Nomad "Dark Side" car tire

You might check the side play of the swingarm. You can pry it back & forth (sideways) in the frame & measure the clearance with feeler gages. I've seen these go to over 1/8" clearance, which will make the bike crab sideways as the rear tire hits pavement irregularities.

The swingarm seals are also the side thrust surfaces and they wear out in time, but even from the factory some Nomads have over 1/16" clearance there.

[cactusjack]

That tire has much more surface area "contact patch" on the ground than a standard bike tire. You notice any extra "grab" or traction when taking off from a dead stop? I would think that would really put the torque to the pavement.

[pablo]

You might check the side play of the swingarm. You can pry it back & forth (sideways) in the frame & measure the clearance with feeler gages. I've seen these go to over 1/8" clearance, which will make the bike crab sideways as the rear tire hits pavement irregularities.

The swingarm seals are also the side thrust surfaces and they wear out in time, but even from the factory some Nomads have over 1/16" clearance there.

I just had the swing arm lubed and checked at the dealer a couple of weeks ago (right before I had the car tire put on). It should be in good shape, but I'll check.

[pablo]

That tire has much more surface area "contact patch" on the ground than a standard bike tire. You notice any extra "grab" or traction when taking off from a dead stop? I would think that would really put the torque to the pavement.

I had plenty of grip with the 180/60 Metzeler, but as you stated, I have even more contact area with the car tire. Where I notice it most is when coming to a hard stop. I could lock up the rear on the Metzeler fairly easy. With the car tire, I can't hardly get it to lock up. I think I could use the rear brake exclusively if I wanted to.

I just had the swing arm lubed and checked at the dealer a couple of weeks ago (right before I had the car tire put on). It should be in good shape, but I'll check.

The dealer don't check for that slop, because there's no adjustment to make there, except to make custom shims. Also you can replace the seals when they wear which takes up some (not all) of the slop. They're supposed to change those at every swingarm lube BTW. Do you know if they did?

[pablo]

I don't know. I had them do the complete 15,000 mile service minus changing the oil, oil filter, spark plugs and rear end oil (I already did those). They changed the fork oil, lubed and adjusted the steering bearings, changed the coolant, changed the brake and clutch fluid, and lubed the swing arm and drive shaft splines. They were also supposed to lube anything else on their list, check for loose stuff, and check/adjust idle speed according to the 15,000 mile service list. They swear that they did everything according to the book, but I have no way of actually knowing. It took them all day and mine was the only bike in the shop. I had all this done at about 18,500 miles. I now have about 20,000. Not too bad for 14 months.

[beezer]

I saw that video and posted here about how I thought a winter tire with all the seips would be better with it's softer compound than other type of tire. If you notice, that's a Winter Sport tire.

[pablo]

New update:
I rode to San Antonio and back yesterday. I really enjoyed the feel and stability of the car tire going down. Cornering was great and I was impressed with the feel and ride on the interstate, cruising about 80 mph (GPS) the last 100 miles. On the way home I opened it up on a long straight. When it got to about 93 GPS, the rear end started swaying back and forth (big wobble), sort of like when your pulling an unstable trailer. I had to back it down to below 80 before it went away. I took it back up to 85 and everything was smooth as glass (didn't want to push it further. (It was a little too exciting)). I don't normally go over 85 even when passing, so this won't be a big issue, but thought I'd better let everyone know that all is not perfect with the car tire. Other than that, I would say the car tire performed exceptionally well, even on wet roads.

[McIrish]

Gary and I put a 195/60R-16 Michelin X-Ice Xi3 SL2006 Vulcan 1600 (Big green or miss Molly depending on who you ask)

195/60R-16 Michelin X-Ice Xi3 SL

31 PSI ( have not ridden on this yet will update seems soft to me)

It took 44PSI to set the bead ( wow that was loud and spooky)

Greased the spline, soaped the frame and deflated the tire to get it in place.

0.1118 of an inch clearance from swing arm ( you can see the playing cards in the picture)