What are the safety issues?

[sonny]

I hesitate to ask, looking at the dust cloud caused by Dans "impressions" post. But it has been interesting reading. What are the safety, aside from handling changes, problems (experienced or reported) of running a CT on a bike? I've seen the post and been told it is the side wall, but is there any other? I am no engineer or skid or friction expert. But my Nomad is less than 800lbs witch splits out about 400lbs a tire, give or take with contributing factors, and that is less than the weight per wheel of most of the 4 wheel vehicles I have skid around curves and into ditches in my time. The only time I broke a bead was when the rear tire met a culvert. Is the sliding force on the side wall of a car, on dry road, at least equal to the force put on the side wall when leaning in a curve? Has any one ever reported a CT coming off of the bike rim under any normal or even pushing it some conditions? I guess what I should be asking is Why Not a CT?
Thanks for your time

[macmac]

I love my CT Dunlop SP 5000, and don't care what anyone says. For so long as i ride the Nomad i will never have a mc tire on the back. Dan is a excellent rider, and feels things we will never feel. For one I never felt the rear step out ot try to steer the bike from the back.

I feel much better on the interstate grind, wire bridges which there is plenty in NH and on the Mass borders, paint lines of all kinds, wet grass, loose dirt roads, and feel as if i wouldn'rt be typing this if I didn't have that CT on when the jeep hit the moose last August.

yeah the Ct causes a few pound more input getting it to tip over and lean for a curve. I like that feeling, it's a little more sluggish and for that more stable feeling 'to me'.

I have a solid 7,000 miles on this tire now, and it is no wheres near replacing. It has 7 of 10 32nds left. If this were any other rear tire in the mc type i would be hauling the dead caracss off for 200 bucks worth of new tire instead.

I did this because i was sick of getting 2 rear tires in a season. I did not do this to correct speedo error. I simply don't care about speedo error.

Braking with the CT hard is like throwing out the anchor. If ya gotts false teeth close yer mouth when braking hard, or you will run yer teeth over!

[hammer]

Braking with the CT hard is like throwing out the anchor. If ya gotts false teeth close yer mouth when braking hard, or you will run yer teeth over!

Macisms! You should publish Mac.

[Jared]

I have 16,000 miles on my CT. I ride aggressive and feel the same way as Mac.

[skiman]

I remember years ago they made bike tires that had a flat tread like a car tire maybe they still do seen then on harley choppers and others

[landman]

here is what motorcycle consumer news had to say in the june
edition of there downtime files section under the title"BIG CRUISER TIRE WOES".thankfully,you are not going down the car
tire route! car tires are not designed for the lean factor in
motorcycle cornering and have incompatable bead sizes for safe
mounting.hopefully,those folks runnig car tires will learn this
before they encounter a serious problem on the road.

[bigdave]

I have 3000 on my CT right now and like mac i wouldnt go back to a MC tire on my Nomad. Doesnt take long to get to where you forget you have a CT on the bike I like the way it handles

[Yellow Jacket]

Originally Posted by landman

here is what motorcycle consumer news had to say in the june
edition of there downtime files section under the title"BIG CRUISER TIRE WOES".thankfully,you are not going down the car
tire route! car tires are not designed for the lean factor in
motorcycle cornering and have incompatable bead sizes for safe
mounting.hopefully,those folks runnig car tires will learn this
before they encounter a serious problem on the road.

There is not one single magazine or organization anywhere that would say otherwise. Their lawyers won't let them.

However, motorcyclists have been using car tires on cruisers for many many years and for hundreds of thousands of miles. I have yet to see a single documented case of a "serious problem on the road" caused by the use of a car tire.

By all means, if anyone is concerned that using a car tire is unsafe then don't do it.

As for me, I doubt that I will ever have a motorcycle tire on the rear of my Nomad again.

[ringadingh]

Ive never ever heard of even one instance where a car tire came off the bead or caused some type of mishap to occur. It seems the only people saying it won't work are the ones who have never tried it.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by skiman

I remember years ago they made bike tires that had a flat tread like a car tire maybe they still do seen then on harley choppers and others

I have seen these tires too. Even pictures of old Harleys and Indicans had what looked like car tires on them.

I was looking on the web and youtube at old motorcycles, and ran across some old bikes that people had "bobbed" (old-school, pre-chopper). The rear tire looks like a car tire on these things.

One had a brand name (I can't remember); but when I searched for it on the web, I came-up empty-handed... so I never did find out about it.

Anyway... I had the feeling these were tires designed for motorcycles and only looked like car tires... but I could be wrong.

[oldbikers]

Originally Posted by landman

here is what motorcycle consumer news had to say in the june
edition of there downtime files section under the title"BIG CRUISER TIRE WOES".thankfully,you are not going down the car
tire route! car tires are not designed for the lean factor in
motorcycle cornering and have incompatable bead sizes for safe
mounting.hopefully,those folks runnig car tires will learn this
before they encounter a serious problem on the road.

The magazine you are talking about are taking all cruisers and putting them in the same pot but all cruisers are not the same you can't run a car tire on some bikes because of the rim design for example you must have the rim modify on a 1500 Goldwing to run a car tire but some one must have thought it was a good idea because you can run one on an 1800 Goldwing with no modification.

[sonny]

In the 60's, 70's, and at least early 80's Goodyear for sure and I think Avon made 16" square shoulder tires for '74s. And we got 30k+ out of them. I think all mc tires had square shoulders be cause my Vespa and silver eagle also had them. I do not believe that today's style tire came out untill after the introduction of the cafe racer in the early 80's.
Thanks for your time
ps... I used to drag the chrome off of the bottom of a set of 2" drag pipes on a '72 Police Special with 6" over front tubes on those square shoulder tires. That is why I am wondering what is the safety problem with a CT and are the documented or done under emperical conditions.
Thanks again

[Kawhead]

The reason I have a CT is 97% of my riding is commuting to work, running errands, and charity rides. Every once in a while I get with my friends and run the twisties with no problem. My opinion is cornering is different and as good as a MT. Braking is better and wet weather handling very stable and worry free. The CT handles gravel roads and driveways nearly as well as if you were on pavement, and much better than the MT.

I can't argue with the snippet from motorcycle consumer news. Car tire's ain't designed for motorbikes. I agree with that. Me and several others have mounted CT on bike rims with different bead sizes. Maybe we mounted the tires with compatible beads they didn't know 'bout. That was a snippet and not the whole article and I don't know what they hoped I learned before a serious problem down the road. A rat turd has two points, that snip had none.

[cactusjack]

More riders are killed with a motorcycle tire on the rear wheel than with a car tire.

[hammer]

Yikes, a blatant misuse of statistics CJ.

My take on this after watching posts here, researching and talking to riders on Vaklyries riding the CT is that there is very little risk to worry about. There are risks to riding scoots anyway and that's where Scott's comment does make sense to me. I am putting on a new rear tire this week. It is a stock Bridgestone because I already had it on hand. But the next is likely a Darkside.