You're not comparing apples to apples. Moto-GP bikes have 225+hp and weigh under 375lbs. They spend a great deal of time on the side of the tire with as much throttle as possible. There's not a street bike out there doing the same thing. Also those tires last for about 100mi not 10000+mi. Some of the power cruisers are using practically a car tire on the rear. Straight line traction is the most important goal.
It will always be what best suits all the variables. On a street bike if you are in a panic situation leaned over the first thing to do is (if possible) get the bike up before hitting the brakes for maximum traction. At which point the CT maybe even better.
I don't think anybody would say a CT will handle the twisties as well as a sport touring tire let alone a sport tire. There's always a trade off.
The trick is to always have enough traction. Anything more then that is wasted in reduced tire life.
BTW, I don't know that I'd want to try a CT because while it might meat some of my needs I don't know if it would satisfy most of them.
It doesn't matter whether you have 220 HP or 20 hp. When you're at the limit of adhesion, you're at the limit of adhesion, whether at 180 mph or 18 mph. And a situation that requires maximum lean angle can happen on the street, not just on the race track. Certainly the consequences of exceeding available traction are more serious at 180 than at 18 mph (unless the 18 mph accident happens in front of oncoming traffic), but I choose not to run a tire that was never intended to be ridden on it's edge.
Even the tires on power cruisers have a rounded tread design, at least those running motorcycle tires. Yes, because of the extreme width the curve is much more gradual, but it's there. And let not forget those cruiser don't lean very far. I suspect the factory supplied tires accommodate the amount of lean the bike is capable of without ending up on the sidewall.
"Enough traction"? Enough for what? I'll grant that in normal conditions, without a lot of lean, car tires have "enough." It's when you get into a decreasing radius corner and suddenly realize you're going faster than you intended, and have to lean over until the pegs drag. Or when you come around a curve a find a car halfway into your lane and need to rapidly increase your lean angle to clear it. Standing the bike up before hitting your brakes is a great idea, but not always practical. Standing the bike up may put you on the gravel shoulder, or into a guardrail. Or an oncoming car. It's those situations when I question whether a car tire, riding on the corner of the tread, has "enough" of anything.
The contact patch of a modern motorcycle tire gets larger when leaned over, precisely because that's where you need traction the most. The contact patch of a car tire shrinks dramatically when leaned over.
Like I said, it's not my problem--ride on whatever you want. But nothing written in this thread has convinced me that it's a good idea, or that the trade-offs for increase mileage are worth the risks.
