Darksiders beware...

He was riding two-up and I had a good view of how the bike performed on a very twisty road. I was genuinely impressed at how well his bike handled the turns. It was rock solid stable and on a few bumpy corners the rear tire had better traction than my bike. While I would not necessarily make the choice to run dark side on my ST, I understand why some, particularly long distance riders, make this choice.

An open mind is key. It's such a common thing in the DS side of things to see people who have never even tried it to automatically trash it for all sorts of reasons that are entirely dismissable if they did some more reading, or actually tried it. There is no shortage of anti-DS reasoning out there and people sharing it all, so for those who have decided that they're in the anti-camp, there's tons and tons of bias confirming stuff they can latch onto.

But, for those with an open mind, I've had a friend try my bike with my DS and he said he couldn't' feel the difference, and that's not unheard of. Most people are genuinely surprised by that alone the first time they try it, even if they're in the "You're crazy" or the "I wouldn't do it but I kinda see the appeal in some applications" camp like yourself. Just try it. And check out some videos like this.


For me, all the reasons I posted above are my primary reasons. Plus one I forgot - flat repair - a CT is much easier to plug safely, and much less likely to get a hole in a place where plugging it is unsafe like can happen on a MC tire. When you're 500km either side of nowhere like I was last year on the James Bay Road, or if I do decide to take a detour to Yellowknife NWT this summer on the way back from BC like I'm thinking about, easy roadside tire repair is a huge advantage.
 
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What makes you think there’s any performance disadvantages?

You have vastly more tread on the road in the flats.

Rear braking is accordingly insanely better in an emergency.

Wet road performance is better.

You have about 4-6x the contact patch on the road in a corner vs a MC tire.

I’ve gone through advanced riding training courses and done a lot of pylon parking lot work with a DS tire on (I posted a video here last fall of doing exactly that for that matter, I’ll see if I can dig it up) and the rear tire doesn’t affect anything high-speed or low speed manoeuvring.

I ride hard on my tank, I’m often on the floorboards (and touch the pipes occasionally as well) and it performs every bit as good as any motorcycle tire I’ve ever used. I’ve ridden somewhere close to 100,000km darkside now and won’t go back as not only are the tires half the cost but I am not paying labour 2-3x a season to swap the rear given the miles I ride, or sweating my balls off in the garage doing it myself.

And on anything short of a sport bike (which isn’t the darkside target audience) you’re not “riding on the sidewall” in corners which is the big argument people who have never read much about the whole thing rush to.

With the appropriately sized tire I would put money on the fact that in a blind test there are a lot of very experienced riders here that couldn’t tell the difference in a ride test. Heck, I sat next to a buddy with his gold wing yesterday and not only is his rear tire basically the exact same size as my 195/55, with his highway mile wear profile the tire looked almost identical to my CT from 20 feet away.



As long as the tire is DOT rated you’re fine.

The insurance thing is another common potential problem that is often mentioned but it’s not the big thing that people perceive it to be – insurance companies don’t get to arbitrarily walk away from claims simply because of things they don’t like, if they did then there would be something they could latch onto with every single possible claim ever to weasel out, which simply isn’t reality. Heck, you can crash your car in a DUI wreck and your insurance will still cover you. They will probably cancel your policy after the fact, or at best refuse to renew you when you come up for such, but you will still be covered for the actual accident even though it is a wildly inexcusable and entirely stupid thing to have done to begin with. But ultimately you’ll still be covered

Anyhow, this “notice” from Virginia has been a topic of discussion in the dark side community for sure. First, given the lack of professionalism and poor grammar there is some question about its legitimacy to begin with, and then there are all sorts of arguments about how enforcible it even is to begin with. How about people with trikes for example, they all run CT’s. Things like the Boss Hoss etc come factory with a CT. Etc etc.

