Car Tire- Darkside- Assure me- the mechanics deter me..

[Yellow Jacket]

Originally Posted by redjay

At the Kawi dealer a few weeks ago I was told the first thing insurance companies do if there has been an accident involving the bike is they look at the tires. With a car tire installed your insurance in null and void.

At least half of whatever a dealer (car, motorcyle, truck or whatever) tells me I immediately discard as unbelievable or out right lies.

The other half, I take with a large grain of salt.

[sho_greg]

Ok.... got it back... need help...

Its not bad but i dont feel comfortable in tight turns... tire has 43 psi... should i drop psi to add turning stability...

These are my first thoughts with this general gmax tire.... ride is smooth.. it does have the.pull you around feel... so guide me with the.correction.

Greg

[VulcanE]

Drop your pressure to 40 when cold, and ride it for at least 300 miles (preferably 500) to let the tire get used to being on your rim, then find you a long sweeping curve, and ride it both ways, drop your pressure by 2 lbs, and ride the same curve again. Keep doing this until it feels it's best (that's the best way to find your "sweet spot"). When you've found your sweet spot, ride all you want, and the next morning, check your pressure to see what the cold pressure is. I use a tire pressure monitoring system, and found that my best performance is when the tire is hot, and has 32 psi in it, the cold pressure will depend on the time of the year (ambient temperature). In hot months, my cold pressure is ~28, and in the cooler months, it's ~30.
Give it and you some time, and I'm pretty sure you'll come to love the DarkSide.

[markclark57]

Originally Posted by VulcanE

Drop your pressure to 40 when cold, and ride it for at least 300 miles (preferably 500) to let the tire get used to being on your rim, then find you a long sweeping curve, and ride it both ways, drop your pressure by 2 lbs, and ride the same curve again. Keep doing this until it feels it's best (that's the best way to find your "sweet spot"). When you've found your sweet spot, ride all you want, and the next morning, check your pressure to see what the cold pressure is. I use a tire pressure monitoring system, and found that my best performance is when the tire is hot, and has 32 psi in it, the cold pressure will depend on the time of the year (ambient temperature). In hot months, my cold pressure is ~28, and in the cooler months, it's ~30.
Give it and you some time, and I'm pretty sure you'll come to love the DarkSide.

+1 What Cliff said.

Another "test" of pressure is the "wet test". (After your break in period) find a place where you can ride through wet and then dry on smooth pavement (at low speed) enough to see the pattern left by the tread. If the pattern is mostly or only the center of the tire, pressure is too high, if its all edge, pressure is too low. Adjust pressure until you get a uniform pattern. That will get you close to the "sweet spot". Then find some sweepers and fine tune it.

[sho_greg]

One more thing that concerns me... went down a dirt road... scary... got home and my forearms felt like they had a workout... parked the.bike then thought im gonna shake the handlebars and see how stable the rear is... this bike shakes in the rear when i do that... its like the tire is just swaying... lol...
on the ride out of town i started feeling a lot better about it on pavement but that dirt is a killer...

[ringadingh]

What tire pressure are you running in the car tire, it should be around 28 to 34 psi. You'll have to play with it for a while and gind the sweet spot, my tire seems to feel best at 30-32lbs. Plus it takes a few hundred miles to break in as well.

[sho_greg]

The tire...

[mobandy78]

Once you get through the break in period and get the tire down to somewhere between 28-34 PSI, you'll find it rides much better. Put a few miles on it at around 38-40 PSI. 43 is a little high in my opinion.

[redjay]

Has anyone had an accident with a car tire on and their insurance company paid up ?

[traveler]

I live down a 1/2 mile dead end dirt / gravel road, my drive way is sand / slash dirt and is more stable to me than m/t. My sweet spot is 32psi cold . 43 in my opinion is way to high even for break in. relax and enjoy the ride ,it want take long you will be grinnin from ear to ear again. Oh yeah love the tread design on that tire.

[Idaho]

I have never fiddled with the air pressure on the tire after it is mounted. 42 lbs and left it there. Right out of the box there is no problem carving corners or riding on dirt roads. My Vanco-8 is awesome.

[rolfe]

Originally Posted by billmac

I had a car tire and have gone back to mc tire. I may go back to a car tire for the longevity and smooth ride. Also the car tire is thicker and will hold a tubeless plug better.

I had the sp 5000. My only knock on the car tire was on rough country roads the back tire seemed to want to steer the bike. My tire man said all big wide tires feel like that and he hears the same comment whenever he mounts a wide tire. My 2 cents.

Thanks Bill it's good to have a good input about using a car tire. I would imagine that the Motorcycle Manufacturer's have done some test along with Tire Manufacturer's on the use of Using a Car Tire on a Motorcycle.
Safety has always been my main concern being a novice on a Motorcycle. Who knows maybe the Motorcycle Tire Manufacturer's will commit and make a Car Tire / Motorcycle Tire if that makes sense. But for now I'll stick to using True Blue Motorcycle Tire's on a Motorcycle after all that's what there for.

Many Thanks
Rolfe Lake Travis Texas

[Rasta]

Originally Posted by redjay

Has anyone had an accident with a car tire on and their insurance company paid up ?

For me I think because I had the CT on, I feel it saved me a couple times from an accident so the insurance comapny didnt have to pay up. Besides, it would have been the other guys insurance that would have had to pay me since it would have been their fault.

[waterman]

Originally Posted by sho_greg

One more thing that concerns me... went down a dirt road... scary... got home and my forearms felt like they had a workout... parked the.bike then thought im gonna shake the handlebars and see how stable the rear is... this bike shakes in the rear when i do that... its like the tire is just swaying... lol...
on the ride out of town i started feeling a lot better about it on pavement but that dirt is a killer...

I have about 1 1/2 miles of gravel plus a 0.1 mile driveway. First thing to do is pick a track to drive in where the cars have moved the gravel away. Second is relax. When you are tense you are having an adverse impact of the steering. The tire does like to run the ruts/grooves more but if you relax and just try to keep it out of the piles you will be ok. If they haven't run the road grader over our road in a while I have hit 60 mph down our gravel road.

[sho_greg]

Im getting accustomed to the.car tire.... its different but manageable.. i think if i do it again i will get a run flat for stiffer side walls....

Corners and turning have become natural...