Considering of going to the Dark Side.... (1 Viewer)

[Gumby]

I've run a car tire on my Valkyrie for about 4 years. The increased traction is amazing. The F6 would smoke a motorcycle tire with little provocation. It's not pleasant getting a 8'3" bike sideways making a left turn from a stop. Very expensive tires would last 4000 miles. rain traction was terrible.

I now have a very expensive car tire that was half the price of a bike tire. The first one was just getting close to the wear bars at 25,000 miles. I can't spin the tire without trying. I've run the tail of the dragon scraping hard parts and never had a bit of slide. I feel strongly my valk is safer with a car tire. It has far better traction with six inches of contact patch.

My theory on why the Valk eats tires has to do with why twins do so well coming out of corners when racing. The tire needs times to recover between power pulses. The F6 doesn't do that at all.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Y'all's fat asses make a motorcycle tire flat on the contact patch anyway, so what does it matter?

 

[PhilC64]

I think of motorcycles like airplanes - the smallest detail gone wrong can kill you.
Putting a tire on a bike that was engineered for a car is a large detail.
If you do this and seek "peace of mind" --- buy life insurance.

Then obviously you haven't done this nor even did a shred of research into it before you commented. As I stated in my opening post, I'm not here to argue it, I'm looking for posts from folks who have had experience doing it.

 

[Jman]

Then obviously you haven't done this nor even did a shred of research into it before you commented. As I stated in my opening post, I'm not here to argue it, I'm looking for posts from folks who have had experience doing it.

I actually think you should try it, after reading Gumby's post. I am still curious what happens when the bike leans over, in the rain or on some gravel, but what I think happens is just conjecture.

 

[Red Herring]

I actually think you should try it, after reading Gumby's post. I am still curious what happens when the bike leans over, in the rain or on some gravel, but what I think happens is just conjecture.

Thing is J, that these bikes do not lean like a sport bike. I have watched a few vids, and the contact patch seems to be just fine with the car tires. Quite amazing really, as I thought the tire would roll up onto it's edge, but with the amount of lean these big boys are doing, there might actually be more rubber on the road than with a bike tire. I would be interested to see how one would respond to being on a sport bike. I suspect there is a definite point at which you start to run on the edge, but cruisers don't seem to push it there.

 

[Jman]

Thing is J, that these bikes do not lean like a sport bike. I have watched a few vids, and the contact patch seems to be just fine with the car tires. Quite amazing really, as I thought the tire would roll up onto it's edge, but with the amount of lean these big boys are doing, there might actually be more rubber on the road than with a bike tire. I would be interested to see how one would respond to being on a sport bike. I suspect there is a definite point at which you start to run on the edge, but cruisers don't seem to push it there.

I guess it just depends on your riding style.

 

[PhilC64]

This guy rides a Triumph Rocket 3 with a CT on the rear. Look at the other videos on his channel for further examples of riding on the darkside,

 

['74 UA FJ]

I guess it just depends on your riding style.

Did anyone catch themselves leaning their head back and forth while watching that?

 

[Red Herring]

I guess it just depends on your riding style.

Oh ya... dude be rockin' the 'Wing... but it still ain't leaning. It just can't. He can hustle it well, but it ain't leaning.

This is how I like to ride, and no way in hell am I going to try a car tire for this kind of stuff.



Guys riding the predecessor to my KTM.

The rocket can handle for a big bike... and demonstrated more lean than the GW, but I am still not sold that it is a good alternative for sport bike riding. The tire compounds are completely different. My tires might only last 7000miles, but they are soft (think fingernail dents), and stick like glue to pretty much anything at pretty much any angle. However, if I had me one of those big bad boys, I would certainly try a car tire...especially after a recommend by Gumbers.

 

[PhilC64]

If you read up a bit RH a vast majority of folks who ride darkside put the CT on the large cruisers. Bikes such as mine, Rockets and GW's certainly aren't going to lean like a sport or dual purpose bike.

 

[Red Herring]

If you read up a bit RH a vast majority of folks who ride darkside put the CT on the large cruisers. Bikes such as mine, Rockets and GW's certainly aren't going to lean like a sport or dual purpose bike.

And it looks like it works just fine for those applications!

keep her rubber side down!

 

[Gumby]

I wouldn't try it on a sport bike. I don't think it would be heavy enough to deflect the tire, the lean angles are going to be more extreme, you carry more speed into the corner and a slide needs to be predictable. They just don't put down the same power at the same times wither.

My Valk just can't get the lean angle and it puts down 100 lb/ft driving out of the corner. It's got different needs. High speed corners are way more of a get-her-hauled-down, turn in, past the apex, then hammer on and drive it out. It's a lot faster that way than trying to carry a lot of corner speed. It has power to spare, not a lot of lean angle, and a ton of wheelbase. The front just pushes with too much entry speed.

The big downside, and it can be pretty big, is that the bike steers with road camber. Road crown is pretty easily compensated for, but turning in a driveway can be a real pain. The bike will dive to the inside.

The increased low speed turning effort is nothing. There's a far bigger learning curve going from one bike to another and none of us is scared to do that. The camber thing can sneak up on you and can be a handful with a 800lb, 8' scooter.

 

[lingo]

What if you slightly over inflated the tire so the tire has a little crown to it?

 

[PhilC64]

Over and under inflation isn't recommended. Depending on the tire and bike weight there is an optimal tire pressure. I went with a General Altimax HP tire and given the weight of my bike, I should run it from 30 to 36 psi.

 

[Gumby]

I run mine about 26 psi.

Tough to get a recommended pressure as there is no application that's equivalent. The pressure on the side of the tire is max pressure to be used at max load. That's too much.

 

[Jman]

Phil is max load.

 

[Gumby]

I probably weigh as much as Phil to Capacity

 

[PhilC64]

Just for those of you interested in my decision for going darkside, this guy makes some solid arguments for it. This site as well as many others contributed to my decision.

The Dark Side

Another site with solid info is http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=DarkSiding&nav=start&prettyurl=/DarkSiding/start

 

[Gumby]

Feel free to come out to diaperville and ride the Valk. It'll be warm enough all week. I took her out today.

 

[PhilC64]

Thanks for the offer! I'll text you a little later today!

Got a call from my tire shop last night. They were informed there is a back log on the Altimax HP. It seems there hasn't been one produced for a couple months and they don't expect more for another 2 months. I ended up ordering the Bridgestone G019 Grid.