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

[rolfe]

Originally Posted by sho_greg

For those with a car tire on the rear... Please assure me that the tire is ok.. Assure me that I can still turn the bike.. Assure me that the ride quality will stay in motorcycle character.. Assure me that I will not be scared to death when taking a turn...

I have been to 2 places to get the tire put on... one said that 195/55/16 isnt going to fit..??
Please tell me that size is a fitting size...

Both places said its not a good idea... \

I have been riding for quite a while and I say I can ride pretty well... So from experiences good riders could you tell a difference..

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words. They show the Contact Patch From the Car Tire being placed on the back with the Motorcycle Tire on the Front being off a full 1".

Causing Stress on the Complete Suspension (front and rear) and that of the Rider.

I have noticed that riders using the Car Tire adjust their riding skills for this modification, but what about long , long term effects on the integrity of the suspension.

Just does not make saving $ cents to me ?

[Monkeyman]

That's a great illustration.......except it's wrong. The CT contact patch is MUCH greater than that in a lean. Follow a darkside bike some time. Or watch the numerous vids on YouTube. Or just keep a MC tire.

[macmac]

I am never going to back to a MC rear tire for the squiggles they make on a Nomad, never fight painted lines or cheese grader bridges again, no more wobbles on the interstate highway grind....

The pressue extra to turn feeling leaves in the first 20 minutes, and in that time you will begin to enjoy the stabily gained.

Of course you still need to observe the same cautions on paint wire bridges and etc, but handling is far improved.

I just caught that diagram and it is way out of line to what happens in reality. The reality is about 1/2 the read remain in ground contact turning, more than going in a straight line with a MC rear......

Before you can get a Nomad over far enough to get up on the sidewall you would be crashed, by hard parts anyway. So far I know of no way to lean past the floorboards stops.

Look around for pics of guys rear tires that are parked. You can see then about 1/2 the tread is in ground contact.

[macmac]

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...

What brand 195/55/16 are we talking about?

Are you sure the tire is wiggly or is the whole swingarm moving from SIDE TO SIDE?

if i can tell from the avatar pioc you have a 1500 Nomad...???

if you never had the swingarm serviced there is a good chance your swiing arm can move about 1/10th Inch!

if you want to see.... get the bike jacked up so the rear wheel is off the ground. Go to the right side (Intake throttle body)

get down near the swing arm and find the either black plastic cap or chrome one and with a large srew driver covered with a rag press it in between the frame and the swing arm and give a middlin heavt push.

next take the rag and clean the swing arm shaft peeking thru the swing arm seal, and clean it.

measure the gap as accurately as possible in 0.000,

also inspect the back of the seal. It should be coated in rubber and the rubber should look new, but it won't, and I suspect it will lool like bright shiney steel, because all the rubber has been worn off the seal back.

And then that will mean so is the other seal on the far side you can't see.

Next pull the swing arm back, just to feel it thunk over, and again shove it away, and take another measure.

If you want a real good measure begin to find shop junk that fits the space and use a caliper or mich on that.

Now don't bother with book spec's because there isn't any..... If these were Harleys the spec would be 0.002 inch...

1 thou free play after tightening to no free play or in other words we have no way to pre-load the bearings and adjust the swing arm, and the seals do it being wrongly used as thrust washers!

Incase you don't belive me, then go to the dealer, and ask how many swing arm serives they ever did. Of course the service manager will tell you he is too busy but they have done hundreds..

Then go to parts and ask to order 2 new seals and peek over at the computer, and you will porobably see no seal ever ordered once. Not ever...

I was asking the manager what pre-load was and he lied to me and only hours after I had done my first swing arm service. he made up names of parts that don't even exist. He had no clue about the swing arm at all.

I didn't bust him on it as i knew it would do no good... But i was sure looking hard at the seals as the parts guy was havin a bad time finding any on the diagram, and admitted they had never ordered any ever before.

If you have 1/10th in slop side to side that rear wheel will need to come down and the rest of the service get done.

There is a how to on that in the service part of this forum... Mostly all the labor is in cleaning old grease off... The rest is getting all dirty getting new greases on.. and inspecting the U joint.

And OH where I live it is 1/2 mile to the town road on dirt.... With my CT on I no longer ping rocks off into the woods, unless the ft tire grabs one.. here the driveway is always covered with lots and lots of pine needles too, and that rear CT just sweeps them away..... Then the town road is not much better all battered hunks of tar everywhichy way, and patched patches.

[Kawhead]

It takes some getting use to. I had a wreck on my other Nomad and got another one with a bike tire on it and it took a while to get use to it again. I'm back to a car tire again, like it's suppose to have!!

I don't think you want to go with a run flat, but I believe Blowndodge mentioned his truck tire is so stiff he can run almost no pressure.

