TOPIC:

kza13 wrote:

RickG wrote: Pete one option is to use a 13in rim that many small cars have and use a 155 x 60 x 13 tyre from Nangkang. They are only 10mm larger in diameter than the 10in mini you show. I use them on all the motorcycle trailers I build and have got really good mileage from them (I have never had to replace one)and they can be run flat without damage due to the light load. I ran 60km into Broken Hill at 60-70kph and had no damage. Actually it was barely noticeable that there was no pressure.

I feel really embarrassed to show photos of my bike on here, all these other bikes are clean and shiny, chrome sparkling, leading links on all the sidecar rigs, my old girl sits out in the blazing Aussie sun day in and day out at my works car park, the tank paint is fading and the sidecar fiberglass has "spiderweb" cracks in places from hail damage over the many years, so I guess internally she is good, it's just the "makeup" that's faded and she's showing her age. Speaking of running a flat tyre, a week or so ago I was walking over to my garage and noticed the rear tyre on the bike was looking a bit weird, sort of spread out on the bottom a bit more than it should be, thought i'd better check the tyre pressure, low and behold the gauge showed 5 PSI !!!, hmmm I thought she was a bit squishy in the rear , wonder how long it's been like that, heck I've even been "flying the chair" with it like that, put some air in it and the bike now looks right, it sits a bit higher that it has, oh well guess i'd better check it a bit more often , just goes to show the 13 stands up well when you have a "training wheel" on the side

Couple of things here my friend - Those of us who know you understand that your rig is also your daily ride and part of that ride is along a dirt rode. You would probably have to pull the straight-jacket out of the closet if your rig started looking sparkling clean all of a sudden. Point is don't be embarrassed!!

A dirty bike with slight cosmetic wear is a bike that isn't a hangar queen.

My bikes have never been ultra clean. I spend more time riding than I do cleaning and polishing. IMO that is a good thing!

Kawboy wrote: lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/27/theDarkSide.html - Another great article Hillsy, Thanks for sharing. It obviously contravenes all normal thinking BUT this guy has acted very much like a test pilot and discusses all aspects from mounting installing to mileage expected and everything in between, Can't argue with his findings. My first thought when I got to the middle of his report was that he probably doesn't ride hard, spending more time upright than down in the twisties, but apparently he does ride hard. Now he doesn't suggest that the car tires he's tested are better than the motorcycle tires in handling and it looks like the advantage is the tire wear with little to no major issues with handling. He does make a note that he would not put the car tire on the front of his bike. Personally, I get a little nervous when I start running different tread patterns, especially when I'm riding on wet roads. I'm not sure that I would like to be a test pilot on a 700 lb. bike and go and throw it throuth the twistis and take the chance of grinding off my leg in a grinding crash with the bike on top of me. But my days of riding hard are over.

He did note that the rim on the Valyrie is not that dissimilar from a car rim. From the drawings provided in the previous post, the rim design big difference appears to be whewre the bead lock sits in relationship to the bead flange and on the motorcycle rim, the bead lock is closer to the flange and holds the car tire bead in a position that doesn't allow the bead to seat properly. Maybe the Valkyrie bead lock is more like the car rims? and maybe the tire bead deforms enough to accomodate the difference in the rim. It would be very difficult to determine just exactly what's happening with this combination.

We digress here. Paul is asking what wheel (tire /rim) to put on his sidecar. I would think the only concern would be in supporting the weight and not necessarily any concerns regarding handling. It would be nice to hear from Trikebldr here. He's the Master of all things 3 wheeled.

Sorry to keep it on the darkside path, but the bit about the "bead not seating properly" with the car tyre on the bike rim, well that's not true. The cutaway pic he shows in the article doesn't take into account that the bead still goes over lip and comes back down onto the rim.



There is no "gap" between the bead and the rim like in this diagram. It seals hard. In fact, m/c rims are slightly larger in diameter than a corresponding car rim so the car tyre is quite difficult to seat on the m/c rim. Correspondingly, it's harder to get off.

As for the performance / cornering aspect it's naturally a different feel than an m/c tyre. But if you use a car tyre on a heavy bike with limited lean angles it can perform very well. You wouldn't expect to put one on a 180kg sportsbike and expect to scrape pegs or otherwise out-perform a m/c tyre.

hillsy wrote:

Yaegunp wrote:
That article has to be one of the most copied and pasted articles on the net. It's all interesting information but there's a ton of actual evidence to prove that using a car tyre on a bike can actually work.

This guy was the guy who convinced me I wasn't going to spontaneously combust if I put a car tyre on my Intruder:

lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/27/theDarkSide.html

And here's a Delphi forum specifically for darksiders:

forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webta...ng%2F&gid=2120084868

Using a car tyre in a sidecar application is really a non event IMO. It's been done many times.

Thanks for the link Hillsy. Not sure if I can get a car tyre to fit the rear of Z1300 but I am trying to find out, so if anyone knows can you please give me the heads up.

I've heard of people using the space saver / emergency spare tyres they have for cars (quite a lot come in 17"), but I have no idea how much they cost or if a regular tyre store can get them.

Regular car tyres in 17" would probably be too wide to use on a z13 rear rim.