I’m very lucky to be alive, here is my story...

Years ago, while I was busy riding sport bikes, my dad was customizing his 2002 VTX 1800r, which included “going to the darkside.” (putting a car tire on a motorcycle)  I, like many, was skeptical at first, but then got a chance to ride and and was surprised at how well it handled, and intrigued by the mileage and look.

Fast forward to a couple years ago when I purchased my 2004 VTX 1800s, I wanted to go to the darkside, (put a car tire on my motorcycle) but didn’t think it was possible with spoke wheels.  So, this prompted me to embrace the classic look of my bike even more and I put a set of wide-whitewall (WWW) tires on it.  I immediately fell in love with the whitewall look and knew I would never go back to plain blackwall tires.
 

After my first 6 months or so with whitewall tires, my rear tire was needing replaced.  I was researching WWW tires that would last longer and found a forum thread that mentioned going darkside on spoke wheels.  I had to know more, and if I could go darkside with spoke wheels, could I go darkside with a whitewall?
 

The problem with this concept is most whitewall car tires only have the whitewall on one side.  After hours of research, I found how-tos on painting the sidewalls white and even a video that showed grinding down a narrow whitewall tire to make it a WWW.  Then, I stumbled upon a thread that mentioned a company that specializes in making whitewall tires using modern radial tires, Diamondback Classics.   I contacted them about making a double-sided whitewall tire for my bike.   The price was steep, but I knew it would be worth it.  $363.00 later ($419 with shipping), I had placed my order for a double-sided whitewall Diamondback Classics HR 205/70R15.  I received my tire within a couple weeks.
 

I was extremely excited to get my tire on, and immediately got to work. I wanted to document the process so I could show it off from beginning to end.  (little did I know, it wouldn’t end like I planned).
 

Left:  Before picture with what is left of my first Shinko WWW motorcycle tire.

Right: Motorcycle tire next to my new WWW car tire.

The next few pictures show the mockup, and I have to say, it looks awesome.

I dismounted the motorcycle tire with ease, and although it took more effort the car tire went on the wheel surprisingly well.    I used tire lube like I always had, and attempted to set the bead.  I maxed out my air compressor’s capabilities at around 97 psi, and the bead still would not seat.
 

After multiple tries, deflating, adding more tire lube, reinflating, etc. I stopped for awhile and did some more research.  I concluded that to complete my darkside mission, I would have to inflate it to more than 100 psi and potentially up to 140psi for the bead to seat.
 

It was about a week later when I got the chance to try again.  I wanted to ensure the tire stayed warm so I had a diesel space heater near my work area.  Using a higher pressure air compressor, I filled the tire to 102psi.  I left it there for a bit hoping the heat would eventually make the bead set.  
 

I began to put more air in the tire when all the sudden one side of the bead seated.   I was ecstatic!  I checked the pressure and it was at 108psi.  Thinking the next side couldn’t be far behind, I continued to add air.  A few seconds later there was an explosion.
 

I remember a sharp pain in my hands and a deafening noise.  My reflex caused me to jump away from the tire and run as fast as I could to the corner of the shop.  My ears ringing, my hand completely numb, I ran to my house as fast as I could.  I was in shock, I had no idea what was going on. I ran my hand under water trying to get the feeling to return.  I could see my thumb was smashed and was starting to swell.  However, my hand was still intact and there were no signs of broken bones.  I took some pain meds and cracked open a beer to calm my nerves and take in what happened.  
 

Upon returning to the shop, I saw just how bad it was.  Everywhere I looked, there were small shreds of masking tape that I had used to protect the wheel bearings.  The force of the explosion crushed the metal milk crate it was setting on and sent the wheel and tire into the bucket of a loader tractor that was about 15 feet away.  Had the wheel went the opposite direction, it would’ve collided with the diesel heater that was still running at this point.  
 

I cleaned up the mess and stowed the wheel and tire beside my bike to deal with another day.  I was crushed, but happy to be alive.  After a night of agonizing pain, I decided to drain my thumbnail myself and used the smallest drill-bit I could find.  See pictures below.  This helped a lot, but I did follow up with a doctor the next day.  I hadn’t broken any bones in my hand, but it took a few weeks for the swelling and pain to subside, and part of me thought I would have lasting damage.  
 

It was about a month later before I could use my hand enough to work on my bike again.  I took the car tire off and the wheel was in pretty bad shape.   Using a steel hammer and a mapp gas torch, I was able to get the wheel close to its original shape.  If it weren’t for a couple dings from the hammer, you wouldn’t be able to tell there was ever anything wrong with it.  Thankfully, before dismounting my old tire, I chose not to do my usual “end-of-tire-life burnout,” and was able to remount it.  I was glad to have my bike back together again.
 

My thumb nail ended up getting to the point where I had to pull it off.  If you’re interested in watching that, here is the link for the video: https://youtu.be/3Lw81ceozPA.  At the time of writing this, it had been 6 months since this incident and my hand was almost back to normal, and I’ve already went through another rear Shinko WWW.   I switched to a Metzeler 880 WWW in hopes it will last longer this time.   
 

I still have the occasional nightmare about the incident, and I still have major anxiety seating the beads on any tire.  Even just using an air compressor makes me a little nervous, all that pressure can be powerful and dangerous.  Obviously it has affected me to the point where I’m just now gathering the courage to share my story.  It has been a couple years now, this took place sometime in the beginning of 2015, February or March.
 

Insights:

• If you haven’t read it already, read Steve Saunders thread where he goes into the science behind car tires & wheels vs. motorcycle tires & wheels: http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/10-reference-faq-forum/400426-design-differences-between-car-motorcycle-rim-tire.html#/forumsite/20765/topics/400426

• There is a reason you don’t see whitewall car tires on a motorcycle.  I believe the process of creating the double white wall tire stiffened the sidewall to the point where it couldn’t stretch the bead over the bead hump, resulting in sidewall failure.  I think if one were to paint the sidewalls of an already mounted CT, it would be fine.

• Manufacturers set max air pressure limits for a reason.  I contacted Diamondback Classics and was informed the max seating pressure of this particular tire was 60psi.  I nearly doubled that.

This is my story, I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t ride darkside.  In fact, if I ever get rid of my spoke wheels, I will probably go darkside.  However, all this said, the process of mounting the car tire on a motocycle wheel is dangerous and not to be taken lightly.  It seems that spoke wheels are especially challenging.  So if you do go this route, just be aware of the dangers, and take some safety precautions, for example, a tire cage and a remote fill valve would’ve been a great thing to have.
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Be safe, and get riding!