Coker.com sells 4 ply nylon car tires for antique cars. They have 17 & 18 tires - Excelsior. Has anybody ever used any of these tires on the bike? Anyone see any potential problems? Should I go both front and rear or just the rear?
Front will work a lot longer. You can use rear tire correct size and install it on the front. Sorry have no info on Excelsior.
Good question beemer. I've wondered the same thing -- as I don't recall Coker listing speed/weight ratings. Also, seems they were all tube tires.
Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox
The weight and speed ratings are OK, like 900+ lbs and 85mph+ according to the rep at coker. I just wonder how they will handle. I'm a little worried about sliding sideways in the rain.
Only thing I have heard is to keep in mind that these tires are made for cars that spend 85% of their time sitting in garages getting waxed and the rest running in parades, etc. Not exactly freeway fliers needing to run at high speeds nor last high miles.
Sarge
One more thing to consider. Coker get top prices for these tires because they are very hard to find. Coker has them made in batches and I've seen "new" tires sent from Coker that were already four years old. Old tires may not deliver the miles you would get from a fresher one. The rubber breaks down over time and they become more prone to sidewall cracking. All that said, the tire was so "high" that it didn't fit so I can't speak to actual performance.
I have a 500/525 Excelsior on my Shadow 1100T but i haven't had it on long enough to give any kind of mileage report, it is a tube type tire but I mounted without a tube, the main concern with doing this is that it won't hold air because of the construction but I haven't had any problems in that respect, as far as being a tire for vintage cars that set a lot the tires still have to meet DOT spec's, the load rating isn't a issue, there's no way a bike could even come close, something that I expected but haven't got is the morning flat spot, so much for load on the tire, my rig weighs close to 700 lbs so that works out to 234 lbs per tire, I determined the tire pressure to be 38 lbs using the mud puddle method to get the tire flat enough to get a full tread on the road, I've put about 300 miles on it and have no complaints, one thing I do notice is that when making a tight low speed turn that the tire scrubs, I'm sure the MC tire did it also but the increase in tire patch makes it a lot more noticeable.
