Rim and tire question

[n1elkyfan]

Cool I'll give it a shot.

[bwringer]

If you Google for "Akira Bike", you'll find several ongoing projects along these lines.

This gent seems to be using airplane tires on his:

http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/welcome.htm

http://tireunlimited.com is a great place to see lots of different tires in one place -- they sell every kind of tire -- car, motorcycle, ATV, airplane, etc.

[n1elkyfan]

Well I'm not really wanting to do a direct copy of Akira bike. I'm useing it more for the seating style.

[dardoonk]

Why not just adapt a rear rim from a bike that already has a single sided swingarm in back?

[n1elkyfan]

The problem I see with that is that it still wouldn't allow for it to turn.

[bwringer]

The main question as I see it is whether the bead designs are any different. Whatever mutant tire you can stuff onto whatever rim, you'd want to know that it will seat and seal if the rims are the same diameter.

I'm thinking that car and motorcycle tire beads must be about the same. I've heard that there are lots of idjits riding Honda Valkyries who have switched to a car tire on the rear. This is a rotten idea for several reasons, but bead sealing isn't one of them.

[Steve]

I've heard that there are lots of idjits riding Honda Valkyries who have switched to a car tire on the rear. This is a rotten idea for several reasons, but bead sealing isn't one of them.

Not sure what would qualify them as "idjits", but there are also several GoldWing riders (the newer 1800s only) that are fitting car tires to the back of the bike. Many of these riders are performance enthusiasts who regularly scrape hardware while out riding. Granted, you can scrape hardware on a Wing easier than most of the GSs, but you are still cranking the bike over when you do that. These riders report that the advantages of the car tire include a higher weight rating (very important if you examine the typical Winger population ), better contact patch for better braking, more stable ride and longer life. The only downside that anyone has ever mentioned is the short adjustment period to get used to the slightly different feel. Because the tread is flatter, it takes a little more of a nudge to get it off-vertical and into a turn, but after that, it's "all better than before". One guy has even mounted a video camera under the bike to de-bunk reports that, since you are only cornering on the edge of the tire, you have less tread available. He has shown that the size of the contact patch of the car tire leaned into a turn is actually larger than a bike tire at the same angle. Then, when you add in the fact that many of the car tires that are being put on the back of the bike are also of the run-flat variety, the safety factor goes up another notch or two.

What it boils down to is either use a bike tire that will cost about $200 and last them about 8-10,000 miles or get a car tire that will cost about $125 and last for 25-30,000 miles, while having a better weight rating.

Just in case you have any more interest in this rather controversial subject, here is a link to a report from one of the Darksiders.

This link is to the video. The sound is not syched correctly to the video, but you will hear footpegs scraping. 8-[

.

[n1elkyfan]

After looking at that video at Might just use a car tire. I wonder how it would act on the front.

[dardoonk]

The problem I see with that is that it still wouldn't allow for it to turn.

Do you mean for it to turn like a car? I was thinking it would be some type of single sided fork.

[TheCafeKid]

Do you mean for it to turn like a car? I was thinking it would be some type of single sided fork.

Hrmmm, I dunno whether to be in awe....or vomit?

[n1elkyfan]

No more like this but single sided

[n1elkyfan]

This is actually closer to what I want