[Marv]

I know this subject has been discussed many times but I have a question that has not come up...I think. Many riders say how dangerous it is to use a car tire in the back of a Burgman 650. But how many of these riders are speaking from personal experience or only what they heard. I know all the good things that have been written about doing this but not any bad things from riders who didn't like it or got in trouble by using a car tire.

A friend of mine switched over to a car tire and I asked him about the pro and cons. He said he liked the ride better. The scooter had a softer ride. I told him I thought this was because the side walls on a car tire are thinner and don't support the bike as well especially when leaning. But what do I know.

In Florida we are lucky to get 7 or 8 thousand miles on a Bridgestone motorcycle tire. My friend states he expects to get 50,000 miles or more. I know the cost savings but is the potential risks worth it. BTW: That Bridgestone car tire is impressive.

 

[v8eyedoc]

I naver had a car tire on the rear of my scooter...BUT.....for 11 years had a car tire on my motorcycle and finally sold it with 46,000 on that tire,,,!! Never had any problems with it at all.........! BY THE WAY - that bike weighed close to 1400 lbs.......... A Boss Hoss.:hello1:

 

[rimjaine]

Hello,
I've put close to 70,000 miles on car tires, a little more than 50,000 miles on the Burgman 650. No problems what so ever, if I could say the same for OEM motorcycle tires I'd probably still be using them.
Jim

 

[military1]

what is a good set of car tires to put on 650 burgman?

 

[Bakeisback]

t Bridgestone car tire is impressive.

What Bridgestone tire do they have on their ride?

 

[none]

what is a good set of car tires to put on 650 burgman?

You don't put "a set of car tires" on a Burgman, only the rear wheel.

I've about 14k mi. ridden on my Burgman 650 w/car tire on the rear wheel before I sold it.

The transition between upright and leaned takes some getting used to, but that's with any new tire you mount on a vehicle.

Just do as you would with any newly mounted tire, take you time and practice before you start pushing the limits.

 

[johnny ro]

I have never read a post anywhere on darksiding that highlights a valid danger to worry about.

The negative posts are all along the lines of
1) "I don't get it (yet) so it cant be real". And,
2) "Its a square profile so it must suck and be dangerous" but as we know car tires are very flexible, being rubber bags full of compressed air (baloons) so the square profile item is a red herring.

You asked about danger. None I have seen, read or experienced yet.

On the Burgy mounting is a mild issue as circumferences are not optimal for car tires. Everyone gets it done though so that is not a real problem.

Handling changes, it's a mixed change. I steer with throttle more than before. See next comment.

I find myself at Wide Open Throttle off the line whether going straight or into turns, a lot more, as I am remembering that the rear tire is now effectively a lifetime tire for me.

Cheers!

 

[knucklehead]

I've got about 1,000 miles on my first dark-side tire. After a few weeks or so of cautiously approaching corners after the change while getting used to it I'm now back up to speed in cornering. The rear feels well planted. There is a slight wobble in slow speed corners but that no longer bothers me. The only downside IMO is the way the back tire will push away from a crowned road surface. I'm not seeing any other downside to this tire and the upside is the high mileage before needing another tire. Beats the **** out of spending $200 every 7-8000 miles for a new tire.

As for the naysayers I've also noticed that few of them have actually tried a CT on their motorcycle or scooter. Real experience trumps lip service every time.

 

[BerndM]

Other than what I've read and seen on You Tube, I have no personal experience here, but one of the videos I saw pretty well puts the "less contact patch" scenario out to pasture.
2 guys with 650's. 1 with the normal motorcycle tire on the rear, the other with a car tire. They were in a very nice, smooth and empty parking lot and using a little puddle of water they created, they ran both bikes thru the water in straight runs and leaning over and then measured the width of the contact patch.
The car tire's contact patch was actually a bit wider on leaning than the mc tire and in the straight runs, the car tire was WAY wider than the mc tire.
I found this very interesting.
No effort was made to determine if leaning a car tire onto it's edge was harmful to the tire.
I have tried, so far unsuccessfully to find that video. If and when I find it, I will post it here.

 

[westgl]

From every thing I read it has been positive,

Update: it was "TheBlackMoon" hopefully he will chime in and discuss his experiences.

But one guy on here had a high speed side wall blow out on the freeway.

He was able to get it to the side of the freeway and stopped without be hurt.

I think right before the blow out he took it up to 100 mph then it blew.

That was the only thing that i have heard, i am wondering what ever happened as owner was goign to give a update and show Pictures of old tire, but i never say the pictures

 

[Dave_J]

TheBlackMoon has a habit of not posting for a while and then trys to catch back up.

Out of the 10,000 posts I have read on the whole WWW, we have had only 1 death in the BurgmanUSA team with a Car tire on the rear of his 650. The investigation pointed to a bulged FRONT tire. His name was BJack.