Now, Eric, I still wonder if there are car tires with a more round profile or enough tread on the edge that could be shaped into a more motorcycle friendly profile. I assume you spend a good amount of your riding time in the center 1/2 of the tread so you'd not be losing a great amount of tread life by reshaping the outer 25% on each side. I know you are not an aggressive rider (Though this tire could be waaaayyy fun in a drag race!) but a little "contact patch" help for off-ramps might be something to consider, especially in the PNW where it does get cold and wet.
I've also noticed that when my rear tire gets a flat spot, toward the end of it's tread life, the required turn-in effort is increased. I'd imagine you get the same resistance/feedback with this rather flat-shaped tire on the rear.
Let us know how the experiment plays out.
The 17" size car tires tend to be performance oriented, and more are squared off than rounder. The all season tire I plan on ordering will have softer side walls and possibly a little more rounded profile. That should help to keep more of the tire on the ground.
Keep in mind that I did not get a chance to play with different tire pressures at all due to the leaks in the test tire. Initial testing did indicate that more turn in effort is required at low speeds, but I had no problem initiating turns at all. It's not so much harder as simply different.
I use my FJR to go places. And while I enjoy the twisty roads plenty, much more of my time is spent covering ground to get to some place where I want to do riding than riding in the twisties.
I'm not sure about the shaping of the edges of the tires. In the old days shops used to 'true' up tires by shaving some rubber off the sides. I suspect there isn't a whole lot that could be removed and that it may prove detrimental to tire life to do that. I will never be riding on the side walls, just less than full width of the tread at times. You know, like motorcycle tires do in a lean.
A big reason for me to try this is just because no one else has done it on the FJR. WTH, it's an
experiment folks. Time will tell if it's something that works well enough to do again, (for me), or if it simply isn't an acceptable trade off in handling, etc.
Regardless of how you feel about it, (you being the forum, not MM2), consider that you're going to learn more about the dark side as it
directly relates to the FJR than you knew before. And that's good for all of us, even if just to say "wow, that sucked and now we know for sure it sucks, and exactly how it sucks." With out data, it's just an unsupported opinion. I'm gathering data from real world, direct first hand experience.