[Rasta]

All I have to say is that, that is a bull shit picture!! The picture of the three tires is taken by just taking a tire off a shelf and positioning it at the three angles. Like people have said if this was on a bike you would see more tread contact to the road.... a lot more than what you get from a motorcycle tire.

[rolfe]

Originally Posted by Rasta

All I have to say is that, that is a bull shit picture!! The picture of the three tires is taken by just taking a tire off a shelf and positioning it at the three angles. Like people have said if this was on a bike you would see more tread contact to the road.... a lot more than what you get from a motorcycle tire.

I just see and read up on the information and make my own opinion. Last time I heard Free Speech along with Freedom of the Press was a right I thought we all had. I still stand by the Pictures and Information Posted.

Maybe you should Design Car Tires for Motorcycles and Sell them ?

[pooker]

Originally Posted by rolfe

I just see and read up on the information and make my own opinion. Last time I heard Free Speech along with Freedom of the Press was a right I thought we all had. I still stand by the Pictures and Information Posted.

Maybe you should Design Car Tires for Motorcycles and Sell them ?

The photos of the tires are bull crap!!!!
The side wall on a car tire is soft and it bends when the tire leans.
You cannot tell me that you have seen a car tire lean on its edge like the photo, its impossible,.........well maybe if it had 100 lbs of air in it!
Gess, I don't know why people have to post such garbage.
If a car tire isn't for,.............don't use it!
Simple
http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...n/Dark%20Side/

[waterman]

Originally Posted by rolfe

I just see and read up on the information and make my own opinion. Last time I heard Free Speech along with Freedom of the Press was a right I thought we all had. I still stand by the Pictures and Information Posted.

Maybe you should Design Car Tires for Motorcycles and Sell them ?

Rolfe,

Follow a bike with a CT through some curves. There is much more contact with the ground than the pictures show.

Here are videos of ACTUAL contact patch on a bike. Not a posted picture of someone holding a tire at different angles.



(high pressure)

[george james]

Originally Posted by rolfe

I just see and read up on the information and make my own opinion. Last time I heard Free Speech along with Freedom of the Press was a right I thought we all had. I still stand by the Pictures and Information Posted.

Maybe you should Design Car Tires for Motorcycles and Sell them ?

Don't need to design and manufacture.......already have hundreds to select from and work better than mc tires. Way better than your illustration suggest.

[rolfe]

Interesting to me is 2nd picture talking about the Rear Car Tire and Front Motorcycle Tire and Pavement Contact. Show me facts ! If there is not a stress factor involved then why does everyone that uses the Car Tire have to change how they ride ?

Waterman thank you for the you tube video and have seen it. I really am not trying to cause an argument about this discussion. But when we are riding down in the Texas Hill Country we have many curves. Its just about 100 % safety for everyone including myself.

[pooker]

Originally Posted by rolfe

Interesting to me is 2nd picture talking about the Rear Car Tire and Front Motorcycle Tire and Pavement Contact. Show me facts ! If there is not a stress factor involved then why does everyone that uses the Car Tire have to change how they ride ?

Waterman thank you for the you tube video and have seen it. I really am not trying to cause an argument about this discussion. But when we are riding down in the Texas Hill Country we have many curves. Its just about 100 % safety for everyone including myself.

I've never changed the way I ride since I started using a car tire!
[/QUOTE]But when we are riding down in the Texas Hill Country we have many curves. Its just about 100 % safety for everyone including myself.[/QUOTE]
You cannot lean your cruiser in the curves enough to justify a motorcycle tire on the rear, unless your cruiser is a crotch rocket!!
If you are concerned about your safety then you must go slow in the curves as that is the safest way , so it wouldn't matter what tire you had on your bike.
When I ride I have a contact patch of 5-6 inches when I'm in a curve and my floor boards are scrapping!!!
You tell me?

[pooker]

Originally Posted by waterman

Rolfe,

Follow a bike with a CT through some curves. There is much more contact with the ground than the pictures show.

Here are videos of ACTUAL contact patch on a bike. Not a posted picture of someone holding a tire at different angles.



(high pressure)

These videos look like the car tire is over inflated.
I run about 32 lbs cold and my tire has much more contact than the video.

[waterman]

Originally Posted by pooker

These videos look like the car tire is over inflated.
I run about 32 lbs cold and my tire has much more contact than the video.

Pooker, one of them stated that they were at 40 psi. I run at 28 to 30 and do fine.

[waterman]

Originally Posted by rolfe

Waterman thank you for the you tube video and have seen it. I really am not trying to cause an argument about this discussion. But when we are riding down in the Texas Hill Country we have many curves. Its just about 100 % safety for everyone including myself.

So the Texas Hill country has a corner on the market for curves? So the roads I ride in the Rockies, Black Hills, Ozarks, and Cascades must be straight as an arrow.