I posted a few days ago looking for the number to a gentleman that build rear wheels that take car tires. Thanks for the one response that gave me H T wheels number. Spoke with him at length, and found that I should get between 20 and 30k per tire. I now get no more that 4k, more like 3k.
But the draw back that Harry stated was that with the new wheel the stress was transferred to the wheel bearings. He thinks that he has this corrected by adding a second bearing to the sprocket side of the hub.
Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this. It is a solid wheel and the rubber sticks better than the stock setup. No flex from the spokes.
Please any expertise on this would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance tom
Anytime a rigid mounted sidecar is added to a motorcycle sideloading is added that was not present as a solo bike.
A solo bike banks in turns so rear wheel sideloading is not a problem.
Being a two track vehicle now, a rigid mount sidecar combo acts like a car in turns with no more banked turns and much sideloading instead.
Any method of relieving these forces will ease the stress on the rear wheel, bearings and spokes (if present).
Timken bearings (tapered rollers) will handle sideloading much better than ball bearings due to a larger bearing loading surface.
An added bearing of any type will also increase the bearing loading surface leading to more longevity of the wheel.
Lonnie
Indian347, I too am interested in finding a tire or tire/wheel combo that would give better mileage. By "testing" different tires by riding normally I have gotten the best mileage, 7,500K, from a Metzler. All others so far have yielded between only 4K and 5K. Years ago I found a Goodyear tire that fit my Honda Goldwing/Terraplane sidecar and got 25K on it. Unfortunately they report they no longer make this tire and I have yet to find a source of any more similiar tires.
Does anyone know a source for car tires that would fit a 16" Harley rear tire?
Thanks in advance,
Larry
MAJ William L. O'Daniel
S-6, 2nd SEG, 1st Bde, 75th DIV(TS)
Ft. Sill, OK
The twin tires we have work however these are a discontinued tire that we purchased all of the stock we could find. Of these we have one or two 125 90 VR 16's in stock and about a dozen 125 85 16. The tires can be seen on our web site www.dauntlessmotors.com
These are a soft tread V rated tire that does not get as good of milage as you would get by going to a more common 15 inch size but they fit the stock rims and are lasting almost twice as long as a bike tire.
Jay Giese
Dauntles Motors Corporation
866-638-1793
Originally written by indian347 on 11/18/2006 11:29 AM
I posted a few days ago looking for the number to a gentleman that build rear wheels that take car tires. Thanks for the one response that gave me H T wheels number. Spoke with him at length, and found that I should get between 20 and 30k per tire. I now get no more that 4k, more like 3k.
But the draw back that Harry stated was that with the new wheel the stress was transferred to the wheel bearings. He thinks that he has this corrected by adding a second bearing to the sprocket side of the hub.
Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this. It is a solid wheel and the rubber sticks better than the stock setup. No flex from the spokes.
Please any expertise on this would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance tom
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Milage on these tires has shown to be excellent but will of course vary with ridig style etc. The nice thing is that they are only a 40 dollar tire! So, do the math and the price of the wheel conversion begins to make sense.
Harry did experience some issues with the stock bearings in these wheels. He also did not hesitate to stand behind the concerns of the one who had the problem and it seems to now be corrected, the way I understand it. Lonnies post was right on.Sidecars can induce stresses into component parts that they were never specifically designed for.Overall We do not see a lot of problems in this area today but when someting arises it is good to see it addressed and dealt with effeciently and promply.
I am having a 15 inch wheel built. You don't want to put a car tire on a motorcycle rim. The beads size and style are different and by doing so create a safety hazard. The cost of the rim and tire isn't cheap but it will pay off in 20k miles. That is as long as the bearings hold out.
