Crazy Horse's How to Mount Motorcycle Tires on Schwinn Chopper Bicycle Wheels

[justpedaling]

Just wanted to chime in one last time on this thread as I did get the motorcycle tire mounted. Dunlop 402F 130/90-16 mounted with the matching motorcycle tube on the Schwinn rim. Hardest part was getting the stem valve to come through the rim.

And with some different bars installed just to see how it looks

Now to solving my new chainline rub problem I should of seen coming a mile away

 

[PeteMcP]

Well, it looks the part. But with the 130 width tyre causing the expected chain rub issue, you've ended up with the world's fattest gravity bike.
No-one likes an 'I told you so' but seriously, the easy way round your problem is to stick with no wider than a 120 wide tyre. Can't you get one of those from your friendly tyre guy?.The 120/80-16 tyre I have works perfect.

 

[justpedaling]

...No-one likes an 'I told you so' but seriously, the easy way round your problem is to stick with no wider than a 120 wide tyre. Can't you get one of those from your friendly tyre guy? ...

The logical part of my brain thought about doing that but the stubborn part (much larger part of my brain) liked the current look too much lol and wanted to press on. I'm actually pretty close to having it done though - other than brakes and the fun, aesthetic stuff. Here's what I've done to move the chain line out to accommodate the too wide motorcycle tire.

I got this adaptor which, although a simple machined part, was somewhat hard to find. I bought it thinking even if I did end up going a different route, who doesn't need a freewheel space adapter on standby for future builds?

https://www.ebikekit.com/products/freewheel-spacer-for-1-speed

<---- it's just stacked on top of a cheap 18T freewheel in the pic, eventually gonna go larger to make the gear ratio more friendly

With that + chain installed and some new (new to me at least, 80s motorcycle!) bars, I took it for a spin and it was rideable. Did about a mile to pick up a coffee and it felt totally ridiculous to pedal on the main street of the neighborhood with moderate traffic in the left lane and I loved every second of it. Plenty of confused and amused looks

The bad: Still just a little, intermittent chain rub on turns and if I pedal like I mean it...

The good: Bike can actually be pedaled and does ride, barely lol

Now for the ugly, beautiful fix: I'm going to use an old Schwinn Varsity Derailleur like so below except with enough added links to have the chain go through it and not just over.

Bridging the Schwinn eras in style! And this way, it will hopefully bring the chain out and guide it the extra 1 or 2 mm I need. I already added about 12mm with the adaptor so I think by having this diy tension guide in the middle, the chain can...
A) hopefully handle the radical chainline changes
B) not rub the tire at all and
C) also not fall off every 1/4 mile

We'll see, don't be surprised if I go with the easy free tire fix in a month or two though.

 

[motorhedfred]

If you're not real picky, temporary spare tires often go unused and can be bought pretty cheap. Motorcycles often use regular passenger car tires on the rear because they're cheaper and tend to last longer than motorcycle tires. (16" passenger car tires also have the same bead seat diameter as the rear OCC StingRay wheel)

Ride the dark side!

Tales From the Dark Side: Putting Car Tires on Motorcycles | Rider Magazine

From the Dark World of Nonconformity They Emerged...On Car Tires. Have you ever found yourself unwittingly in the middle of a heated religious or

ridermagazine.com

 

[TheGhostRider]

Good plan. It'll work.
I'm presently building an e-stretch using a custom stretched OCC frame and decided to go with Crazy Horse's tip and use a 16" motorcycle tyre. In the last couple of weeks I've just fitted a new 4.25-20" tyre to the rear e-hub but have since located a good used Battleaxe 120/80-16" m/cycle tyre which I'll have my local tyre fitters install when I next skip lockdown here in the UK. I'm using a new 4.25-20" bicycle inner tube.
I already measured things to establish the widest tyre I can fit without running into problems with the chain rubbing the tyre sidewall and 120mm max is what I went with. A 130mm wide tyre would be too close for comfort.
My 'Blue Bamboo' stretch cruiser had no rear brakes when I purchased it so I've gone ahead and fitted a rear disc/caliper using the nifty cnc'd alloy caliper mount offered by Pedal Chopper in Florida. Only required minor mods to fit my ride - such as enlarging the mount's 10mm axle hole to fit the e-hub's 14mm axle and filing a slot to accommodate the e-hub's electrical flex. For your application using the original OCC rear wheel, the caliper mount would be an easy fit-n-go as long as you had a disc-ready wheel.

View attachment 104316 View attachment 104317

I am seriously happy the OCC Stingray community is still alive. I picked up a bike recently but it seems people i nthe bicycling community hate these for whatever reason.

