[Retired Guy]

Do any of you know anything about car tires causing transmission damage on a motorcycle?

I'm not trying to start a pro/con darkside thread, just asking because I was recently told by a motorcycle mechanic car tires, on a motorcycle, will cause transmission damage. I can't find any information on the internet to back up his statement, but I may not be asking the right question in the right way.

 

[WintrSol]

That's a new argument against darkside, to me!
I can't think of any mechanical reason that the type of tire would cause damage to a transmission. Maybe he thinks the extra grip would add extra load to the gears, but that would mean a MC tire slips under the same conditions.

 

[Retired Guy]

It made no sense to me, but when a guy makes a living as a mechanic, I'm inclined to listen a bit more closely. On the other hand, (there's always another hand) he works at a dealership that sells tires.

Darksiding has been around a while, if it caused transmission problems,someone somewhere would have posted something about it.

This forum has riders of all stripes, thought it was a good place to ask.

 

[Offcenter]

I'm on my second car tire.
No transmission damage here, and the bike
is getting quite close to 100,000 miles.

 

[Retired Guy]

I've had a car tire on 3 different bikes now. The biggest problem I've had is remembering to pull the rear wheel for servicing the drive/driven gears every 10,000 miles. If you're pushing 100,000 miles with your bike, I'm going to chalk it up to trying to sell tires.

 

[WintrSol]

... I'm going to chalk it up to trying to sell tires.

Or a general dislike of the darkside. The shop that does the work I won't (or can't) do will only dismount darkside tires and throw them away. I'd have to go shopping for a mechanic to have one mounted, if I wanted to.

 

[Retired Guy]

I don't know of anyone around here that will mount a car tire, so I do it myself.

 

[RonK]

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I've been following and using car tires on my bikes for some years now, and I've never read or heard of anyone having any problem gear wise with the tire.

The only two problems I've ever heard are that some riders don't like the slightly different "feel" of the tire and that many dealers don't want to mount one. Never even read of anyone having any problem with service or warranty on the bike while having a car tire on.

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[hogcowboy]

I have to admit that has to be the best argument against darksiding that I've ever read. Unfortunately with zero proof. I think I'd ask him to show you exactly what fails in the tranny. If he knows it causes failures he should be able to show you exactly what fails. Mechanics love showing their prize of the day/month/year failures so I'd just ask him to show you that interesting failure. Otherwise, and I think it is, it's pure BS on his part to try selling motorcycle tires and not have to tell you he can't or won't mount a car tire. JMHO

 

[SemiFast]

Yeah, they are in the business of selling and mounting M/C tires.

Maybe the theory is a car tire is probably heavier that a M/C tire and therefore harder on the transmission. (More weight to pull).
Even if true it probably wouldn't be enough to make much difference.

 

[Retired Guy]

Next time I see him I'll ask what is it that fails. It can' t be the weight factor, I don't think so anyway, most passengers would weigh more and the factory put a passenger seat on the bike.

I would have never even posed the question if it was just someone I met at a gathering of riders somewhere, but like I stated above, he's a mechanic, apparently a mechanic with a bias against darksiders. I do feel a bit better about the whole thing now that I shared the..., sorry, "BS" , with other riders.

 

[Tobacco Road]

In my experience, the more genius a person is in their specific field, the less they know about others, and the more they tend to think their expertise, where it exists, qualifies them to speak on subjects of which they know nothing.

RonK is the go to guy for these question on this forum.

 

[RonK]

In my experience, the more genius a person is in their specific field, the less they know about others, and the more they tend to think their expertise, where it exists, qualifies them to speak on subjects of which they know nothing.

RonK is the go to guy for these question on this forum.

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Do I get extra pay for that? :wink2:

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[Tobacco Road]

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Do I get extra pay for that? :wink2:

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Its been deduced that the correct monetary value added to this forum by your quick wit and mechanical know-how cannot be properly computed without a further long term time investment by you. Your technical knowledge is greatly appreciated so please accept our heartfelt thanks as payment in full, I'm sure you'll agree. Thanks Ron.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

In NZ, the word on the street woz, winter tread tyres would damage the rear end of your cage.
Too. If you left your cage in gear when it was parked, and it was hit by another cage, your gear box would suffer damage.

I can think of no reason to support stupid ideas.

I will be putting tyres with a car type tread, on Yami the next time I switch. Yami has the side car attached, and is wearing out the center of the tyres.

It does make me wonder, how knobbies do not wreck the gear box, of the bike they are on.

UK

 

[RonK]

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I will accept payment by credit card also. :kiss:

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[Rollin']

I used run flat snow tires on my Victory Vision for 4 years and my Honda CTX1300 for 2 years and put on thousands of miles without issue. I know a lot of riders that use a car tire and they have not had a transmission problem.
If you had transmission problems you should buy a better bike.

 

[Rollin']

Run flat snow tire in Alaska.

Run flat snow tire in Canada.

And many more. If you are looking for excuses to not use a car tire, I can't help you.

 

[Tobacco Road]

Rollin' I applaud you. That is a trip I would only undertake by flight.

 

[Retired Guy]

Nope, not looking for an excuse to not use a car tire. I'll be mounting another one in the spring if things don't change. (Like winning the lottery or something like that, then I'll just get a new bike when the tires wear out).