car tire on back

[Stoneman123us]

Hey Guys ,,,, Have any of you that run a Voyager Kit run a car tire on back. Seems like the motorcycle tires don't last long. I looked at Dark Side website but the site doesn't mention outrigger style rigs. Thanks:

[John Luciano]

If you think you can find one to fit.. That rear tire takes a lot of abuse. I was going through them every 5,000 miles<br />
Food for thought. On another subject. Every month or so check all bolts and welds. I had a lot of breakage. If it breaks on the road your stuck. Only option is try to jury rig it to get home or remove it. Finally had all welds reinforced with gussets and extra steel. Put LOC TIGHT.

On all the nuts.

[Stoneman123us]

Thats good advice,,, I try to go over often but maybe not enough, I have had no problems with the kit so far. I have 5000 miles on the kit so far, But like i said the tire wears out quickly. Thanks

[DanB]

I run a Dunlop run flat c/t on my 95 GL 1500 with a Tow Pac Insta Trike. I've got 14,000 on my c/t so far and expect to get 25-30,000 miles out of it.

[Stoneman123us]

I found out that a 500 -16 will fit as well as a 5500 16 and the Austone Taxi tire a 175 60 16... Now what does it mean run a c/t flat... Does the refer to the shape... flat meaning nopt rounded..

[RoadBoss]

That's why I don't like outrigger kits.

[krazybob]

That's why I don't like outrigger kits.

Which makes me wonder why you are looking into the outrigger trike threads

[burgman2170]

The dark side tire works best if a trike drives on the rear center tire. I had a Burgman 650 with a Danson trike set and both scooter tires I had on the trike went bad quick. They just don't last as the trike doesn't lean as much. A dark side tire will last several thousand miles and will ride much better.

[baba67]

I just wanted to say that I have the Austone Taxi tire a 175 60 16 on the rear of my GL1500 SE with the voyager kit.

I absolutely love the tire.

It is large enough and with a flat contact patch, the bike stops like a car.

Straight as an arrow even in panic stops and the tire is showing no wear after one season of riding.

Probably about 3500 miles so far.

Cruises well at all speeds with no issues.

I installed balance beads when I mounted the tire.

I will install a new one when ever I finally wear it out.

[alwims]

I run the Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3 ZP - 195/55R16 87H BSW - Winter Tire on the rear of my '08 Gl1800 Goldwing. I've got almost 22,000 miles on it with very little wear showing. I had it on when I ran 2 wheels and loved it. Now I run the voyager kit and love it even more. I've also went double dark side by running the Bridgestone BATTLAX BT-45H Sport/Touring Rear Motorcycle Tire 130/70-18 on the front and couldn't be happier.

BTW, "run flat" means the tire is designed to run down the road even if it is flat for a short distance to get you to where you can get it fixed. My Michelin is a "run flat", but they call it ZP or Zero Pressure.

[dadztoy]

I run "double dark" with a Tow Pac kit on my bike (2009 GL1800)... Yokohama Avid Envigor on the rear and Battlax BT-45 on the front... 17K out of the last Yoko with a bit more rubber to go but I changed it because of an upcoming trip... 20K out of the BT-45 and it was changed early for the same reason...

Yes, the outrigger kits are a bit hard on tires due to all the scrubbing action that occurs during normal riding, so that is an excellent reason to go darkside which is exactly why I did it... Was only getting about 8K miles out of a set of "stones"... 20K plus is a whole lot better!!!

Outrigger trike kits do have some disadvantages but considering they are about 1/4th the cost of a regular trike conversion, I'll live with the downsides!!!

[baba67]

I just wanted to add that I have purchased the new Avon front Trike tire for my kit and will be installing it as soon as the Dunlop on my machine is worn down and needs replacement.

I will give a update at that time.

As far as using a runflat on your machine, I would highly recommend that you install a tire pressure monitoring system on the tires.

So you are warned of a loss of tire pressure,

Run flats tend to self implode when the air pressure is gone for any length of time.

From my Toyota tech days. (Retired now)

On sale now @

http://cyclemax.com/inc/sdetail/tire...m/62015/340857

I just wanted to say that I have the Austone Taxi tire a 175 60 16 on the rear of my GL1500 SE with the voyager kit.

I absolutely love the tire.

It is large enough and with a flat contact patch, the bike stops like a car.

Straight as an arrow even in panic stops and the tire is showing no wear after one season of riding.

Probably about 3500 miles so far.

Cruises well at all speeds with no issues.

I installed balance beads when I mounted the tire.

I will install a new one when ever I finally wear it out.

[speedbuggy]

I have had the Voyageur kit on my 2007 wing for 2 years now. I have run a ct on the rear since I put the kit on. The bike runs well and never had any problems. I run a regular radial tire of 80,000km rating.

It travels the road just fine. In the rain it feels better.

We where in the states in June from Ontario Canada traveling to N.Y., Virginia, W.Virginia, Tenn., Penn. and put on over 5000 miles on the wing.

We traveled on roads from 5mph to 90mph without any problems.

Going to a car tire is a personal preference. Me, I swear by it. WILL NOT go back to a bike tire.

There is NO LAW in Canada that's says you can't use a car tire. The only regulation is that it must be a DOT certified tire.

Checked with the insurance company and they don't care, just as long as the tire is DOT certified.

That's my 2 cents worth.

[Roaddawg52]

'' WILL NOT go back to a bike tire.''

There's a lot of riders out there that agree ...I haven't as yet with my Intruder, but, will definitley be going darkside with the voyager kit installed on whichever bike I finally decide to do it to.

''Checked with the insurance company and they don't care, just as long as the tire is DOT certified.''

Inquiring minds have been wondering about the 'insurance' view on dark-siding ...good to know

Especially for Canucks ...I'm in Brantford, Ont. ..Ontario insurance sucks!!

2003 Intruder LC

2006 C90T/Voyager trike kit.

[Roaddawg52]

''I would highly recommend that you install a tire pressure monitoring system on the tires.''

I recently had new tires put on my Intruder LC ...at the time I had a pair of Iron Cross valve stem covers on both wheels...when I picked up my bike the service guy handed me the covers and said,

'The mechanic suggested you 'not' use these...the extra weight on top of the valve stem tends to cause the valve to start to crack due to centrifugal force caused when in motion and the valves will start to crack'

It made sense at the time and I haven't used them since.

Just wondering if the 'extra' weight of this sensor system might have the same detrimental affect.

RD52

[Stayfree]

I've been using car tires on the back end of my bikes for years. On Gold Wings I usually had to toss the bike tire after 5-7 thousand miles and that was often with a wee bit of 'thread' showing through.

On my Valkyrie the bike tire that was on it when I bought it was practically new and was shot in less than 5,000 miles and most of the worst wear occurred after I installed the Voyager training wheels. I replaced it with a Goodyear Triple threat and when I traded the bike off 8,000 mile later it still looked almost new with very little wear. As a side note: I sometimes pulled the Voyager kit off and rode on two and the ride with the car tire was smoother, I had better traction, and it stuck better on the twisties.

On my 2000 Gold Wing with a sidecar I have a Dunlop All Weather 'Run Flat' with over 20,000 miles and it shows very little wear.

On my wife's Can Am the rear tire was shot in 6,000 miles. The Uniroyal car tire has double that and shows very little wear.

BTW, by 'shows' very little wear that is using a depth gauge as well as the ol' Mark I eyeball.

Personally I won't run anything but a car tire on the back of my bikes.

Max