Darksides

[Ishkatan]

So has anyone looked at Darkside tires for the NC700x?

I don't mean to start an argument about using car tires on bike. Just wondering if anyone has actually tried it on the NC700x or researched it and found if anything is available?

8,000 miles on the rear and 15,000 on the front does not seem like a lot. I know Goldwing and Silverwing (scooter) riders are using darksides to significantly increase their tire milage. Handling for normal riding is reported to be OK. However, there may be bead matching issues so only some types seem to work.

 

[dduelin]

You have to be kidding. The darksiders almost uniformly say the handling is OK "once you get used to it". Why ruin a great handling motorcycle like the NC700X by running a car tire? Oh well, you can be the first.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

If you want a super high mileage tire for the NC, Check out a Michelin Commander 2. Close to the right size but 24,000 miles +/-. You still get a MC tire that will handle a lot better. More to come.
This bike cries for a great tire when you hit the curves!

 

[Bubba Satori]

I can see CTs on a hack or a Gold Wing or an Electra Glide.
Not so much on other bikes which perform best on tires designed for them, imo.

 

[HONDABIKEPRO]

if you want car type mileage, drive your car, at least it will not roll up on the edge ,of the tire and spit you off????

 

[Daboo]

It's a valid question, even if it elicits some very heated comments.

I don't know if I'd ever go with a CT. Right now, I'm getting about 15,000 on my rear tire and changing the front at about 22-25,000. If I had tire wear like the NC700X and most motorcycles get, I'd be changing the rear twice a year. That gets pricey.

Then you consider that most people wear out what part of the tire??? The center. Why? Because they don't hit the twisties that often and most of their riding is on straight roads. If you're a commuter, that probably means the freeway.

The first thing I'd do, is find one of those online tire dealers that has the calculator to figure out equivalent tire sizes. It wouldn't be worth much discussion if an equivalent tire size didn't exist.

Chris

 

[HONDABIKEPRO]

it is not about the tire size, the bike will not turn with a car tire on the rear, some people just say its, OK YOU GET USED TO IT, the flatness of the car tire does not conform to the surface. it just trys to up right the bike. i test rode a customers bike, came back a told him why would you ruin a good motorcycle, in a strait line it followed every dip, rut, imperfections in the road and only wanted to go strait. allot of motorcycle crashes are from customers saying that the bike would not turn, and that made them crash. it is not safe to install a car tire on a motorcycle. dale

 

[Hmcp88]

it is not about the tire size, the bike will not turn with a car tire on the rear, some people just say its, OK YOU GET USED TO IT, the flatness of the car tire does not conform to the surface. it just trys to up right the bike. i test rode a customers bike, came back a told him why would you ruin a good motorcycle, in a strait line it followed every dip, rut, imperfections in the road and only wanted to go strait. allot of motorcycle crashes are from customers saying that the bike would not turn, and that made them crash. it is not safe to install a car tire on a motorcycle. dale

Agreed 100% it's a crazy unsafe idea for a motorcycle. On the same note pilot road 3's will be spooned onto my nc as soon as the stockers are done.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

It's a valid question, even if it elicits some very heated comments.

I don't know if I'd ever go with a CT. Right now, I'm getting about 15,000 on my rear tire and changing the front at about 22-25,000. If I had tire wear like the NC700X and most motorcycles get, I'd be changing the rear twice a year. That gets pricey.

Then you consider that most people wear out what part of the tire??? The center. Why? Because they don't hit the twisties that often and most of their riding is on straight roads. If you're a commuter, that probably means the freeway.

The first thing I'd do, is find one of those online tire dealers that has the calculator to figure out equivalent tire sizes. It wouldn't be worth much discussion if an equivalent tire size didn't exist.

Chris

The Michelins have a harder compound in the center and a softer compound on the edges. The Commander 2 is supposed to last 24,000 miles on a Goldwing or heavy cruiser. So it should last considerably longer on the light weight NCX.
The Pilot road 3 looks like its going to last 12-15,000 miles on a bike like the NCX.
I haven't decided which one I will get yet but you can bet a car tire wont handle as well as a MC tire.
Will they work,yes but don't try to stay with a MC with MC tires in the twisties.
If I was only riding on straight roads at 55 mph or less for the life of my bike, I might consider a CT, but that's not in the cards for my area.

 

[Daboo]

My point was only that all the arguments about how good or unsafe going to the darkside is...it is all a moot point if no tire will fit.

Chris

 

[duk2n]

The Michelins have a harder compound in the center and a softer compound on the edges

The OEM Metzelers have the same compound distribuition. I'm reaching the 8,000 miles with them and I think I will not change them yet (the plan was to have the dealer changing them while the 8,000 miles service)

 

[showkey]

More info from a magazine on the merits, relative safety and basic engineering of CT on a MC:

Tales From the Dark Side: Putting Car Tires on Motorcycles | Rider Magazine



This topic comes up often on big touring/sport touring and cruiser bike threads and quickly turns into some what of an oil thread

Edit: not a fan of this CT thing

 

[treybrad]

This topic comes up often on big touring/sport touring and cruiser bike threads and quickly turns into some what of an oil thread

Right, it usually comes up on discussions involving big tourers/sport tourers that chew through their rubber quickly -- Goldwings, Valkyries, Triumph Rocket III, etc. I was getting 12-14k miles out of rear tires (Michelin PR2) on my Bandit 1250, which had a reputation for eating rubber.

