Car tire on a scooter

[cat0020]

I had local tire shop mounted a $45 Pirelli 190SC snow tire on the back wheel of my Burgman 650. they mounted the tire in a couple of minutes while I waited, didn't even charge me.
Balanced and mounted the wheel back on the scoot and put over 130 miles on it since last week:





Not a whole lot of clearance between tire and swingarm:



On my daily, twisty commute of 10 mi. one way to school, speed do not exceed 60 mph. I can tell the ride is much smoother. Car tire has maximum pressure rating of 44 psi., mine is inflated to 42 psi. snow tire seems to soak up road bumps better than scooter/moto tire.

The transition between lean (cornering) and upright (straighaway) is more distinct, it's not an even effort to transition between the two, more of a spiked transition feel. If rider is not used to it, it may feel like the bike is diving to the side rather like a lowside occuring, just have to trust the tire and know that is not happening, until you get used to it.

Whether car tire offer more or less traction while leaned over is yet to be determine, I havn't really pushed the pace through the twisties since both front and rear tire have less than 200 miles on them.

Speedo on the Burgman is more closely related to GPS readings, used to be 10-12% higher speed with scooter tire, now at 4-5% higher.

Higher GPS speed is acheived with less engine rpm, whether that will indicate fuel efficiency increase is also yet to be determined.

So far, I'm happy that the car tire cost only $45 ($0 to install)vs $100+ for similar size scooter rear tire alone. I'm expecting to get at least 12,000 mi. out of the car tire, if not more.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Cool to see it's working out so far. I've often wondered what cornering would be like with a car tire on a scooter. Hopefully the car tire can handle the side-load well and not wear out the edges too fast.

[theholycow]

Why did you go with a snow tire?

[cat0020]

Originally Posted by TomO

Cool to see it's working out so far. I've often wondered what cornering would be like with a car tire on a scooter. Hopefully the car tire can handle the side-load well and not wear out the edges too fast.

Not as much difference as I thought it would be. Considering the normal load that car tires have to sustain, I think a 500 lb. scoot plus another 300-350 lb. of rider+ passenger wouldn't be a far stretch for the car tire's side load capacity.

Originally Posted by theholycow

Why did you go with a snow tire?

More tread depth, likely a softer compound than "touring" car tire.. and at $45, it was a good deal.

[kamesama980]

they probably didn't charge you so you wouldn't have a paper trail of liability. That being said, I'm interested in how it goes. not sure I could bring myself to do that kind of thing: >45 degree lean angles on my bike. I suppose a scooter you don't run quite as hard

[cat0020]

Originally Posted by kamesama980

they probably didn't charge you so you wouldn't have a paper trail of liability. That being said, I'm interested in how it goes. not sure I could bring myself to do that kind of thing: >45 degree lean angles on my bike. I suppose a scooter you don't run quite as hard

Really? how often do you actually get close to lean at greater than 45 degree on moto tires on public roads?

Most, if not all, moto tire I see on the public roads do not even lean over 25 degrees.

On the Burgman and my 250cc Chinese scoot, the centerstand scrap the ground before I run out of chicken strips, why spend $120 for a replacement scooter tire that last 6-7000 miles when a $45 car tire could likely last twice if not 3 times the distance?

[theholycow]

LOL, what does "chicken strips" mean in this context?

[ben98gs]

I would assume from the context, chicken straps = tread.

[cat0020]

Chicken strip present, bordered in green:



No chicken strip:



Any more questions?

[Jay2TheRescue]

As I've been getting better at taking corners I've scraped my pegs a few times. Now, when I'm going to aggressively take a corner I actually kick the peg up, and raise my foot a few inches, then kick it back down after the corner.