cats wrote:
can you run a car tire on roadstar with spoke wheels?

The better place to ask that question is on the dark side forum. SMOKINJOE posted the address above. Making a decision to go darkside requires that you do the research needed to satisfy yourself that you are doing the right thing. Don't take anyones word for it, take the time to find the answers to your question from first hand reports. Then decide if you want to trust them. I plan on doing this soon, BUT I would never recommend it to anyone for the reasons I just listed above. You are ultimately responsible for your own safety. Do your due diligence.

Thanks for that link, Rayjay !

Don't do it. Every guy I ever talked to did it for the cheaper cost. Cheaper and motorcycle tires is an oxymoron. 46 years riding on everything ever built tells me so. Let me put it this way...when is the last time you leaned your car over? The tires are built for different dynamics and reasons.

takehikes wrote:
Don't do it. Every guy I ever talked to did it for the cheaper cost. Cheaper and motorcycle tires is an oxymoron. 46 years riding on everything ever built tells me so. Let me put it this way...when is the last time you leaned your car over? The tires are built for different dynamics and reasons.



I've been on a CT since last october. If you or anybody else rode my bike you'd have no idea it was a CT you were riding on. I've had B'stones and metz on my bike and the CT does everything better or as well as the MT. I'm not sure where the "cheaper" comes from as I've NEVER heard or read that one person switched because they were cheaper. My CT cost $138+ tax. About the same as a MT. The Comtrac was running $150. The main draw (I belive) is the mileage. Better grip/handling (or every bit as good) is a bonus. I haven't leaned my car but I DO scrape the floorboards on my bike constantly even at speed.

Your stating opinions you have heard others say.....not from first hand experience. Most people that say you can't...or shouldn't, will follow up with "that's what I was told".

I'm not trying to talk anybody into using a CT. Hope ya don't. Maybe someone else that lives near you may have an easier time locating one for their bike.

Like Gram said....go to the DS site and read up. Make your own educated opinion.
Its your call.

takehikes wrote:
Don't do it. Every guy I ever talked to did it for the cheaper cost. Cheaper and motorcycle tires is an oxymoron. 46 years riding on everything ever built tells me so. Let me put it this way...when is the last time you leaned your car over? The tires are built for different dynamics and reasons.
Only gonna day that everyone has their own opinion. I'm still loving my darkside tire for many reasons other than the cheaper cost. But as I read above do the research it is well worth the time it takes to know and understand what you are doin. It is different and for me the difference is a good thing

takehikes wrote:
Let me put it this way...when is the last time you leaned your car over?

samw, just don't lean your car over and you'll be ok.

But seriously, like Gram said, do all the searching and reading that you can to be sure YOU want to do it.

3 years ago I needed a tire for the back of my Venture and I spent hours researching it and finally decided that I wanted to use a CT. Because of all the doomsayers I was a little apprehensive on the first few rides but after some seat time I realized that I would never buy a rear M/C tire again... at least not for the rear wheel. Why are the pros to having a CT for me?
1. Higher load rating. I never have felt too safe on an M/C tire because I ride heavy bikes and I'm a heavy guy. You'll usually (not always) get about 25% more load capacity with a CT. My CT felt best at the max pressure listed on the tire so I got the full load rating.
2. MUCH better grip. Braking, wet riding AND in the curves. CT's will actually have more rubber on the road even when your scraping floorboards. You'll never get near the edge of the tire even if you lay the bike on it's side.
3. An average of 3 times the mileage life. I sold the Venture with almost 10 k miles on that tire and it looked like the day I mounted it.
The grip and long life has to do with the different rubber compounds that CT's are made with. A fellow on the Darksiders forum has a durometer (look it up ) and says he has yet to find a CT that isn't softer than a M/C tire. Yet a CT gives so much longer mileage because of a different rubber compound. Don't you think the M/C tire makers could use the same compounds?
4. And least importantly, Price. My Kumho cost me about $70. In some cases the CT cost more but you still get all the advantages noted above.

That's MY CT experience. Others have different experiences, good and bad. Again, make up your own mind.

Folks who use CT are extremely set in their opinions. If you want a CT, then I feel you should be able to run one and be happy.
As to the engineering, I only pass along what I was told during professional tours with Bridgestone, Michelin and Parelli reps during visits to their facilities while I was with GM.
The subject came up and engineers at all three makers stated the same points. By design and by the laws of physics a car keeps a flat contact patch while cornering. Tire casings are designed to keep a flat cross section even when forces try to deform it to ensure the largest possible contact area. As speeds increase the CT body resists the forces trying to expand its center and stays as flat as possible.
A motorcycle tire has an arched cross section because the vehicle leans by nature and rides on the edges of it's tires. The body is designed to keep the steady arch at speed and under load so as to keep a maximum contact patch with the road service.
If you speak with anyone who is involved with the design and development of tires they will tell you that CTs and MTs are designed from the black paper on with different performance parameters. CTs are designed to meet load and wear ratings much greater than MTs.
If you are comfortable with e CT on your machine and are happy with the fitment, power power to you. But they do NOT offer the maximum contact area under cornering.

I have been running on the darkside since last spring. I'm sorry I was not clear, I bought a new set of cast wheels and I was looking for someone who was running that specific tire on a Roadstar.
Like most have said it is a personal choice,my choice is a ct. The ride and traction are way better IMHO.
Sorry to start this again.

here are some pictures of my ct on a cast wheel....

BuffaloRider wrote:
But they do NOT offer the maximum contact area under cornering.

Well, I'll disagree with you there. The ONLY M/C tire than I can imagine having as much or more contact would be one of the 300mm monsters. Even if a CT had less road contact in a lean it still has better grip. But, it doesn't really matter what either of us says though. All I can go by are videos and photos shot from behind of riders with CT's scraping floorboards. In other words "real world" not theory.
By the way... engineers didn't figure out that bumblebees can fly until 2007.