BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

This whole thing reminds me of my diving days.  Picking up the pieces, and unfortunately bodies, when people would spend the price of an RT on diving gear and trips then try to save £20 here and there by buying cheap parts and pushing consumables to their absolute limit.  Just buy the correct part for the job and treat it well folks!  Motorcycling, like diving, is slightly more hazardous then international tiddly winks so why compromise your safety to save, compared to the total cost of motorcycling, peanuts?  I get about 5-6k miles from a back tire, so saving approx. £500 over 20,000 miles (£0.025 pence per mile) while compromising my safety, bike handling and legality (in the UK anyway) does not compute, sorry.
An old engineer I used to work with was fond of the phrase "if it looks wrong, it probably is"...

As already stated, its illegal in the UK and probably Europe to run anything but motorcycle tyres on motorcycles. So if you do, and have a crash, don't expect any pay outs from your insurance. It would also invalidate your MOT if your bike is old enough to need one. So its academic really on this side of the pond.

Tell you what, how about running a Goodyear runflat car tyre, win, win!
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,breath. Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,

Wow, you guys were pretty hard on the Yank.  What was he thinking?  Running a CT on a R1200?  Do you think you are giving up so much handling and grip running the set up you are using now?  I would like to show a video from last year on this very subject.  I was on my Wing following a S1000RX (leading) then Ducati Multi Strada, and the R1200 RT, the bike in front of me.  All very competent riders.


https://youtu.be/SFjX_YEqHWg


Me?  I am on a car tyre (tire).  Either I am lucky or the mechanical advantage isn't as great as once thought.  We all average under 2000 miles on a set of tires.  BTW, my other bike is a R1200RT and I am only getting about 1500 miles on a set of tires.

I think we're burying the lead here:  what rear bike tire was giving you 9,000 miles????  I think most of us would be ecstatic with that.  I just finished a 10,000 mile trip, but I doubt many others besides you exceed 9k miles on a tour.

I guess it depends on the road surfaces one rides on. Put a set of Bridgestone T30 on in April. Have 12000 miles on now and at 3mm of tread left in the centre.

Murgie wrote: Wow, you guys were pretty hard on the Yank.  What was he thinking?  Running a CT on a R1200?  Do you think you are giving up so much handling and grip running the set up you are using now?  I would like to show a video from last year on this very subject.  I was on my Wing following a S1000RX (leading) then Ducati Multi Strada, and the R1200 RT, the bike in front of me.  All very competent riders.


https://youtu.be/SFjX_YEqHWg


Me?  I am on a car tyre (tire).  Either I am lucky or the mechanical advantage isn't as great as once thought.  We all average under 2000 miles on a set of tires.  BTW, my other bike is a R1200RT and I am only getting about 1500 miles on a set of tires.

It's not just the profile that counts.


For motorcycle tyres one of the key design parameters is warm-up time. When we leave the garage a cold and frosty (or damp) morning, we want the tyres to reach their optimum working temperature as quickly as possible. You can't fall off a car, obviously, so they are designed to different parameters.
I would hate to have a m/c front tyre at optimum temperature with a rear car tyre which was still "cold".


Warm-up times are often a differentiator between touring tyres and sports tyres.

It's not so much a case of being hard on the Yank, just that it's regarded to be an extremely foolhardy practice here in the UK (& Europe) which both invalidates your insurance policy (in the event of a claim) and fails the MoT annual roadworthiness inspection. Mind you, this thread makes for interesting reading, and like so many things in life, it needs a pioneering spirit to occasionally push the boundaries (in a controlled way!), and which I believe is a very positive American personality trait.


How does a car tyre fitted to the rear of an RT handle on twisties in the wet...?? Ride safe on your car tyres stateside!

With all the pros and cons of fitting a car tyre on the rear of a motorcycle, why not simply have a trike?

Here's a link to a very good post on this subject.


https://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/10 ... -tire.html

Steve F wrote: ...

How does a car tyre fitted to the rear of an RT handle on twisties in the wet...?? Ride safe on your car tyres stateside!

Not bad at all, in fact better than the tires on this car I was about to over take.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2OB_FzjVs

Murgie wrote:
Not bad at all, in fact better than the tires on this car I was about to over take.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2OB_FzjVs

:alas: Classy braking on a bend in the wet!! Thank heavens you didn’t overtake!

I read this thread and got quite a chuckle out of it! I never have run a car tire on a motorcycle, but I am not as closed minded as some and understand why someone would do it.


Also, for the guys hung up on cost, consider the hassle factor dealing with replacing a tire while traveling. It could take up the better part of a day getting it done. I want to vacation on my time off, not sit a a dealer and wait for a tire change!