K11 Owners Group

Geoff

Look at the contact patch. 'Nuff said.

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rydor · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:29 pm Post subject:

Too funny!!!

Flying Duck · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:31 pm Post subject:

Some guys swear by it. And it's not like you buy a HD for performance.

Met a guy in the ferry line a few weeks ago. He had a Dakar with a sidecar. Of course it makes more sense in that scenario and you get oodles more miles out the the tire than you would a bike tire.
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Off the grid · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:52 pm Post subject:

On a sidecar it makes sense, as they behave more like cars than motos.

On a bike there is a small cult following.
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SugarHillCTD · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:01 pm Post subject:

Off the grid · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject:

One point they do make is why a car tire can get 60-80k a tire but a moto tire is only good for 10k +/-

Could be due to the demands on a moto tire and the very small contact area resulting in a squaring off of the tire.
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Jim · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:30 pm Post subject:

I imagine the contact patch on the tire in the picture is probably at least as large as the contact patch the same bike would have with a motorcycle tire.

Hell, if they made a car tire that fit the K, I'd probably put one on!

When I ran out of tire in Flagstaff last summer, it cost me a bloody fortune to get a tire shipped out there. On top of that, my favorite mc dealer sold me a four year old tire! I won't be making that mistake again!
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1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
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Geoff · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:53 am Post subject:

Ernie-NH · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:03 pm Post subject:

Good morning all...

I think Geoff is correct because the geometry of the 'inner tire wall' conforms more closely to the geometry of the tire's "outer wall" on an MC tire, whereas a car tire has a pronounced chine or thicker section where the tread meets the side wall in order to preserve that horizontal/vertical relationship. What we see in Geoff's pic is the tire trying to maintain its design shape. Perhaps IF we were talking ONLY straightaway riding, the car tire might be OK... but isnt that what most HD, GW and Valk' riders do anyway ? ie: ride the 4-lanes 90% or more of the time ? I know on my V-twin, I use it simply to bang out the miles from A to B!

However, one point that has been brought up more than once in MCN and other rider publications, is: Why is it that in the last 4 decades or so, that auto tires have seen an average increase in "life time milage" from 20k or so to now 40k to 60K ??? While MC tires back in the sixties were getting 8k to 12k and yet today are hardly out of that same milage range ? Because I was in the 'rubber materials and component' development area for the last 4 decades, I know that new elastomeric materials have been developed for applications and conditions that could never even have been imagined in the 60's, and yet today we have elastomeric materials that will withstand the rigors of space or the hostile conditions within the nuclear industry, just to mention two harsh applications. Seems to me implausible that the tire industry could not confront wear and MC-tire life in the same way !

Best regards all............// Ernie-NH
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