I expect to get at least 15k miles out of a PR2/3 on the little NC. And with options like the Commander 2 that supposedly last 25k miles on HD tourers, you could probably get 30k out of it.

IMO, the risk/benefit just isn't worth it. Sure, maybe you could get 50k out of a CT, but if you can get 30k out of a proper MT that will allow you to enjoy the bike fully, why bother?

Figure $150 for either option, the $/mi for the CT is $.003, and for the MT is $.005. If you're pinching pennies that tightly, you're in the wrong hobby altogether.

How many miles are you really putting on the bike per year anyway?

trey

 

[Ishkatan]

My brother in law has a darkside on his Goldwing and I watched it carefully. When he leans the bike quite a bit about 1/3 of the tread will lift but there is still more rubber on the road than if he had a regular motorcycle tire. The sidewalls flex. The true test will be what he does when it is time to replace the tire.

For a lighter motorcycle like the NC700x the Michelines with the hard center seem extremely practical. The only question is does that increase breaking distance, especially on wet pavement?

 

[Daboo]

...For a lighter motorcycle like the NC700x the Michelines with the hard center seem extremely practical. The only question is does that increase breaking distance, especially on wet pavement?

I had some serious misgivings on a similar tire, the Michelin Pilot Power Pure. Last winter I was riding in marginal conditions on one of my commutes. On the freeway, all was fine. I exited on an elevated off-ramp with an S-curve. I looked ahead and the entire surface of the off-ramp was covered in white hoar frost. I slowed as much as possible, and slid just a bit on each of the two portions of the S-curve. That was with Pirelli tires and one consistent tread compound over the tire.

Now if the center tread is designed to last longer...how good is the traction? As I'm not an engineer I'm only guessing, but my thinking is it would seem like it would be harder and offer less traction. The softer side tread would be more like the Pirelli. That combination would be fine in normal dry conditions. However...

So if I slid on a tire that has an excellent reputation for traction in both dry and wet conditions...how badly would I have slipped if the dual-compound Michelin was on the bike? Sure the side tread has more grip, but in this case, I don't want to be leaning over that far to explore how well that grip is. By the time I'm leaned over enough for the softer grippier tread to be in contact, I've lost control of the bike.

Just food for thought... Many people don't ride in temps below 40F, so for them it is a moot point and the tire offers an excellent way to get a decent tire that will last quite a few miles. But if you're a commuter who rides in temps down around 35F, it is worth thinking about.

Chris

 

[draco_1967]

I had a set of PR3s on my last bike (03 nighthawk 750) that is very similar in weight and handling to the NC. I felt very secure on wet roads. I rode in a snow storm and the only time I felt the tires slip was after slush accumulated on the road.

Slush, frost, sand, oil, etc will make any tire insecure.

 

[MZ5]

Supposedly, the way the multi-compound Michelins work is _not_ that the center compound is 'harder' than what you'd expect of a tire of the type, rather the shoulders/sides have a _softer_ compound than 'normal' for a tire of the type. That's what I've read in a couple places, anyway. If true, then there'd be no issue with unexpectedly lowtraction in adverse conditions.

 

[Daboo]

I can accept that MZ5, but then I wonder how they get higher mileage from the tire? Generally, it is the center tread that wears out first. If it is the same as other single compound tires, then I'd think it would wear just as fast.

Just puzzled. I'd love for that to be true.

Chris

 

[DanWill]

Back on the darkside idea, I ran a car tire on the back of my VTX for four years, put around twenty thousand miles on it and still had years of tread left.
At full lean I still had more tire on the road than I did with my motorcycle tires. What people don't realize when they talk about car tires is that the compounds used on the average car tire is softer than what is used on motorcycle tires, which means more traction, and there is always more tire on the road, sometimes twice as much as a motorcycle tire which also translates into more traction. There are plenty of video's of riders on the dragon with car tires and you watch them from the camera on the next bike. The bike leans, the side wall on the tire will flex allowing half of the bottom of the tire to maintain on the pavement, you can see that on the video's.
I got caught in the rain one night, which I actively try to avoid, and decided to see what kind of traction I had on a wet road. I stopped on a side street and launched the bike to see what it would take to spin the tire, when the front tire came back down to the pavement, I decided NOT to try that experiment again!
The last thing I will say is on the subject of "having to get used to it". Every bike will feel differently with a new set of tires and you will "have to get used to it". No different with a car tire. It requires more input to turn BUT takes the same amount of input to turn every time, just like a motorcycle tire. Once you have ridden for twenty miles you forget that its different and it becomes normal just like riding any other tire will.

To each his own, but don't be put off by those who talk like they know and have never tried it.

 

[frozenpoet]

To each their own, but I'm not worried about tread life. I also feel that there is more engineering mumbo jumbo that goes into the design of a tire than what we, or at least I, know. So if it doesn't say that is meant for a motorcycle, it's not going on my bike. Just my two pennies.