In trying to bring a little perspective to the debate of Car tire vs. MC tire I have posted a couple of pics here. The photo on the left shows a Bridgestone 205/70X16 CT and a Bridgestone 200/60X16 MC tire. Both of these tires have a little over 15k miles on them. Both of them were run on 2002 Honda VTX 1800's. I know the picture quality is not that great and the detail I was hoping for did not show, however, you can still clearly see that the CT is worn further past the wear bars than the MC tire. In fact the MC tread is just at the wear bars.

Now I know plenty of people are going to say, "Well that particular CT was not a good example of how long they should typically last." The person who run the CT rides the hell out of his bike, I know because I do most of his service and his tire changes when he is here in Phoenix for the winters. The MC tire pictured came off of MY bike, and as most of you who know me, know that I show very little mercy for the bike or it's tires! For me it's WOT and speed shift gears, but that is for another topic of discussion....

Here is what I know to be fact about CT's on motorcycles, first off they are a bitch to mount and bead on the VTX wheel as the wheel was not designed specifically for a CT. Every single one that I have done has been a pain in the ass! They do not go up or down curbs at an angle without pushing the bike in the opposite direction...yikes! They don't like to transition from smooth pavement to rough pavement, you know those little two or three inch build ups of asphalt that you have to cross over on the "Rubberized" portions of the 101 loop? They don't like grooved or worse yet the "ruts" in pavement at some intersections we have here in Phoenix, the bike gets "pushed" in the opposite direction you want it to go. The bike is less responsive to subtle handlebar movements and control inputs, it does not want to "roll" into a turn or corner, you have "push" it in and then it wants to "standup" to soon while in a corner if you do not keep some "push" on it. Contrary to what you might believe a CT does not like any loose dirt or gravel roads either!

Since I have not done any scientific research on the fuel economy of using a CT I can not speak accurately as to whether or not they will cause a slight decrease in miles per gallon, I suspect that would be the case though simply because of the extra footprint and increased rolling resistance. I have also seen curious and unexplained extreme FRONT tire wear on some bikes with a CT.

What CT's do well, is increase straight line acceleration, they also make for an awesome burn-out for obvious reasons! They will also give you a bit better braking effect, especially when hauling down from high speed.

Now, I am NOT trying to convince anyone of anything here, because that would be like trying to convince people to moderate their political opinions...not gonna happen! The folks who are running CT's say they "Love them and won't go back to an MC." Ok, fine, just don't try and convince me that they will do everything an MC will do only better, 'cause that is a lot of BS!
Some people adapt to the CT handling issues with no problems at all, while others have taken them off never to go back. Many others contemplate the idea pretty much based on price and thinking that they will only have to buy a CT every two or three years. Of course this depends on many factors, road conditions and riding style being the two most common.

I had an idea that I was going to pursue, but I cannot find a used VTX 1800 16 inch wheel at a decent price. The idea was simply this, mount the Michelin Pilot 205/55X16 (which is the tire in the pic on the right at the top of this blog) on a spare wheel and "loan" it out to people who want to try a CT for one month. Then we would take it off and give it to someone else to ride for a month and so on. I would request that a short journal of impressions and an accurate assessment of fuel economy be taken. I would require a small "fee" for the rental of the tire and labor to R&R the wheels.

So, I have decided instead to just sell the 205/55X16 Michelin outright. The first person who comes up with a Ben Franklin ($100.00) can have this tire mounted and balanced "out the door" on your VTX 1800 Retro or 'C' model only. Caveat: the tire does have approximately 4k miles on it, so it is NOT brand new, but it still has the 'tits' on the tread so it has plenty of miles to go, or least that is the argument............

You can contact me here, or at Qualitymotorcycle@cox.net

Ride safe my friends,

Taz