Mounting a car tyre on a FJR

[Udjeni]

I've been contemplating this for a while and finally got it done. Sacrillige some would say, but I don't care. I finally had an opportunity today to take my FJR to Droomers and have Warren mount a Yokahama AVS Db 205/50R17 car tyre on the rear rim.

The new and the old:

That Pilot Road 2 lasted for 23171km and I have been extremely happy with it (yup, it did not see a whole lot of twisties).

This is the new tyre and the torsion bar I had Vulcan Steel laser cut for me to make space for the slightly wider tyre.


First, two of the guys tried to mount the tyre.


Then they called for help:


And more help, which finally allowed them to wrestle the tyre onto the rim with no harm to my TyreWatch monitor:


Tightening the last few things and the final result::



I've only ridden 30km to the work and back today, but so far I have absolutely no complaints. As reported by others (overseas) who have done the same, handling is not much different than before. I am looking to double, or maybe even tripple the life of my rear tyre.

[BlueSteel]

I saw someone do that on the Iron Butt website. How does that influence turning? Surely the contact patch is much less now since it will ride on the edge of the tyre now when cornering. Watch it in the rain, you might lose a lot of contact I would assume. A bike tyre is round in shape to allow constant contact tread on the tar.

Doesnt the big flat surface now force the bike to stay upright?

[BlueSteel]

But it looks like a great idea. Surely should be cheaper than a bike tyre and perfect for the long road.

[pinball wizard]

23000+km on a single rear? WTF? Do you ride like a girl?

[duke]

Well no ok

[Trumpet]

How do you corner??

[duke]

How do you corner??

On the front wheel. Stoppie and lean

[transient]

Youtube Video of Car Tire on a Goldwing.

[ddavis]

There has been a lot about this on the BurgmanUSA site.... they refere to it as 'going over to the dark side'. Those that have done it seem happy, those that have not can't understand it.

Would be a LOT cheaper but would worry about the points Blue Steel mentioned. Good luck with them Udjeni and please let us know how it feels once you have more km's on them and done a twisty or two.

[Udjeni]

How does that influence turning?

Not at all. At slow speed one (barely) feels a transition, but it is not worse than my bike tyre when it's had lots of highway miles on and starts to go square.

Surely the contact patch is much less now since it will ride on the edge of the tyre now when cornering.

Size of the patch area has no bearing on traction (says the laws of physics). But even so, I am willing to bet even in a turn I probably have a larger patch on the ground with the car tyre than with the bike tyre.

Watch it in the rain, you might lose a lot of contact I would assume.

Reports from others that have done it claim they have more traction in the wet. I wouldn't know and for sure will be careful until I have more experience with it and built up some confidence in the setup.

Doesnt the big flat surface now force the bike to stay upright?

Yes, there is a slight tendency for the bike to want to be a little more upright, but this is only at very slight lean angles and when you are being tentative. If you are firm and ride with confidence, you almost don;t feel it. Others have reported that after a while you don't even notice it any more.

If you have lots of time (and want to see a prime example of thread hijacking), you can read more of others' initial disbelief and predictions of doom and eventual acceptance and even joining in here. A FAQ about the conversion on the FJR can be found here.

Yes, it is called going to the Darkside. I am officially Darksider #1SA over on the FJR forum.

[Udjeni]

23000+km on a single rear? WTF? Do you ride like a girl?

Well, all I can say is if I can ride like some girls I know, I would be very pleased with myself.

I also know one does not have to trash your tyres in order to go fast.

[pinball wizard]

I also know one does not have to trash your tyres in order to go fast.

Hah... it's not going fast that trashes tyres, it's being a hooligan wot does it... No, wait, that's like a double negative, isn't it...

[Udjeni]

Would be a LOT cheaper but would worry about the points Blue Steel mentioned

I am hoping it works out cheaper. This was the only tyre with the correct size and a symmetric tread that is not a run-flat that I could find in South Africa. At R2200 it was a R500 more than what my Pilot Road 2 cost me exactly a year ago.

As for worrying about Blue Steel's points - based on the experience of others I am not concerned, but I will be testing the waters carefully until I can speak from own experience.

[Jonix]

W t f............!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[pinball wizard]

W t f............!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Ya, that's what I meant to say...

[duke]

I think its great, that your trying it. Pls be car4efull, until you know what and when you can do what with this tyre.

I have to tell you, that if we read you have re-placed the handle bar with asteering wheel, i might just have to make my way to slaapstad to get you back on track, or rather the rightside

[Udjeni]

Hah... it's not going fast that trashes tyres, it's being a hooligan wot does it...

I'm afraid you've got me there, guilty as charged:I'm not a hooligan.

[Tjom]

Udjeni ons WEET hoe ver jy ry! Een van die bitter einders op n langpad. Sal interressant wees om meer te hoor van jou ervaring met die tyre veral in die reen. Hou ons op hoogte.

[Nocturnity]

A couple of long-roaders have done this in the states with their Boulevards as well. They don't have many twisties so no point in a rounded tyre. The Boulevard is 350kg so she chews tyres but they get decent mileage out of the car tyres.

Hope you get many safe miles outta her!

[BlueSteel]

The only thing I forsee is that bikes lean more and there will be a lot more sidewall wear, but on straight roads it will be awesome!! So keep checking the sidewalls for accelerated wear. Check that water dispersion out, that thing will slice water away like butter!

Thanks for your pointers Udjeni. It definitely is an interesting project. Ride carefully and hope it works out cheaper, safer and better for you.