Car Tires on a motorcycle

[Stig / Major Tom]

Well, it's too cold to ride today.....

Found this new post on youtube….


Stig

[john grinsel]

Best explanation of not to do it!!   I have seen another version showing the difficulty of getting the bead to seat---100psi.

For scooters----they ain't the best handling bikes in the first place---why do anything to further screw them up?

[rdhood]

Not for me. If I  rode 20,000 miles a year, I  might consider trying. If I rode straight flat roads... I  might consider it. But I  dont ride enough, and my rides will always entail twisties because that is where I  live.

[CROSSBOLT]

I have seen this video earlier on ADVrider.com forum. I really liked his bead breaker! Between ADVrider and Suzuki Burgman forum there must be at least a thousand riders currently riding darkside and have been for several years. The ADVenture riders travel all over the world, some trips are typical of Seattle to Argentina, Saigon to the China border, Moscow to Siberia and back. The biggest challenge besides the trip is tires. Rear tires on gravel roads go quickly. Car tires last longer. Same is true of the pansies like me on concrete and asphalt. The thousand posts on darkside.nwff.info are testimony of car tire effectiveness on two wheel vehicles. Oh, yes. And even the NTSB has no crash data relating car tires to the cause. But that has been covered last year....

[Kansas kymco]

I know a individual that has a Cushman scooter and belongs to a Cushman club.  Some members use boat trailer tires since it's a odd size. He said handling on corners was squirrely unless you shaved the edges to round the tire. Coker makes a replacement now with the correct size.

[randyo]

I experimented with the darkside, as a winter experiment, successful beyond my wildest imagination, on my V-strom 1000, a General Altimax Arctic in back, and a studded Metzler Karoo up front,

First I tried studded Karoos front & rear, the front hooked up good, but too much hp & engine braking for rear, I got the brainey idea a heavier tire would buffer the hp & engine braking issues, and that it does,  winter car rubber also sticks to cold pavement better, real sipes and tread designed to handle slush, snow & ice

other 3 seasons, not so much, certainly does last a long time, 4 front tires to 1 darkside rear, but I'm not in it to save $$, I have my winter car tire mounted on a spare rear wheel

If I were to take a long trip, Alaska, for instance, I would probably go darkside to save a tire change on the trip