Anyone Using Moped Tires?

[5-7HEAVEN]

Bairdco, I've had two blowouts on bicycle tire casings. One on my Dahon rear tire w/ Staton chain drive. I pushed the bike 2 miles to home. The other was on my twin-engined girlie cruiser, 20 miles from home. My friend Ed biked home, got his truck and carried me home.

I don't expect that to happen on moped tires. these are tough!

 

[Slow Cruiser]

+1 for Slime and thier tubes

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Oops! I forgot that using shorter tires will bring the foot pedals closer to the ground. The 5" ground clearance shrinks to 2.3"! I need to find shorter cranks.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Update: Since using 17" moped tires would dangerously lower the pedals and chain, I decided to look for taller motorcycle/moped tires and rims.

This is what I bought on ebay today, for starters:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251271234595?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

This rim's width from flange to flange is 2.125". My 17" moped rim is 2.00" and easily mounts the 2.25 (2.5" wide) x 17 tire. I didn't find a 2.25 x 21 tire yet, only 2.75 x 21 (80/90-21) size. The 2.75 size is 26.69" tall, which is EXACTLY the diameter of my 2.375" wide Schwalbe Big Apple tires! Sadly, it's 3.07" wide, which won't fit in my ROCKSHOX fork or any bike frames I own.

I need to find 2.25 x 21 motorcycle/moped tires.

Update: If I install a Suzuki K10 fork, drum and 21" wheel, I can use this 80/90H-21 tire:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/6187/ITEM/Shinko-230-Tour-Master-Front-Tire.aspx

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

I bought this 3" x 21" dunlop tire. It's 26.625" diameter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dunlop-D404...Parts_Accessories&hash=item5652576c2a&vxp=mtr

I measured my Diamondback cruiser frame to see if my Dunlop motorcycle tire would fit in the rear dropout. It's gonna be EXTREMELY tight in the rear frame!! Measurements were taken without the rim, but the tire is so stiff that the numbers should still be very accurate. I'm using measurements from my 2.35" x 26" Schwalbe rear tire as reference points on the frame.

The Dunlop 404 80/90-21 is the front tire for Harley Davidsons. It is 5/8" taller than my 26" tire and 3" wide. There is 5/16" clearance to the top fender bracket/cross brace, and 11/16" clearance to the front of the chainstay. Left side chainstay clearance is tight @ minus 1/16"+. Right side chain stay clears by 1/16"+". Left side seat stay clears by 1/8"; right side seat stay by 1/16"+.

Looks like the left-side chainstay and the right-side seat stay will need "clearancing". Since issues are on both sides of the dropout, the wheel cannot be "dished" to solve the problem.

Well, I won't be certain until I mount the motorcycle rim onto the bike's rear wheel hub and try to bolt it on the bike. I believe this is the smallest motorcycle tire available in 21" rim size (26.625" tire diameter).

This Dunlop tire won't fit my 28" Rockshox fork. Sooo, I'm getting a complete front end from a 1987 Suzuki RM125, including 21" wheel and hydraulic disc brake. The trick is to fit the Suzuki fork onto my bike. Then the Dunlop should mount on the RM125 wheel and bolt onto theRM125 fork, like it's meant to be.

and this tire is for the rear:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-75-21-Shi...Parts_Accessories&hash=item5657285693&vxp=mtr

It's a 2.75" X 21" tire. Sadly, it's only available in offroad, trails, enduro or dual-purpose. The last choice looks like knobby mountain bike tires, but for motorcycles.

Using reference information, rear tire side clearances on my rear dropout should increase by 1/4" from the Dunlop's dimensions. The tightest left-side chainstay clearance would be ~1/8".
Looking better, might not need to clearance the rear dropout with a 2.75" x 21" m/c tire.

 

[chainmaker]

These are my wheels 19 x 2.25 moped rims 10 ga spokes, Sturmey Dymo front hub Motobecane rear. Tires are 19x 2.5 in rear and 19x 2.25 in front. Very heavy duty and very heavy.

 

[darkhawk22]

I have these tires on my bike:

http://classic-cycle.de/en/All/Ball...ml?listtype=search&searchparam=continental 26

they work great but are a bit pricy with shipping. I think I paid about $80 for both tires with shipping. That said they have over 1,000 miles on them.

 

[biknut]

I've been running these tires since last December, and they've proven to be very good tires. They're tough and have deep tread, pretty close to motorcycle quality. I haven't had one flat yet knock on wood.

They say 24x3" but mine actually measure 2.7" wide on 2" rims, so the only rub is you need a bicycle that can handle some pretty wide tires to run them.

I like them so much I bought 4 more for spares.

http://luxlow.com/products-page/ll-...4x-3-city-slick-chopper-cruiser-bicycle-tire/

 

[chainmaker]

I've been running these tires since last December, and they've proven to be very good tires. They're tough and have deep tread, pretty close to motorcycle quality. I haven't had one flat yet knock on wood.

They say 24x3" but mine actually measure 2.7" wide on 2" rims, so the only rub is you need a bicycle that can handle some pretty wide tires to run them.

