anyone gone to the DarkSide &using car tires

anyone gone to the DarkSide & started using car tires on your scooters?? seem to be there allot of people doing this for goldwings and other big bikes.

UUUHHHMMMM.......

Please excuse my ignorance. I would think that a square tyre would be OK until your up to 15-20deg lean, but then would get a bit skatey (I know a drag long bike does!). Is this to open up tread pattern choices, width/profile choices, or is it a money/wear thing?

I'm very intrigued tho......

I wondered how long it would take the concept to show up here.

Oil, best tires, octane-rating............





No

hot topic over on some the scooter forums a few years ago. strong opinions yea or nay.

long, long life of the car tires sounds appealing, but those sqared off shoulders scare the shit out of me.

Funny thing is, the strong nays tend to come from those who have no experience. Kind of like cagers who are vehemently anti 2 wheel riding.

My thought is, those who wish to, give it a try, then report back on the results.
Those who don't wish, just don't denigrate those that do. Give peace a chance

Here is a link to a good article about Darkside tires. It is not about scooters, but covers a lot of good info.

http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/27/theDarkSide.html

When it comes to info about how things work, I rarely look to people with zero experience for advice.

Seems that those who use them, love them.

I did some research into it and many Burgman riders have done it. It seems to be tire and rider dependent. You need to confirm the tire you want to use will confirm the the use you intend to subject the tire to.

I read the "square" edge takes some getting used to.

This is a personal decision and may put you outside of you insurance coverage.

Do your research well and make up your own mind.

In the early 70's, I was more than happy with tires that were very hard, wore like iron and had very square edges. Today I wouldn't be and that's the limit of my experience.

As above, do what you think is right.

Here's a guy on a PC800 scraping pegs at the Dragon's tail... with a rear car tire. I know you can't see it very well, but I know him from the PC800 group and he swears by them.




Here's a video (one of many on YouTube)

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I have a Honda SilverWing with almost 32,000 miles on darkside tires. My darkside tire outside (both upper and lower) nibs are still present and not even worn!!!

When someone follows me and watches the darkside tire, they say they would never know I had a car tire. It is funny when the opinions change after seeing the tire in action.

For the same duration I have replaced 1.5 front motorcycle tires show the side tire wear.

The darkside tire has saved my butt ten different times ... I do not believe I would have had the same outcome with a motorcycle tire.

+ 1 to Honda Silver's post.

I've got ~10000 miles on a Sumitomo tire on my Silverwing. It's slightly larger is circumfrence than the OEM tire so it slightly alters the final drive ratio.

Think of that ratio change as Darkside Overdrive.

And, oh yeah, I rode the Dragon with a full load of (top heavy) touring crap on board. No problem with the road or the tire.

:eek1 :eek1 :eek1

NOW I'm listening! Obviously this is different to the slick-tyre OMG feeling. When I get that damn scoot back from my thieving daughter (uuhhmmm, actually it's hers!) I'll give it a go.

Wonder if it will go on the back of the Vmax? Has anyone tried them on a big old heavy road bike? Can't be any worse than the Dunlop "Sport" I guess

Oh, and Coop, I agree with you man, when people start asking my recommendations for oil brands, I'll probably start with Target brand......

I've read a bit about the car tire thing, so I know some of the reasons, etc. My biggest concern trying to apply it to a scooter is tire diameter. It translates across without much change for the larger diameter tires, but I have to wonder if the differences that are negligible at 16" become in-your-face at 10".

If I had a spare scooter and helmet to risk toasting, I'd be willing to experiment. I'm not willing to sacrifice my daily rider and only helmet, though. Sounds right up there with being the first to test a heavy mod: if it works, hells yes! If it doesn't...best to find a track w/ support for the first run?

Ran into a bunch of Triumph Rocket III riders here in Western North Carolina the other day and half had auto tires on the rear. Thay said that they do just fine as far as handling goes and last three times as long as m/c tires.
One Rocket III had a supercharger and another had a turbo charger as if a stock 2300cc wasn't enough power and here I was on my 125cc Chinese CT70 wannabe harley.

Don't be frightened man! Just ask for a 10sec head start, then tell 'em to put their money on the tank!

Disclaimer: I have no experience with car tires on a motorcycle/scooter.

That said, has anyone considered the weight difference? A car tire is going to weigh more, due to its construction, than a motorcycle/scooter tire. That's more un-sprung weight which means your forks/shocks are going to work harder (or be worked above their intended threshold).

I'm inclined to stay with less un-sprung weight and something that's constructed with the bike/scoot in mind. Just my $0.02.

Yeah, me too. I dunno, at $50~ a tire I can't justify swapping to a car tire for longevity reasons.

The darkside tire is a radial tire ... not bias ply, therefore the darkside radial tire ends up absorbing the shock versus transmitting through the bias ply tire. Even the passengers have noticed the improvement!

The lower the PSI on the darkside tire, the more shock is absorbed.

Yep, I can see that. But for the maxiscoots that weigh lots, rear tyre wear is pretty fast, so I rekn this is one way around the problem.

I'm going to put one on the Vmax, the bias ply tyres make things "interesting" , and as much as that's fun mostly, it would be nice to not slip around everywhere around corners.

On ModernVespa 1 bloke has used one on the back of a 250GTS, coz he's doing 900miles a month commuting , so I rekn that's a good reason.