. true snow studs or ice studs on ice

if you were trail riding (some ice) and you got some serious snow, get a fresh set of tires with thick kbos and stud up with grip studs:



only really applicable if you're riding out of your backyard or carrying on a trailer
expect to pay $100+ for a pack of studs

if you're just going to ride ice ponds (the studs must never see pavement), then you want ice studs screwed into the knobs



the best way is to cut out a sport bike tire as a liner, and get the longest screws you can find, then drill through the knob into the liner

there is also the option of buying pre-studded tires, but they will become expensive. You can actually get some with a low profile stud similar to those found on cars - these are pavement friendly

then lastly, you can just get some hex head screws for $20 at home depot and throw them into any tire you have

Personally, I just took dirt bikes out in the backyard in the snow with whatever knobby tires I had...fresh powder is the best

[RandyO]

so the car tire might not work...I'm guessing the DR has an 18" rear rim and is super narrow. Most 18" car tires are for vehicles that have big wheels, which will be wider

the issue I had figuring out was a single setup for all the terrain you'd traverse if your bike is plated - anything with road-worthy studs weren't as good in deep snow vs. true snow studs or ice studs on ice

if you were trail riding (some ice) and you got some serious snow, get a fresh set of tires with thick kbos and stud up with grip studs:



only really applicable if you're riding out of your backyard or carrying on a trailer
expect to pay $100+ for a pack of studs

if you're just going to ride ice ponds (the studs must never see pavement), then you want ice studs screwed into the knobs



the best way is to cut out a sport bike tire as a liner, and get the longest screws you can find, then drill through the knob into the liner

there is also the option of buying pre-studded tires, but they will become expensive. You can actually get some with a low profile stud similar to those found on cars - these are pavement friendly

then lastly, you can just get some hex head screws for $20 at home depot and throw them into any tire you have

Personally, I just took dirt bikes out in the backyard in the snow with whatever knobby tires I had...fresh powder is the best

what you propose is all well and good for a ride on the lake, but not something I would ride on the street

the self tapping studs aerostich and a few other vendors sell is prolly the "easiest" way to stud a tire, but more expensive and prone to throwing studs, figure 3 bags ($300+) of studs to do 2 tires. I went the other route, drilled stud pockets and inserted regular automotive studs with a pneumatic gun, about $20 worth of studs will do 2 tires, but it does take a $350 tool to do the work

[ZX-12R]

...with a pneumatic gun... ...$350 tool...

Where did you find a $350 stud gun? I'm only familiar with the Bruno Wessel models and they are $600+.

[RandyO]

you can get a Bruno Wessel TSIT-9 here for $392.67

they have gone up since I originally studded a set of tires, the guy I borrowed a gun from said he paid $350, but that was 7 years ago

[Tekime]

Would almost definitely go the stud route as it would be mostly street if I did attempt this. Nowhere to ride out of my backyard. Had a set of ice tires but I gave them to a Canadian because he was a really nice fella.

Had no idea how much studs cost - explains the high price tag, but could be worth it..