Got back from a 900 mile trip to Oregon. Had a great ride! I tested out my new theory of a car tire in both the rear and front. I found the rig to handle 200% easier and the ride improved. To say the least the test was a complete sucess and I now plan to keep the set up.
Happy 4th!
Mike
Mike,
Interesting! Glad you had a great trip.
Sidecar Ron
what was the tire size used? Modifications to rim? Special rim? Problems with installation? Installed by who? Tire pressure to seat bead?
Hey hackellis......Were you the sidecar/trailer rig I passed on June 21 on Oregon coast hwy 101? You were heading south.
I was on HWY 101 on June 21st. I don't recall seeing another rig. What were you driving?
I was driving a 05 Kawa Vulcan 1600 Classic with a 81 562 Velorex. I thought about turning around and chaseing you down but my wife was following in the Vette and we were going to meet a fellow sidecarist in Coos Bay. My tire is still nearly new on my bike but I am contemplating a car tire for front and back as well. Personnaly, I think it is a good idea. Do you have any advice to give as to maker and size of tire? I run 16" front and back now.
For tires I used Firestone's F650-165R15. I suspect that the useful life is around 25K to 30K miles.
I am thinking about putting a car rear tire on my 02 Suzuki 1500 Intruder, which I have a Champion Escort on. Did you have to change your wheels to do the car type tires ? My rear tire size is currently 180/70 - 15 and front is 150/80 - 16. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
The most prudent thing to do would be to modify the rim to accept the auto tire which would mean finding an engineering firm to determine whether there is sufficient material in the stock rim to do this in the first place, then finding an engineering firm with a precision lathe of sufficient size to accept it.
Others will advise it is no big thing, but still more will say that fitting an auto tire of this large size onto a narrow MC rim is just asking for trouble and I can show photos of new 165SR15 Firestone tires that exploded during firment by the Firestone dealer.
Remember the 15" auto tire is deliberately 1/8 inch smaller in ID than is the 15" MC tire. This is not true for the 16 in tire sizes. Check with the Tire and Rim Manufacturers Association.
Thank you for the info. Will check out rim tolerance, etc.
Egor,
Had a reputable establishment recommend the tire and installed the tires with no difficulty. I have a total 3,000 trouble free miles on the tires. If there was a risk on installation of the tires the tire shop assumed that liability. If I recall when they did the tire installation there was a contraption that all tires are put in (car, motorcycle & truck) when the air is put to the tire. I guess this is a safety process for the tire installer. If there is a danger, it would be the during the tire install. I guess someone can find data to support a postion, no matter how old it is.
Mike
The contraption you refer to was devised to protect the installer from the dangers of installing the old split rim truck wheels which, in their their day, were responsible for killing many installers. That was a definitive risk which was addressed then, not seen so much today.
http://www.lni.wa.gov/wisha/Rules/splitrims/HTML/296-864-600.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/mn/92mn008.html
etc, etc
The steel cage was to prevent the steel split rims from flying around and killing the installer with explosive force - not the ripping of the rubber carcass. Of course, they would also contain that also.
This does not even begin to address the problem of the stretching of the rubber in the bead area of the seat. Depending on how much pressure was used it might be OK. That is the critical item. Did they exceed the maximum allowable of 40 to 45 psi? Did you ask? If they were able to get a seat at the maximum allowable pressure, or less then it is probably OK. That is what we are trying to find out.
Previously it has been reported that extremely high pressures had to be used - like in the 60 to 70 psi and that is the problem. Please advise what the secret is to allow fitting these undersize tires with low seating pressures.
Or advise the name and contact of the establishment so we might learn the secret.
Good luck.
It is not my motive to debate this topic. I come to this site for tidbits and the camaraderie of other enthusiast that share my same interests. It is unfortunate that a few try to rule the many through intimidation.
No one is trying to intimidate - what we are looking for is a safe practice that can be recommended and from an official and recommended source. That is, if one can be found. It must be based on factual data and supported - not on isolated instances from enthusiats which is so far all we have had to date.
Originally written by hackellis on 7/5/2006 8:28 PM
It is not my motive to debate this topic. I come to this site for tidbits and the camaraderie of other enthusiast that share my same interests. It is unfortunate that a few try to rule the many through intimidation.
Mike,
Every time someone asks you to back up a claim, you accuse them of trying to intimidate you. You claim that every one else is wrong and you are right. Perhaps you're correct, we only ask where your information comes from that we can verify it for ourselves. I'd love to be able to safely mount a 15" car tire on a Goldwing without modifying it. You are the only person I've talked to who claims businesses do this, but once again you ignore requests for the name of the shop that I might give them my business. The local dealers will mount 16 and 17 inch tires but refuse to mount on unmodified 15 inch rims. All we want is to be able to give and receive accurate information that won't get someone hurt.
