Car Tire as Rear Bike Tire - WHATDOYOUTHINK?

cycleman2 said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

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?

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 ...

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...

t6pilot said:

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

Click to expand...

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.

t6pilot said:

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

Click to expand...

so I gotta ask, you fly the Texan? I've always wanted to fly that plane!

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?

osbornk said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

Dunlop M/C!

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. Can ya'll keep the pace of spend what it takes? NO for me. Randy

Polarbear, in Germany your vehicle has to be inspected each and every year by an agency called the TUV (pronounced 'toof"). The TUV is tough. In Germany, you cannot put a tire on your bike or mount an accessory unless and until it passes the testing required by the TUV so that particular tire or accessory may legally be mounted on your bike.

It's not the US. You cannot experiment with non-stock or non-approved tire sizes, or have fun ghetto engineering some cheese ball top case from a Harley to the back of your Suzuki Bandit. That won't pass muster with the TUV. Neither will cheaping out on tires for your bike. If your bike requires a V or Z rated tire on it, don't think the TUV will let you slide with a non-speed rated tire because you are a cheapskate.

What this means is that the cost of testing every combination of tire on every possible bike is prohibative. Choices have to be made. A Dunlop product from the Buffalo NY plant that is produced primarily for the HD crowd but also has sized to fit some BMWs won't get tested for the German market so there will be no TUV approval for that tire on your bike. The little tire tag under the seat of your BMW tells you what tires the TUV will allow on your bike and don't waste your time or theirs showing up with something else on the bike, even if you think it is a better tire. The TUV isn't going to take your word for it.

They have a list of what you can have on your bike. If it's not on the list, meaning not tested on your year make and model of motorcycle, you fail TUV. With the speeds common on German highways, not just the Autobahns but all of their highways, this is a sensible policy for them, even if it offends some American sensibilities.

cycleman2 said:

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.

Click to expand...

In the insurance and risk management business we have a saying: "there is no law against stupid." The claims adjuster won't even ask. Otherwise no one would run ape hangers and there would be no 195 hp bmw superbikes on the road.

Uh-oh......did someone just call the SR1000 "stupid" ?

35634 said:

Uh-oh......did someone just call the SR1000 "stupid" ?

Click to expand...

Maybe.....

If the shoe fits.....

Thanks,

The HD and Dunlop marriage came much later, after most of us had been running Dunlops for decades before that. Germany builds my m/c and their safety standards are all great. They just leave out too many safe options, imo and with my miles added, I have a tremendous level of time in. I respect safe. My tires today are Dunlops for the Airheads, BS or Metzlers for the GSA and Shinko on the KLR. Quite a mix here. All have performed well to excellent, with Shinko being the lesser of these three. Buffalo Dunlop, didn't know that they had them made here in USA. I think mostly Dunlop is still Asian, out of Japan? Not positive on that and maybe HD and Dunlop had a thing going way back too, but its recent history, the HD labeled Dunlops. Fine tires. For the most part, anybody needing a V tire is not all here either and the HP war goes on. Just how fast do ya want to go? Most of us live in H world and Vs belong on a race track. Don't get fazzled, just my thoughts and I know many bikes today require the V rated speed tires, but I'm a "why" guy when it comes to light speeds? Just not in it. Ridgecrest, a favorite stopover on my my trips to DV every January/February. NEVER forget the guy filling his Gold Wing at the Chevron there in Ridgecrest with DIESEL fuel, as I filled my GSA across the island with gas. We were strangers and his GW fell apart about a block away, looking like a mosquito fogger! Poor guy, had a diesel Volvo at home and mistake with the GW that day, so used to that green nozzle....Off topic, sorry...RandyGSA1200

Harley used Goodyear tires into the early 1980's when Goodyear left the motorcycle tire market. That is when they adopted Dunlop tires.
Dunlop brand has an interesting history. Originally a British firm, and the largest tire manufacturer in the UK, Goodyear bought their US operations and some of their European operations and Sumitomo bought their Asian operations.

42906 said:

Harley used Goodyear tires into the early 1980's when Goodyear left the motorcycle tire market. That is when they adopted Dunlop tires.
Dunlop brand has an interesting history. Originally a British firm, and the largest tire manufacturer in the UK, Goodyear bought their US operations and some of their European operations and Sumitomo bought their Asian operations.

Click to expand...

Hmmm.....


I always thought John Boyd Dunlop received a US Patent in 1888 for the first pneumatic tire, and that Dunlop is the only remaining US manufacturer of motorcycle tires.

Greenwald said:

Hmmm.....


I always thought John Boyd Dunlop received a US Patent in 1888 for the first pneumatic tire, and that Dunlop is the only remaining US manufacturer of motorcycle tires.

Click to expand...

from the first few words of the Wiki article..

Although historically the largest UK manufacturer of car tyres, Dunlop Tires is an American company owned by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company which sells Dunlop brand tyres in North America, Australia and Europe.[1] In other regions of the world, the Dunlop brand is owned by other companies

Click to expand...

more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_Tyres

I'd like to put aircraft tires on my boat trailer. Will it prevent dry rot if I keep them in the lake?

Delaware.Dave said:

I'd like to put aircraft tires on my boat trailer. Will it prevent dry rot if I keep them in the lake?

Click to expand...

Well....yeah...duh!


This thread is a hoot!