Are Motorcycle Tires a Ripoff? The Darkside Car Tire Experiment

"Spontaneous uninstallation." That's almost as good as rapid unplanned disassembly.

It’s almost as if car tyres and motorcycle tyres were specifically optimised for their respective applications

Okay, I don't know how I've never seen the kickstand bead break before, but that is way more value than I was expecting from a video about a terrible idea!

So, either Ryan is into something illegal or he legitimately uses a flip phone.

"we're motorcyclists, masters of measured risk" Now that's a decent compliment

5:36 "Car tyre fits a motorcycle like I fit a bikini. Humps and curves in the wrong places" 😂😂

Where I think this could be worthwhile would be on a sidecar combination. They're not supposed to lean into turns, so the square profile isn't a problem and in fact gives you a larger "footprint".

I came into this thinking that darksiding is a terrible idea. I still do. Thanks for another great video!

The quality of the production is so good that i feel guilty for watching it on YouTube.

Putting a car tire in the back wheel makes it look straight out of a Hot Wheel bike lmao.

I have to say FortNine has kicked up the production value of it's videos, and I like it. The editing, videography, audio quality, dialog are all spot on. He could be talking about pants and it would be entertaining. The fact that it's about motorcycles is just a bonus. Keep up the awesome work!

Not only did he use a car tire but a fairly modern one at that with Asymmetrical treads on it man has guts

I appreciate 1. the flip phone 2. that your first ride was in the rain with just 'jeans' and not $1.2 million in Klim ultra armor 3. the flip phone 4. your willingness to work on a bike in hipster boots 5. the flip phone

I've ridden darkside. I actually rode Darkside for over 5K miles, before lowsiding it in a curve one day. The handling characteristics are truly shit. That car tire will follow the contour of the road. I was riding interstate 200 miles a day, which is one reason I made it so many miles before crashing. Let me tell you, Darkside on the interstate is like sitting on the sofa, it is so smooth. It wants to stand straight up, allowing me to cross the entire Dauphin Island bridge with out touching the handlebars. On the other hand, i ran through some tiny pebbles in a curve one evening too fast. I had to "force" the bike to lean far enough, so far, in fact that the asphalt contacted my rear saddlebag, taking the weight off the wheel. I corrected by steering back toward the center of the road, that's when the tire got in its happy spot , back on the tread, going into the old "death wobble". During the extreme leaning, the engine guard had contacted the asphalt and wrapped around my right ankle, rendering me helpless as far as using the rear brake pedal. Long story short, i now can't kick the bike away from me, I'm attached by the ankle, lowsiding on the left side of the road between two street sign posts. That's when bike and I both went over the embankment, still attached to the 700lb beast. She flipped mid-air and flung me off. Came out out of that with three broken toes, and the toe burned off my right boot, oh, and a totaled bike. No more Darkside for me.

My 2006 Rocket III Classic was a great riding & handling bike with a 225/50R-16 Dunlop Direzza DZ101. Perfect match in all dimensions to the stock Metzler 240/50-16. The sidewall had the same rigidity, identical overall height and width, and it was a sticky performance tire. The tread was a sporty symmetrical & directional pattern with a rounded edge. I ran at about 25psi which resulted in smooth, stable, composed handling and MASSIVE traction advantage over the MT. The bead did not look any different than the Metzler either but I was not using a run-flat. I installed and balanced it myself. Trust me, the size & weight of that rim with brake rotor far exceeded any worries of unsprung weight. And yet, the Dunlop was fairly light as well. I had no vibes or gyroscopic tendencies at any speed. My bike would top out about 135mph - limited by the windshield, floorboards, and bags (and my fat butt). I scraped the boards frequently (thankfully they articulated). If blindfolded, one would only know it was a CT at walking speeds. Above that it was almost unnoticeable. Yes, a bit more counter steer was needed to initiate a lean but by the end of the first day riding you did it subconsciously. Grooved road surfaces didn't affect it much but I think that depends on the tread, pressure, and width mounted on each bike. For my bike/tire combo, it was well behaved, confidence inspiring, and FUN to drop clutch and peel out. No more applying throttle timidly while turning for fear of losing the rear. Nope. pour it on and leave a beautiful black arc behind. But before I have rotten vegetables heaved my way, yes, there are some drawbacks and you need to gauge your abilities. If you have even the slightest doubt, then by all means don't do it. Those of us who darkside don't just throw any POS tire on there. #1 - Darkside is not for all bikes. The GS is probably not the ideal candidate being so tall and narrow. Best left to heavy, lower, tire grinders like Power cruisers & touring bikes. #2 - Narrow rim & wide tire are not a good combination. DS works better on a wide rimmed bike. In this test a narrower tire (if even possible with the given wheel) would have produced better results. #3 - Tire pressure looked high and gave the impression the handling looked edgy. Inflation is key to good tread/sidewall compliance. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the video and would say almost everything he said was correct.

I've darksided a GL for the life a tire, mostly through a very rainy winter in Portland, OR... it was good in snow, it was good in the rain, and it was good for towing a trailer. The tire didn't last much longer than an regular motorcycle tire, in a large part as I spend a lot of time on the sidewall. (I used to own and now occasionally teach for the Northwest Motorcycle School, where we taught a motor officer course to the general public, and much of our riding was full lock, full lean and below walking speed.) I simply wore the shoulders of the tire out, while the center tread was fine. I'm not teaching regularly now, and living in New Mexico, with it's mostly straight roads, I spend far less time on the tire's shoulder. I was looking into another darkside tire, when I noticed the weight difference. A car tire for the GL weighs between 9 and 11 Kg. (20-25lbs), while the motorcycle tires weigh around 3 Kg (according to manufacturers). That terminated my search, the durability might be great, but the added, un-sprung weight kills suspension response, and may have been a good portion of why handling "sucks." Yes, the bike understeers with the car tire, but, as noted in the video, it takes about 10 minutes to get used to keeping pressure on the bar while cornering. However, the tire's following of rough roads is severely compromised, particularly when leaned over. Just one more element to consider.

As soon as I saw thr zip ties come out, I was like "you're crazy". Seeing the flip phone confirmed that. Lol

Americans in the comment section are like: „yeah, I have experience with car tires on bikes, it’s not optimal“ Europeans in the comment section are like: „YOU DID WHAT??????“

That sign of the cross just before riding the thing killed me

Great video, interesting topic. My take on it.... I would never be a mooch and try to save a few dollars on a car tire when my motorcycle was designed by countless engineers to operate with the recommended rubber. I will stick with their recommendation, feel better about it, and I'm sure when I'm going around a corner well over 100 miles an hour I will feel a lot better with my motorcycle Dunlop Tire. Now do whatever you like.