200/55R17 (Harley Night Train rear tire)

Hi: I did a search and found out the CT's don't work on Harley's as a rule. I've got an 07 Night Train with a 200/55R17 rear tire (stock size). I also see the Yamaha Roadliner/Stratoliner has an OEM fitment of 190/60/17. Do you think the CT (205/50/17) match up would work?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome bob, you have anything to do with 135's?

Which bike are you looking for a DS tire for? Maybe I didn't understand the entire post correctly... TYPICALLY HD's don't have much clearance to try and wiggle a slightly of-sized CT under there and still have it clear the belt... that and a lot of them had skinnier rear tires that were difficult to impossible to find suitable CT replacements...

Your (200/55R17) 200 mm tire is 7.874 inches wide with a sidewall at 55% (4.33 inches). The 205/50 is 8.07 inches wide and 4.375 inches high...So, your tire width would increase by 0.19685 inches and your tire height would increase by 0.045 inches. That is a minuscule amount of difference. Why do you think it won't work?

Actually; I'm hoping it will. I would run a DS tire in a minute if I could find out one way or the other if it would work.

The newer HD's have a much wider rear tire width on some models.

The point of my question is to find out IF it will work. It looks like it would on paper.

BTW; anyone that rides an HD and gives anyone shit for riding another brand of bike isn't a true biker. That's my opinion anyway.

Thanks again for helping,

Boomer

Forget about what the new Harley's have; concentrate on your model only (07 Night Train). If you can find a Dark-sider with your model...great. Otherwise you're on your own. Again, you're going to pick up 0.19685 inches of width and 0.045 inches of width. I suggest you get a tape measure and go out and do the measurements on your bike. Unless you can find someone who's already done it on the 07 Night Train, you will have to do the math yourself and decide whether it will work. When, and if, you convince yourself it will and then you do it, you will become the expert on your model. Good luck.

Thank you again for the good advice. I guess it's time to do a little pioneering.

try this:
https://mcdarksiders.forumotion.com/general-motorcycle-tech-information-f14/how-to-check-to-see-the-maximum-tire-size-to-fit-your-bike-t3153.htm
that will give you your clearance

do a 'lil measuring and let us know what you find out!

I'm sure glad I didn't listen when they told me it wouldn't work

Cross Bones with a side hack. Cool.

Are you running the stock rim and is it the same size as the Night Train?

What brand and size DS tire are you running?

Thanks,

BB

Stock cross bones rim, stock inner-tube

I believe the rim is the same size, as it had the same 200 series dunlop mounted to it from the factory that the Night Train does.

I am running a 205/50 17 General Excedra. It beaded with 15 - 20 psi. I've read that Harley wheels are less than ideal for this because of the absence of any kind of safety bead, but I don't know how true that is. Obviously any time you put a car tire on a motorcycle wheel you assume responsibility, and due to the ease with which the tire beaded up I'm not sure how good I would feel about running this tire on a two wheeler. Caveat emptor, as they say.

I have 1500 miles on this setup so far without incident. The tire does not have any detectable wear, versus the stock tire that wore evenly but was down to the wear bars from 2000 miles of solo riding and another 2500 miles of hack duty. If I installed another dunlop I would assume perhaps 4000 total miles of hack duty before it was completely bald. I'm hoping for 12,000 - 15,000 out of the excedra. I'm running it at 35 psi.

One additional thing I noticed is that the car tire runs noticeably cooler than the motorcycle tire did. The car tire gets somewhat warm to the touch after highway travel on a 90 + degree day, whereas the motorcycle tire would get very hot. I suspect that is why it went away so quickly. It probably flexed too much and couldn't handle the heat load.

Excellent! Thanks for the info and paving the way!

Bueller wrote:I'm sure glad I didn't listen when they told me it wouldn't work

Very nice!


.................bobby


.

Well I finally wore out the MT and found a good CT to fit my Night Train. It's a Falken Ziex ZE-512 205/50/17 I got from Discount Tire. Mounted it myself, used Dyna Beads, and run about 42-44 psi. I really like the ride and hope to get at least 30k miles out of it.

Very Nice!

BoomerBob wrote:Well I finally wore out the MT and found a good CT to fit my Night Train. It's a Falken Ziex ZE-512 205/50/17 I got from Discount Tire. Mounted it myself, used Dyna Beads, and run about 42-44 psi. I really like the ride and hope to get at least 30k miles out of it.

Congrats and you are going to love it! That looks awesome on your bike. Thanks for checking in and giving us a pic. But be sure you try a lower pressure, it will make a huge difference!


........................bobby

Thanks for the advice about lowering the pressure. What pressure do you think might be good for a 650 lb bike?

I was just reading a lively discussion about tire pressure on non run flat tires over on the GL1800 Darksiders forum. One guy was running 26 psi and another was saying they need be run at 44-46 psi. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between.

try about 32 and see what you think...

Will do. Thanks!

I guess I am the black sheep of the Darkside crowd because I like my pressure right up where the tire states Max PSi. (41lbs) But you definitely should play with the pressure to find a setting that you like.

I didn't like the way the rear wheel flexed so much in a curve. My bike is 710lbs wet, before accessories. Probably pushing closer to 750lbs right now.

I ran the psi down to 40 for today's ride and I could no longer even tell it was a CT except that it was smoother in general and cornered very well. I could tell I was getting some of the action of the radial. It felt like the difference between the old bias ply tires on cars then switching tires on the same car. Way better. Even if I got the same mileage as the old stock tire; I wouldn't go back to the hard MT's.

Now I just wish they made one slim enough to fit on my old Electra Glide.

It's hard to believe this tire could feel any better but I will try the psi even lower just to be sure.

sweet! keep us posted!

Pretty impressed with the HD's and the darkside. I would have never guessed that they would fit due to the belt issue that was so stressed a while back. Yall are welcome and thanks for you input.

Peace
Moon

That tire looks good there. Try going down 4 lbs at a time and put a good 50 miles on each pressure. Shouldn't take to long to find your sweet spot. You will be surprised by how much a differance of 2 lbs can make.

Jerry