Anyhow, much like many things in the Motorcycle community, everybody is welcome to do as they see fit and please. I am extremely happy with my dark side choice, it saves me time and money, has real world performance and safety benefits, and it certainly doesn’t slow me down anywhere. Someone’s welcome to come take a ride with me and see for themselves, I have some nice traffic circles we can blast through at speed and you can watch me flip my bike through it every bit the same as if I had a MT on it.
Here's a list of reasons they can deny a claim..

 
I wonder what ramifications there could be if one were to crash, for whatever reason and the ins. co. finds out you had a car tire mounted...?
Why should the insurers, tire manufacturers or governments change the status quo to make things better for a small minority group when their profit needs are already well established. End of discussion unless you have Musk's money.
 
Would a darkside tire on a bike pass the safety inspections in Ontario?
Here's the rub "proper size and application". In the past, that was mechanics discretion and I'm sure the darksiders know which mechanics believe that a car tire passes. With DriveON, who knows? Presumably Parsons should have an official position (which should be an MTO decision relayed through Parsons). It's hard for everyone to ostrich when there are photos as part of the file. As nobody will want to assume any liability, I assume the official position (if they ever release one) will be motorcycle tires only.
 
Would a darkside tire on a bike pass the safety inspections in Ontario?

There is absolutely nothing in the inspection regulations that specifically prohibit it.

Doesn’t mean that some shops wouldn’t refuse regardless based on their interpretation or desires instead of the actual law.

I had a Canadian tire refused to put LT tires on my horse trailer years ago, the service manager had a hissy fit and tried to say that it was illegal/unsafe/blah blah blah and that I *MUST* install ST tires (which are often notoriously far less durable in high impact/heavy load applications), when in reality, it’s perfectly legal and fine. Heck, a lot of high-end RV manufacturers are now shipping their trailers out of the factory with LT tires versus ST as they have discovered that they provide a better all-around experience for the end user.

 
Here's the rub "proper size and application". In the past, that was mechanics discretion

Check the link I provided, that wording does not exist in the regulations.
 
Check the link I provided, that wording does not exist in the regulations.
I copied that wording from the regulations and it is in your link Sched 6 Section 4.(3). That entire regulation is revoked though ("
R.R.O. 1990, REGULATION 611 SAFETY INSPECTIONS Note: This Regulation was revoked on April 1, 2025. "). Very strange. I don't see a replacement reg.

It also had an interesting addition where tires were mostly the same for bikes and trikes with the exception of "(h) no vehicle shall be fitted with a tire that is not intended for operation on a motor tricycle.". I figured trikes used car tires. That regulation specifically makes that difficult.
 
🤦‍♂️ I was quoting the rescinded regs page that @GreyGhost mentioned and then went and posted the wrong link.

Perhaps he can post the link I mean to post lol, I’m away from my other computer and the link is on there lol

The whole trike thing made that reg problematic (running MC tires on the back of a trike is not only not a thing, it’s highly likely to be extremely dangerous due to the lack of braking ability), as well as bikes like the Boss Hoss that ship from the factory with CT’s on the rear as there is no motorcycle specific tire that can handle the weight and power. I suspect enough people took the province to task on this hence why it was removed.
 
🤦‍♂️ I was quoting the rescinded regs page that @GreyGhost mentioned and then went and posted the wrong link.

Perhaps he can post the link I mean to post lol, I’m away from my other computer and the link is on there lol

The whole trike thing made that reg problematic (running MC tires on the back of a trike is not only not a thing, it’s highly likely to be extremely dangerous due to the lack of braking ability), as well as bikes like the Boss Hoss that ship from the factory with CT’s on the rear as there is no motorcycle specific tire that can handle the weight and power. I suspect enough people took the province to task on this hence why it was removed.
Every link I can find links to the revoked 611 reg.

As for the trikes, I get it but the wording is awkward. It can be interpreted as needing to fit a tire that is explicitly intended for use on a motor tricycle. I don't know how many of those tires exist. I think it would have been cleaner to prohibit motorcycle tires on the rear of trikes.
 
1) Officials of large organizations don't get bonuses for taking risks to satisfy minorities.

Motorcyclists are minorities. Darksiders are minorities in a minority group.

