There's "thinking outside the box" and then there's stumbling into ignorance, this topic being the latter. Sorry, but it's ok and actually preferrable to be educated and informed. Calling the opposite "thinking outside the box" is pretty weak.
There's "thinking outside the box" and then there's stumbling into ignorance, this topic being the latter. Sorry, but it's ok and actually preferrable to be educated and informed. Calling the opposite "thinking outside the box" is pretty weak.
Kent Christensen
21482
'12 R1200RT, '02 R1100S, '84 R80G/S
This all reminds me of about 10 years ago when I put a trials tire on my dirt bike for racing hare scrambles and enduros. Most said I was 'crazy'. Then as others tried it, most of them found it to be superior to conventional knobby tires. But I was experimenting on a bike with top speeds in the high teens, and surrounded by dirt and trees, not cars and trucks! That said , I think I will keep my thoughts 'inside the box' on this one!
Mike Davis
"Old n Slow" It's a way of life!
1985 K100RT
1998 R1100RT
Originally Posted by MICHAEL B
Oil, final drive failure... ?
Doug, 2011 R1200RT Polar Metallic
MSF #127350 NAUI #36288
The handling on my bike suffers enough from my tires "squaring off" from running all the straight roads around here. There's no way I'd consider a car tire unless it was for a trike or sidecar rig.
The rear car tire on gold wings has been going on for years and for the life of me I can't really understand why.
Car tires on trikes or sidecar rigs seems OK as they never lean, but not on a 2 wheeled motorcycle. Trikes and sidecar rigs are still registered as a motorcycle so I don't really know where one stands legally when running car tires.
As somebody else pointed out, I would think your insurance would be null & void if you were running car tires on a motorcyle. They always look for any excuse to deny a claim, and by running car tires you've handed them a good reason.
I still think it is a dumb idea, but my view is, each to their own.
1971 R50/5 SWB with R75/6 drivetrain
2008 HD Heritage Anniv Softail
Nah. I worked insurance claims for over 31 years. If we could have excluded stupid and dumb, we wouldn't have had to pay 90% of the claims presented.
'You can say what you want about the South, but I almost never hear of anyone wanting to retire to the North.
Black 86 R80RT Brown 03 R1200CLC
Since this is a BMW forum, let's assume we are all riding BMW bikes, which are not the least expensive bikes out their, saving money by putting a auto tire in the rear, is really at best a false economy and more likely a really dangerous practice. Surley tire mileage will be better but physics tells us handling will suffer greatly. Kinda like the guy with the P51 mustang putting a automotive tube in his tire cost $15 vs $120 for the approved aircraft tube(much thicker rubber) then has a flat, runs off the runway and does major damage to his 2 million dollar toy. Buy the correct tire, keep the pressure where it should be and accept the mileage
Everybody seems to have a strong opinion on this, but where's the data?
'07 R1200GS for solo rides
'10 R1200GSA with Hannigan dual sport sidecar for rides with Barley
My Bridgetone Battlax BTO21 OE tires on my 2012 RT are shot, cords beginning to show, at 8350 miles. This AM I'm getting dual compound Michelin PR3s put on. These are not cheap and I'm Easy Rider, not hard on tires. I completely understand the frustration of throwing lots of $$ for tires of such short duration. The only fitment I can find are "sport touring" tires.
My heavy-weight Goldwing on OE touring Dunlops went 16,000 miles.
It would be nice if RT riders had the choice of "sport touring" tires that last less than 10,000 miles for the knee draggers, and a long lasting "touring" tires that will go 20,000 + miles. Most of us probably ride 90% of the time (or more) on the center strip anyway. I wonder which one would sell the most ...
Last edited by Norms 427; 08-30-2012 at 02:12 PM.
Now: '12 R1200RT Midnight Blue Metallic / '11 Ural Patrol 2WD ridden to Alaska / '09 KLR 650 / '05 HD Heritage Softail (wife's ride) / '02 KTM 520 EXC / '85 Yamaha VMax bought new. I wasn't ready to say goodbye: www.shaunlunt.typepad.com
So the reason you'ld want a car tire on you bike is long life of your tire? right? so we should discuss ways to lenghten the life of your tire instead of putting on a tire not designed for your motorcycle.I have some ideas,when you come up to a stop sign you should just pull in the clutch 20 yards from the stop and glide with your momentum to the stop and at 25 ft or so down shift to first gear then stop. Each time you let out the clutch after downshifting makes your rear tire to momentarly grip then bit the surface causing rubber to be torn off upon regripping the road. Smoothness with your clutch is my point here.Now all can chime in on other ways to make your tire last longer .
Another one is as you are riding down the road you you may for various reasons have to pull in your clutch and if you don't have your rpm's closely matching your speed you will skip the rear tire tearing off more rubber . So once again smooth clutch operation is helpfull. These are things we should discuss,not putting on a tire not designed for cycles. next...
81 R100RT
Like I said, the cheapest part on a BMW motorcycle is the owner. When I worked in a BMW shop I could never get over how some customers would fork out serious dough for a brand new Beemer, then cut every possible corner on maintenance, tires, parts afterward. Then they badmouth the bike to anyone who would listen.
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
so I gotta ask, you fly the Texan? I've always wanted to fly that plane!
2012 R1200R - Classic / ESA II, ABS II, ASC, Heated Grips, Sports Windshield, Computer.
2005 Honda Shadow 750 Spirit (on cragslist).
I wonder if when the "square" auto tire angles while in a turn on pavement causing about half of the tread to make contact with the road, wouldn't the remaining contact patch be loaded 2x over the tire being fully in contact? Would this increased loading actually cause the two modes to end up roughly equal in traction?
You weren't working for Mercury Insurance then. Their claims adjusters go out of their way to look for any excuse, including outright fabricatioins, to get out of paying a claim, even when their insured was citied by the police for the violation that caused the collision. What a vile company Mercury is.
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
These tires were taboo on your Beemer by BMW Motorrad for years. They were simply off the list of recommended tires for BMWs by BMW Germany. Of course, a leader in tires to this day and tons of us use them for decades now. All those Asian tires, Kenda, Shinko and dozens others in the cheapy catagory are used by 1000s of owners. All not recommended as Dunlop. Now, you pick on a car tire, which I too have my safety concerns regarding such on a bike, BUT? A dozen+ m/c tires can be black listed, same as car tires "certainly" are, according to BMW. I'd like to be in the room, when they decide what gets used where/when and dollars spent. My KLT1200 came with such POOR quality tires from BMW factory(Bridgestones), they went all of 4000miles to the cord! BS is of course another leader in good tires, BUT again? Factories buy cheap tires for their needs, depending on the day who's buying....Who's thinking safe at the factory, putting junk tires on new bikes??? This is "NOT" the case all the time, of course not, but it happens weekly and I've bought'em new off the BMW showroom floor. A car tire is extreme and a rider experimenting is his own man, a willing/risky business built into his soul. My Diesel is approaching 5$ a gallon again, tires are going to keep going up in $$$ and we are going to keep feeding on this kind a chat, wishing for another day to return
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