Car tire on my Road King

I don't see how wheel bearings would have anything to do with having a car tire mounted on the wheel as opposed to a motorcycle tire.
As long as the wheel is properly torqued on the swingarm, is properly aligned and balanced, the bearings won't see a difference.
 
If I had a wider swingarm, I'd wanna try a car tire. Reading thru this entire thread, you've got several converts who swear by them after having tried it, and several nay-sayers who haven't tried it, yet still want to prove that "the bumblebee can't fly".
 
Thanks bro. I checked out the links and am now duely informed. Still can't get with the idea that you can't lean the things like with regular MC tires. Also just went out and checked both wife's and mine again for the tread depth. We've got '09 Electraglide standards that just popped the 10K mark. We tour and don't do much city ridin' at all. Both of our tread depths on the rears are at 6/32 with good tread left all the way around. Showing minimal if any signs of the center flattening out. I know years ago folks swapped out car tires for MC tires but you're talkin' flatheads and kunckles. If I get 12 to 14K from an MC tire I will stay with them. Stay safe
Mike
 
From that shot on youtube under the bike it looks like you're only on the inner half of the tire in a turn, which makes sense. a 2,000 lb+ car has 500 hundred lbs per corner static, assuming a 50/50 weight distribution from front to back and side to side. That would also be reasonably close to an 800 lb+ touring bike's distribution of approx 400 lbs per tire. Most cars carry approx 60% of the weight on the motor end and have some bias side to side. So it would be safe to assume that if one end is supporting that much more weight the tire would have to be designed for 600 lbs per corner static, since the tire mfg. couldn't be sure which end the tire would be mounted on. That's a 50% increase over the bike's requirement. Even though your supposition that in it's normal application the radial tire construction allows the sidewall to flex holding the contact patch in better contact with the road, a bike wouldn't generate the same dynamic load, especially given the bike's ability to lean in the turn. This in effect, would result in a "stiffer" acting sidewall in the bike's application. A fact I think is show in the video. Now this might be counteracted in the bike's case by the tire's composition or grip, the fact that a bike's tire is much more rounded than a car's might be an equivalent area of contact patch, tread design may be more optimal for the car's tire versus the bike's, and finally, as you alluded to earlier "tuning" the tire to the application through air pressure. Running the tire softer may restore some of the flex in the sidewall. If you were running the tire "soft" in the car application I'd be worried about loss of grip and reliability of the tire due to heat build up in the tire's carcass due to excessive squirm. But since we are dealing with a much lighter vehicle it might not be an issue. I'll be interested in hearing how this works out for all of you "test pilots" out there that have done this. If it works as good as your first impressions for the long-term you probably just negated millions the bike tire companies have spent on R&D ;-)
 
If this picture doesn't show you that the sidewalls WILL NOT FLEX on a MC like they will on a car, I don't know what will. The only way for the tread to stay on the road is if the sidewalls flex when you lean, if you are on a "square tire". Ride on the sidewalls all you want, just let me know so I can stay away from you.

Again, do whatcha want. But no thanx, from me.
 
The inside sidewall DOES flex in a turn, unless you have way too much air pressure. For the last few days I have been going to a mountain pass in Bisbee, Az early in the morning, when there is very little traffic. I haul ass going downhill and then I turn around and do it uphill, grinning like a madman. Definitely, it rides different than a motorcycle tire, and it probably wouldn't be good for everybody. It sticks like glue in the corners, absolutely stable, not worried that I am going to hit some gravel or water in a turn and the bike is going to unload on me, something than I never dreamed of with my old D407. The other thing is getting a flat. It ain't gonna happen, I don't think so, with two up or five up, it doesn't make a difference. This was a really good change for me.

We are not the test pilots. Gold Wing riders have been doing it for years, as well as the metric crowd. It would be interesting to go to one of the "Gold Wing Ding" rallies and see what tires they prefer for mileage, for traction, etc.
 
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