2) Give someone an inch and they'll take a mile.

3) For the mechanic doing a safety:

a) Is it lily white? Mostly a black / white decision
b) What is the risk factor? Guesswork at best and anecdotal at present.
c) How much do I make for ticking the wrong box? Fixed amount
d) What is the potential risk value? Infinite
e) What would it cost to have a lawyer write up a waiver to distance the mechanic from risk?

For part e, I asked my lawyer a similar question on a simpler situation and was told that writing the waiver would cost a few hundred dollars. Researching what went into the waiver would be in the tens of thousands. Mechanics aren't lawyers.
 
It's the bead/rim interface thing that scares me off going dark...
Now, if someone were to manufacture a motorcycle rim that properly fits a car tire bead...If that's even possible, maybe then I'd try the DS.

Moving on... When people do go DS do they prefer balance beads or wheel weights..?
And... What engine oil is best for DS..?
 
It's the bead/rim interface thing that scares me off going dark...
Now, if someone were to manufacture a motorcycle rim that properly fits a car tire bead...If that's even possible, maybe then I'd try the DS.

Moving on... When people do go DS do they prefer balance beads or wheel weights..?
And... What engine oil is best for DS..?
I've been going to ask the darksiders (fjr sandbox) if they mount motorcycle tires on their cars.
 
1) Officials of large organizations don't get bonuses for taking risks to satisfy minorities.

Motorcyclists are minorities. Darksiders are minorities in a minority group.

2) Give someone an inch and they'll take a mile.

3) For the mechanic doing a safety:

a) Is it lily white? Mostly a black / white decision
b) What is the risk factor? Guesswork at best and anecdotal at present.
c) How much do I make for ticking the wrong box? Fixed amount
d) What is the potential risk value? Infinite
e) What would it cost to have a lawyer write up a waiver to distance the mechanic from risk?

For part e, I asked my lawyer a similar question on a simpler situation and was told that writing the waiver would cost a few hundred dollars. Researching what went into the waiver would be in the tens of thousands. Mechanics aren't lawyers.
Side note regarding waivers. Even with the hours billed to write one, most times they are not worth the toilet paper they are written on from a legal stand point. It’s just a speed bump and rarely protects from any liability.
 
Side note regarding waivers. Even with the hours billed to write one, most times they are not worth the toilet paper they are written on from a legal stand point. It’s just a speed bump and rarely protects from any liability.
Like everything, it's just moving the odds around. It makes the lawyer for the person that believes they have a case work harder as it both eliminates some easy attack vectors (eg nobody told me) and the lawyer needs to provide compelling evidence/case law on why the waiver should be ignored in the case. So it cost you money to get the waiver but it raises the cost bar for those that want to attack you. That may be enough that many cases don't get filed.
 
Hundreds of thousands of people do that. Check out tire profiles when bikes are parked. Lots of chicken strips, lots of flat in the center, not too many evenly worn.
I mostly ride in the Simcoe/Muskoka/Kawartha areas, and I seek out the twisties available, but the amount of time I'm leaned over is minuscule compared to the time I'm not, and that's not by choice. This has to be true for the vast majority of riders, moreso for riders who are riding anything close to posted/legal speeds.
 
If uneven wear is an issue, multi-compound tires are your friend:

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Personally, if the road is long, straight and boring with no motorcycle-friendly destination at the end, I'll take the truck. No use rushing towards the next oil/filter/tire change if there's no joy in it for me.

YMMV - pun fully intended! Some people like highway droning (nod to PP).
 
I recently watched a video that touched on the DS and it's potential for maybe not being such a good idea...
'Granted the guy doing the talking is a representative of a motorcycle tire manufacturer so he has a vested interest in people buying motorcycle tires over car tires, but... What he revealed made a lot of sense.
Cross sectioning and comparing a bike tire's construction to a passenger vehicle tire and explaining the differences between them as well as the reasons for the differences leads me to conclude... apples and oranges.
In my mind they're different enough to just leave well enough alone.

Oh, and he didn't like balance beads either 😁
 
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