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[Ironhorse]

A motorcycle with a car tire on the rear. It belonged to a rider who took the Ride Like A Pro West Coast course from me today. He was taking advantage of my free return class and decided to use his Yamaha FJR. The last time he took the class he used his Honda VFR. He’s an Iron Butt rider who has gone coast to coast and thinks nothing of a minimum of 1,000 miles in a day. California to Florida is just a jaunt to him.

Like a lot of Iron Butt riders his bike is set up for comfort and miles. And one of the things he says that makes the super slab easier to take is having a 205/50/17 car tire on the back of the bike. It absorbs bumps and rides nicer. He was introduced to it by some Goldwing Riders who had success with it. He also gets at least 35K out of it.

All day I was watching him ride and struggle with slow speeds at times. To corner and lean meant he had to get the bike over onto the edge of the tire. It was a strange sight seeing half the tire and the outside edge up off the ground while the bike rode on the inside edge. Finally I asked him if I could try the bike out. As I suspected the bike was difficult to handle at slow speeds. I felt like I was wrestling a hippo in the water. I had to really FORCE it to get it onto the inside edge of the tire, and then struggle to keep it from tipping over. And transitioning back and forth side to side lock to lock was unnerving for me. The bike would go from feeling heavy and slow in the rear while travelling straight, to suddenly top heavy while on the edge, and then back to slow and heavy while the bike transitioned into a lean over to the other side. He said it took him about 100 miles to get used to it.

I’m sure it has benefits on the long highway rides those Iron Butt guys do. Still I’m not sure I would do that to a bike of mine.

[Chains]

Guys and Gals that ride Honda Goldwing GL1800's tend to put car tires on from time to time.  I have seen quite a few of them rigged this way but not many Harley's since the 60's.  I fear the straight across tread compared to the radius on a real motorcycle tire. 

Thanks anyone but I'll spend the extra bucks and be safe.

[muddypaws]

My guess is that cornering would not be so good.

[LarryB]

we,ve been putting those on dirt drag bikes for awhile, just did a 300 tire on a KZ1000. it takes a football field to turn around, but it sure puts the torque to the ground.
hey Ironhorse, I did not realize till now that you actually taught RLAP. Do you travel with Jerry for his shows? I've met him and his wife several times, great bunch and great info.
my wife and her riding gals took liberties with the RLAP name, they call themselves
Riding like a  Hoe

[Ironhorse]

My guess is that cornering would not be so good.

Well once you get the bike up onto the edge of the tire cornering was good, but it was a struggle to get it up on the edge. Countersteering was much more difficult as the bike had to go from fat strip, to edge, back to fat strip, and other edge. That was a lot of work on the bars. I don't think the benefits of riding it on superslab are worth the sacrafice of all the other aspects of motorcycling.

Mark

[grandpadoc]

Nice report Mark.      Merry Christmas     Lou and Terry

[Ironhorse]

we,ve been putting those on dirt drag bikes for awhile, just did a 300 tire on a KZ1000. it takes a football field to turn around, but it sure puts the torque to the ground.
hey Ironhorse, I did not realize till now that you actually taught RLAP. Do you travel with Jerry for his shows? I've met him and his wife several times, great bunch and great info.
my wife and her riding gals took liberties with the RLAP name, they call themselves
Riding like a  Hoe

Larry,

I have NOT had the opportunity to travel with Jerry and Donna yet. They live in Florida and I am in California. It takes a lot of coordination to make that work and Jerry stays mostly on the East Coast.

You know TrapperDog (Roger) wanted "Ride Like A Ho" too. It didn't go over so well with the group of women riders he had in mind for it. I think he's still licking his wounds on that one LOL!!!

Mark

[Buy early]

I can see where that might be nice for long highway stretches but boy, what a PIA for handling.

[Ultra2010]

I don't get it.  If it handles like chit at slow speeds then why put yourself at a further disadvantage than need be, it's already tough enough out there.

[JoMo]

I don't get it.  If it handles like chit at slow speeds then why put yourself at a further disadvantage than need be, it's already tough enough out there.

Ditto

           Jo Mo NYC 

[Hoist!]

Guys were doing this years ago, before wide bike tires were available. Guys did it for the look, but the bike handled like chit, and was a real wreseting match. With all these wide tire choices now, I see no reason whatsoever to use them on a bike in this day and age!

Hoist!

[RedDevil]

Guys were doing this years ago, before wide bike tires were available. Guys did it for the look, but the bike handled like chit, and was a real wreseting match. With all these wide tire choices now, I see no reason whatsoever to use them on a bike in this day and age!

Hoist!

Unless they're just to &*_)^ng cheap to buy a proper wide motorcycle tire...

[miker]

Back in the days before global warming we would use bias ply truck tires on the rigid framed scoots cause it was cool.

They handled so bad from the get go with the girdered front end, the back tire didn't matter much...

Id still like an early sugar bear framed one for some unknown reason

[ice6900]

its quite common to see the car tyres on custom bikes in europe,  as Hoist wrote  "Guys were doing this years ago, before wide bike tires were available. Guys did it for the look, but the bike handled like chit"

i dont like the car tyre look myself and wouldnt even contemplate fitting one to my ride!

[FR8TRN]

Yeah last year I rode with a guy that had one on an Intruder 1500, back in 2003 in CA we rode together and he would leave me, just a damn good rider that could take the corners like he was on rails, with a motorcycle tire on the bike.  Fast forward to Pigeon Forge and a car tire on the same bike, he was falling behind farther for every turn, got out on I-40 between Foothills Pkwy and Maggie Valley area (a nice interstate with long sweepers) running 95+ he nearly got left behind, we kept slowing down to wait for him.  My brother (on a Wing) rode behind him for a while and said in the turns he couldn't keep a line with it, riding up on the edge that thing was all over the place.  If you run long straight interstates all the time I guess it's fine, but if your gonna ride it hard, it makes no sense.....