I like them so much I bought 4 more for spares.

http://luxlow.com/products-page/ll-...4x-3-city-slick-chopper-cruiser-bicycle-tire/

Those are nice looking tires, wish I could find the same tread pattern for my wheels.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

These are my wheels 19 x 2.25 moped rims 10 ga spokes, Sturmey Dymo front hub Motobecane rear. Tires are 19x 2.5 in rear and 19x 2.25 in front. Very heavy duty and very heavy.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Mailman brought me this 1987 Suzuki DS80 motorcycle fork I got from ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180985141125...84.m1497.l2649

I'll use the Dunlop motorcycle tire with this fork. It is 3.15" wide and 26.67" diameter. If I don't cut the stem, I'll have 3.58" fork travel before bottoming out. Sidewall clearance is .81" per side, which is a LOT. On my Rockshox fork and Schwalbe 2.35" tire, there is .25" side clearance. The Schwalbe tire would have 1.21" sidewall clearance per side in this DS80 fork..

This tire is a MONSTER. It is the OEM front tire for certain Harley Davidson bikes.

 

[bigbutterbean]

Link says listing is no longer available.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Here you go:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/85-86-87-88...Parts_Accessories&hash=item53ee9762fa&vxp=mtr

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

My Shinko 2.75-21 rear tire arrived today. Funny, it measured 3" wide @ the outside "cleats". These cleats are @ the edge and sidewall of the tire, for offroading. Since I won't be doing that, I decided to "amputate" them.....all 184 of them. Eliminating them would narrow the tire from 3.00" to 2.5625" (2" and 9/16"). Thus, clearances would widen dramatically. One chainstay had MINUS .0625". Modifying the tire gives it approximately .+20" clearance. Other side seat stay will increase from .0625" to .2625".

Took me 1.5 hours to remove most of the rubber off of 184 rubber cleats. Actually it came off WAY too easy, which means that ALL of the tire's cleats are kinda soft. I hope the tire lasts me awhile before any cleats start ripping off.

It felt odd removing rubber off a brand new tire, much like how some track racers machine off part of the tread of a brand new racing tire. Sadly, this is the only way a 26" motorcycle tire will fit into my cruiser without "massaging" the dropout. There IS no smaller-size 26" tire I could find. My 3" X 21" Dunlop tire will fit perfectly in the motorcycle fork I'm gonna use on this bike.

 

[16v4nrbrgr]

I've done that before to mount some super knobbies in a narrowish frame.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

I've done that before to mount some super knobbies in a narrowish frame.

What did you use to trim the knobbies?

The 184 cleats are 1/2" x 5/8" x 3/8" deep in size. They're so soft, I used my Swiss Army knife to cut them off.
Having difficulty trimming it down, but tire width dropped from 3" to 2.625".

 

[bigbutterbean]

I think (not sure, but THINK) Those cleats are soft for extra grip. Sound like dual-purpose tires to me. The benefits of a street tire and an off-road tire combined, maybe? Anyway, those forks look pretty decent. If those are the exact ones you're buying, might want to think about some fresh paint lol. All joking aside, my suzuki forks are one of the best purchases I've ever made (motorized bicycle related anyhow, lol). Even though yours are a different model, I'm sure you'll be happy with them. You just cant beat the comfort of motorcycle triple trees for any motorbike build. Smooth rolling tires and a wide padded seat help a lot too.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Yes, bigbutterbean, this soft tire is dual-purpose. I've searched for hours on the 'net. At the advertised width of 2.75", it is the narrowest 26" m/c tire I could find. In actuality, this tire is 3" wide, but trimming the nubs gets it to a smaller size.

LOL, no they're not the ones I ordered. Mine should be here soon. Its added feature is a(n) m/c hydraulic brake. If I'm REAL lucky, I can adapt a 26" m/c wheel to bolt right in.

 

[bigbutterbean]

I adapted a Worksman front drum wheel to my forks (no disc mount and wanted the worksman wheel anyway, picked it up for $35 at a rally), but it was not an easy task. I needed a longer axle for starters, so I took a rear axle off a mountain bike. Then, the threads on the new axle didn't go in far enough to properly center the wheel, so I had to force one of the cones past the threads. Then the forks were obviously wider than the drum, so I had to use extra lock nuts as spacers between the fork and the wheel. I also had to fabricate a bracket for the brake arm. Ended up using a piece of motorcycle chain guard and bolting one end of it to the brake arm and the other to one of the fender bolt holes (not running a front fender anyway). I actually noticed over the weekend that there was still some extra space between the forks and the wheel, so added a flat washer to each side and that seems to have taken care of it. If you can install a wheel that actually FITS in the fork, you're a step ahead my friend. Good luck.

 

[5-7HEAVEN]

Thanks. I like how you figured out how to mount your bike wheel. Did you also have to cut into the fork end so you could slip your axle in? When I mocked up my fork, I used a front mountain bike wheel with a longer rear mountain bike axle (skewer), so I didn't have to cut the fork.

Thinking it thru before my parts arrive. I'll have the complete Suzuki RM80 front end, but it uses a 17" wheel. If I respoke that hub (expensive and one-off), that seems to be the simplest straightforward option but not cheapest way to install a larger wheel. I also ordered an RM125 26" wheel and companion disc rotor and caliper. From pictures, it doesn't look like this caliper's mounting holes line up with the fork's caliper bracket. HOWEVER, it might just be a simple matter of fabbing a steel adaptor plate. Or it could be another simple matter of retrofitting the smaller wheel's rotor onto the larger wheel, then using the smaller wheel's caliper. The larger wheel has six mounting holes for the rotor, the smaller wheel has three. If the both rotors mounting holes have the same radius, I'm home free!