Just my observation

This is the third year that I've owned my roadster and I would say that I feel very comfortable on the bike, which leads to my confidence in the bikes performance during a ride.

I recently travelled to Melbourne / PI and back from Brisbane with 11 other bikes completing roughly 4800km of back country roads and highways over 6 days. I had an avon cobra on front and an exedra max on the back, the bike was carrying about 20kg of gear and a single rider.
The group was a mixture of sport and adventure bikes that included a couple of ducati multistrada's, a ktm super duke, triumph sprint and a couple of BMW 1000R's.

Typical speeds were 120kph - 140kph on reasonably rough country roads and 100kph on the highway.
The max had worn to the full extremity of the tyre and began to delaminate at the 8200km mark before it needed to be replaced. I was in a country town 300km from home and opted for a 225/55 ct when I couldn't get a bike tyre.

I've since done 1000km of rough country roads and highway cruising on the ct.
I ran 20psi and 35psi with and without a pillion to assess the handling.

At first the ct wanted to follow the camber of the road at 20psi but was significantly better at 35psi.
I've found that cornering is reliable and steady at angles that drag the pegs (and other bits) but the ct is using a 25mm (1") wide band on the side wall when pressed hard in corners.

I've got concerns about wearing out the side wall before the tread so I'll be swapping out the ct for another max pretty soon to allow me to keep sticking it to the sports bikes in the twisties

Other than that I can see that flat highway riding would be the most efficient use of the ct and if your riding style is more upright it would be a very cost effective solution.

Good points Pete, I have had a car tyre on my bike for over 10000miles took it off about 20000miles ago would not go back unless i was in the same situation as you were, long straight road's the car tyre is fantastic and once they start using them at the Isle of Man then i will believe they are as good in corners as a motorbike tyre.

Good onya @Pete for giving it a go, wouldn't have been my choice 300ks from home,..... I've got a spare in the shed I could have got to you.
Wearing up the side wall 25mm means the deflection would be quite a lot and having a reasonable knowledge on tyre construction I wouldn't be leaving it on if you want to keep riding that style........ just saying

Few of us members was talking about the splines going bad on Rockets. Both members I was talking too had catastrophic spline failures. Both members ran CTs for a long time. Now .... one member was told by the tech at the dealership that a CT will not let the drive train assembly "give" at points where it needs to give to relive stress on the drive train. Therefore it's not a good idea to run a CT except in emergency situations.

I ran a CT for a short period of time because I had flat. I could have ordered another MT but wanted to give the CT a try. I of course didn't know the CT could cause drivetrain issues at the time. I didn't like it. With my body weight the sweet spot tire pressure was 25 psi. Most of the time before I could go riding I had to add air to the tire. With such a low tire pressure the bead of the tire wouldn't seal against the wheel.

mully95 said:

Few of us members was talking about the splines going bad on Rockets. Both members I was talking too had catastrophic spline failures. Both members ran CTs for a long time. Now .... one member was told by the tech at the dealership that a CT will not let the drive train assembly "give" at points where it needs to give to relive stress on the drive train. Therefore it's not a good idea to run a CT except in emergency situations.

I ran a CT for a short period of time because I had flat. I could have ordered another MT but wanted to give the CT a try. I of course didn't know the CT could cause drivetrain issues at the time. I didn't like it. With my body weight the sweet spot tire pressure was 25 psi. Most of the time before I could go riding I had to add air to the tire. With such a low tire pressure the bead of the tire wouldn't seal against the wheel.

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THE fact is if you dont lube the splines they will fail and the CT guys are not pulling off the wheel and lubing them when they should running a CT doesnt save anything it just screws up the handling and wears out front tires faster and eats HP from more rolling resistance and hurts gas mileage SO I say run the bike tires and stop kidding yourself the jokes on you

thanks for the report pete.

IMFASTTOO said:

THE fact is if you dont lube the splines they will fail and the CT guys are not pulling off the wheel and lubing them when they should running a CT doesnt save anything it just screws up the handling and wears out front tires faster and eats HP from more rolling resistance and hurts gas mileage SO I say run the bike tires and stop kidding yourself the jokes on you

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Yes indeed. The lube needs to be done whether the tire is worn or not. First time I have to agree with you.

Tire pressure changes a lot depending on the weather. Have had no issues with the CT losing air. Run around 22 PSI. but have had a problem with the Avon Cobra up front losing air. Going to replace it with a Dunlap elite. As far for the drive train issues that makes no sense at all. Then again you did mention your dealer correct?

Good report, the one, and only, accurate DS report from someone riding the bike hard in direct comparison to a MT.

I recently discovered, besides grip and stock sizing, there is another reason to go with the 150/80R17 Cobra front tire. The 150/80 V is rated for greater than 149 mph, it is the only R3 tire rated as such that fits bikes with ABS. The other size Cobras are rated up to 149, not over it.