THE DARK SIDE

Hey this picture had me thinking, would it be possible to put a car tire on an XJ750??? the bike in the picture is Valkyrie

http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/ ... kSide.html

 

Sounds interesting. Ignoring the DON"T DO IT YOU"LL DIE COMMENTS, what size would fit my ride?

 

Seriously Guys! Not a good Idea!!!
The standard car tire has a squared off carcass design. The moment you roll into a turn you will stand the tire on its edge giving you less than 1/4 tread contact. One small pebble, or minor puff of wind, and both you, and the bike are having an intimate conversation with the pavement. Not to mention the poor handling you will have.

NO this is not a budget money saving approach to tires.
NO this is not a way to get a wider tire on the rear of the bike.

Yes this is just plain stupiditiy!!!

The stupidity of this was proven way back in the 70's, and 80's. Some Fads should NEVER be brought back!

As far as size. Nothing larger that a 130/90-16. If you can even find a car tire that small in that diameter. Even an old chevette tire was larger that what you will be able to find to fit the stock wheel.

Make sure the life insurance is paid up. So that the wife, and kids are taken care of properly!!!

Ghost

 

Sweet... I'll ride next winter with snow tire. What fit up front?

 

Ghost is right.....this has been a "rediscovered" issue about 6-8 times in just the past 20 or so years. The problem is in the way the different tires are manufactured.

Now I imagine that if you have a stretched and slammed busa that won't turn a tighter radius then 120', it might not matter because you aren't ever going to get it leaned over anyway.....same goes if your a squid....you know, can ride real fast ......as long as the road is straight....but can't turn and get scared when you try.....for you, go ahead and mount it, we'll be able to pick you out by the car tire on your bike<LOL>

jeff

 

I wonder how this would work at the drag strip? Is this essentaily what a motorcycle drag tire is? I couldn't see this working very well on the street.. Unless your town has no turns heh

 

Yep, pretty much.

 

A friend of mine put a car tire on the rear of his cruiser (VTX 1300). He says he has no problems with it. I can definitely tell the difference. IMHO I wouldn't recommend it...

skillet

 

Pro Stock motorcycle (dragsters) run drag slicks on the rear with no crown. That would be the ultimate application of car tire on a bike. PSMs do not have kick stands. You can not get the bike to lean in a corner at all. Watching the riders try to turn into the return area after a run is hilarious especially the 110lbs girls :lol:

Check it out on ESPN2 the next few weekends its the end of the season...

 

I pretty much agree that it’s a bad idea; I have seen them on bikes with a side car and think it could work quite well in that case.
Al

 

Oh I think I will

 

I'm curious if any of the people saying "holy sh*t, that will instantly kill you as quick as it takes to turn the key in the ignition" have actually RIDDEN darkside...

I have a little bit of first hand and a fair amount of second hand experience on the subject but would like to save my input until after the above querry gets some response.

 

im curious how much rubber is actually on the ground when you turn with a mc tire..... because i wonder if the round tire on a turn really has that much more "meat" than the car tire.... i could see both having similar results honestly with how the tires flex.

 

The MC tire is designed with the crown so that when you lean into the turn the tire maintains the same contact patch with the road as when running straight ahead.

The sidewall of the car tire is designed to support the weight of the vehicle, and has almost no flex. When used in a MC application this inablility to flex makes the tread lift, and dig the sidewall edge into the ground. The car tire will just want to keep going straight as it was designed to do.

Much like a trike it will have a natural tendecy to push into a turn. The only way to counter this, and make the bike turn is by reducing the speed of the turn. Otherwise the rear of the bike have a natural tendency to want to walk out from under the bike.

With the overwelming fascination with going ever faster, and cutting up the twisties. Why would anyone go, and cripple the handling that is a natural characteristic of riding a motorcycle!

Ghost

 

i put chalk today on my tire and went thru some turns and straight paths to try and see what the width of the actual rubber on the road was, and i pretty much got 3/4 to one inch... now in watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw-mVH-D9LM the tire never looks like it has less than that on the ground.... like now i know my methods werent exactly scientific, but from what i could see, the rubber on the ground during a turn was almost exactly the same. and from what i have been reading, you dont fill up to the max inflation pressure on the car tire, but leave it around where a mc tire would be, closer to 40psi.... this seems to give a little more flexability to the rubber.... now im not gonna go out and run to the nearest mtb to find one for my bike, but it seems that on straight aways the car tire would handle throttle and braking better, as there is more rubber on the road, and the turns would be almost identical. like i say im not trying to start a pod-like battle, i just think its interesting info... and heck, not dumping money into the back tire three times a year would be GREAT lol.

 

While your at it...

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

 

I run darkside on my Valkyries and am happy with the handling. At 32-34 psi they handle great riding twisties in East Tennessee, out west, or the pig trail over in Arkansas. Rode 50,000+ miles on car tires and have been happy with them. A lot of those miles are two up fully loaded for long trips. Advantages are stopping, riding in rain, getting someone to plug a repair, longevity of the tire. So far after 50,000 miles I don't know of any disadvantages.

BTW, I just bought a XJ-750 as a winter restoration project and have been lurking in your site for a while....

 

I rode "Darkside" for 3 years on my V-Star 1100.
The tire was 205-60/ 15 and had a very square profile.
At highway speeds you don't feel the tire.
At 35-45 you noticably have to "push" the bike into a turn - if you would let loose of the bars the bike would stand back up. It wants to go straight.
At low speeds, like making a left at an intersection or turning into a driveway, you feel EVERY change in pavement angle as a push or pull in the handlebar. It feels like you can't pick a line - you just have to ride it out. Not confidence inspiring.

But- mine was a "worse case". The preferred CT on the Venture site is a 155-80 which would not be anywhere near as bad.
No fiery death here ! :wink:

 

There are a lot of dark sider's on my VL1500 Intruder members list, and I'm contemplating it myself, though I haven't done so as of yet. Granted, the intruder's tire is a lot wider to begin with, but even so...........

I've read all the stories, arguments, and scares, etc........ but I don't ride like a nut. So, I'll probably do that at some point.

That all being said, I don't know if I like the idea on a tire that's as small as the xj's.

Dave Fox