I ride a 2005 standard. I'm not sold on car tires. All I have learned about tires tells me that if you distribute the weight over a wider area you will have less ground pressure. Thus less traction. Why are farm tires designed in a narrow pattern for plowing (grip) and tires for flotation wider (less grip)?
Even dragster tires get narrow under speed. More bite.
All these types of arguments have been done to death (not literally
) cktire. Lots of anecdotal "BUT....BUT....BUT....YOU'LL DIE
" theories.
In reality, of all the car tire users that I have seen over the years on all different kinds of bikes only 3 that I am aware of have gone back to bike tires. Even then, they claimed the tire simply felt "different", and they didn't like the feel. Nothing worse that that. They certainly weren't doing it for self preservation.
The most common observation from darkside users is that car tires can, on some occasions, follow road grooves more than a bike tire
, they are far more stable in the wet
, they last 6+ times as long
, emergency braking is improved
, and as soon as you have grown used to a little more counter steer they handle every bit as well as a bike tire in the twisties
. Videos taken from underneath the bikes show that even at severe lean angles you are nowhere near up on the sidewall and always have a significant contact patch
.
There have been no incidences that I have seen of the oft quoted "they'll blow off the rim" or reported deaths from car tire use
(it would have been splashed over every bike site in the world had it happened)
and no....I'm not a darkside rider, but that doesn't mean I won't switch at my next tire change
.
Pete
