Vintage tires

GoldenMotor.com

42blue15

New Member
Sep 18, 2008
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St Louis metro, USA
Just came across this site. I know that several members have been looking for "Vintage" looking tires. Not sure what size wheel they require but... may be worth looking into.

Size 26X3 Tire - SIMPLEX MOTORCYCLE TIRE ANTIQUE TIRE 26X3 - Tires for your Drag, Antique, or Vintage Car and truck
...They would require that you use Simplex rims.

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coker tires still has some red BFG's :B.F.GOODRICH BICYCLE RED - Coker Tire
Not to discourage you or anything, and I don't actually have a pair so I don't know first-hand--but other places selling these say that they're NOS: made ~11-12 years ago, and showing signs of minor dry rot just from storage. At least one site is selling them non-returnable, "as-is".
Nobody I've seen has said that they're unusable, but they definitely don't look brand-new.
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matt167

New Member
May 20, 2009
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usa
Coker makes there own tires. they might say B.F Goodrich, but there a licensed copy of the original tire, made by Coker..
 

42blue15

New Member
Sep 18, 2008
136
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0
St Louis metro, USA
Coker makes there own tires. they might say B.F Goodrich, but there a licensed copy of the original tire, made by Coker..
Yea but they don't make all the tires they sell.

B.F.GOODRICH Vintage RED BICYCLE TIRE 26X2.125

Note the product code number: COKER_BFGRED26X2.125

"These tires are display only, and are not in very good condition. They are about 10 years old, sold as is and non-returnable"

There is at least one seller on eBay who has them, and there's a couple other online places I've found them also.

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I don't work at Coker and don't know anyone who does, so I cannot be certain of what's going on with these tires, but here is what I recall:

1) Coker was the only place you could get these tires for at least the last ~10 years, and they used to charge over $80 each for them.
2) About 4 or 5 years ago they dropped the price to $50, and they were still the only place that sold them.
3) About two years ago, Coker switched the product page to say "out of stock", and it was like that up until just the last couple months.
4) At about the same time, these exact same tires (red-colored BF Goodrich Silvertowns) turned up available at a few other sources, usually saying that they were NOS and weren't in very good condition.
5) Now Coker has them again, but at far lower prices than they originally had them.

If you want a pair, you should probably email Coker first and ask what the manufacturing date and tire condition is.
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matt167

New Member
May 20, 2009
420
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usa
Coker actually does make all there tires, or at least has them made. they bought discontinued molds long ago, and the brands are what the molds original company/ tire was. it's all licensed by the original companies, but the original companies have nothing to do with them. that's why if you want them, you gotta go to Coker or a distributor of Coker to get them

most likely, Coker has started production back up. the other distributors probably had a stock of them that never got sold and now there rotting.. the Coker listing would say if they were old and checking, because they will list that if a tire there selling is. but the only tire I know of them selling like that are some military tires
 
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dmar836

New Member
Jun 23, 2009
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KC
Apparently, Coker's motorcycle tires(for the older 26-28" wheels like we all look at) have a sketchy rep. in the antique motorcycle trade. Basically, they are not good to be ridden. I have seen quotes on them rolling off the rims quite easily and not lasting long at all. Not that Coker is doing anything wrong - remember these might be only as good as the originals which were apparently pretty scary.
JMO,
Dave
KC
 

42blue15

New Member
Sep 18, 2008
136
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0
St Louis metro, USA
Apparently, Coker's motorcycle tires(for the older 26-28" wheels like we all look at) have a sketchy rep. in the antique motorcycle trade. Basically, they are not good to be ridden. I have seen quotes on them rolling off the rims quite easily and not lasting long at all. Not that Coker is doing anything wrong - remember these might be only as good as the originals which were apparently pretty scary.
JMO,
Dave
KC
The part about "not lasting long at all" I don't know about, but the bit about "coming off the rim" is not Coker's fault. That was always a fault of the early cord-bead tire designs.

In that respect, Coker is just making EXACT replicas that would properly fit on real, actual board-track-era rims.
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