Question.... What handlebars did you use for these? I have been trying to find ones like this that have that 'swoop' style.

Second question... .What tube did you use with the motorcycle tire..One to fit the motorcycle, or the Schwinn rim? Did you use the original Schwinn rim?... Can you use it?

 

[PeteMcP]

Hi, and welcome aboard the forum.

Although it started life as a Stingray, There's not many clues left to give that impression now. Barely any original Stingray left in my build. Just like the proverbial Irishman's shovel. All original - apart from having a new head and a new handle....

Handlebars on my BLUE BAMBOO e-stretch bike are Ergotec's cruiser bars if I remember correctly. Can't recall if they're the Moon or Beach Cruiser variants. I'm in the UK and purchased the bars new via eBay from a German seller.
My bike uses a 48v 1000w e-hub/rim - again sourced via eBay. This time from a China based seller. I used a Kenda 20x4.125" heavy duty inner tube. Disposed of both the front/rear original Stingray wheels.

 

[TheGhostRider]

Hi, and welcome aboard the forum.

Although it started life as a Stingray, There's not many clues left to give that impression now. Barely any original Stingray left in my build. Just like the proverbial Irishman's shovel. All original - apart from having a new head and a new handle....

Handlebars on my BLUE BAMBOO e-stretch bike are Ergotec's cruiser bars if I remember correctly. Can't recall if they're the Moon or Beach Cruiser variants. I'm in the UK and purchased the bars new via eBay from a German seller.
My bike uses a 48v 1000w e-hub/rim - again sourced via eBay. This time from a China based seller. I used a Kenda 20x4.125" heavy duty inner tube. Disposed of both the front/rear original Stingray wheels.

View attachment 108517

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am inlove with your bike!!!!! Thank you so much for the reply with the handle bar.. ihave been searching for a week trying to find the name/style of it.

haha it feels so good to be able to relate to someone else with this bike. I find myself doing the same thing with upgrading parts on it to where it is getting further from the original parts. I am finally reassembling mine after giving it a new paintjob. I realize that despite being careful I lost one of the handlebar clamps.... do you happen to know what key words to search for such as the size in order to replace it? I tried ordering one..but it didnt fit

 

[Southern _Gypsy]

Has anyone mounted a motorcycle tire on a 24-inch wheel, are there any manufacturers that even make a motorcycle tire for a 24-inch bicycle wheel?

Motorcycles use the rim size, and bicycles use the tire size. A 20-inch bicycle rim is actually 16-inches for motorcycle tires.

A 20" bicycle tire's are ISO 406mm (with a rim seat of 406mm) and 16" = 406.4mm

24" tires are ISO 507mm, which is 20-inch so a narrow 20-inch motorcycle tire might fit.

26" tires are 559mm which is a 22-inch motorcycle tire.

It's obvious once I start my research, I won't stop till I found all the answers that I'm looking for.

Sheldon Brown website info, the bead seat diameter of 24"x decimal (1.5-2.125-etc.) is 507mm.

The tires I use are Harley Davidson Dunlop 402 or Dunlop 401.

The front tires on my Harley-Davidson Wide Glide FXDWG are D-401 MH 90-21 54H and the dimensions are:
Inside Diameter = 21-inches
Outside Diameter = 27-inches

Ok, we know the width of the Schwinn Stingray Chopper rear triangle is about 5.2-inches between the brake post's and 6.5" between the frame at the rear dropouts.
The only way to use the really fat / wide 150's or the 180's width tire's would be to widen cut, and re weld the rear triangle.

130 is the ideal Motorcycle Tire size / width for the 16-inch Schwinn Stingray Chopper rear wheel / rim.

Still researching and learning what I can regarding the use of Motorcycle Tires on Bicycle wheels / rim's.

Are you using these Motorcycle Tires on your builds, anyone?

C.H.

I have a 21" in motorcycle front rim and a 18" rear motorcycle rim. I'd prefer to not have to use bicycle rims period if I don't have to. For the rear wheel the rim I have is a DID JAPAN 1.85X18 86 --10 18-- then as you rotate the wheel about a 1/4 turn it's stamped J 18 x 1.85 1287 DOT and the front rim is a TAKASAGO J 21X1.60 DOT 224 JAPAN 1197 what I'm asking is what will be good motorcycle street tires for the rims I have. Now the front wheel rim strip has printed in yellow on it 2.75~3.00-21. 80~100/90-21. 90~100/80-21. 70~80/100-21 so I guess I'm needing a street tire that is within those number ranges. I'll have to unmount the rear tire and rim to see if they did the same printing on the rim strip for that one as well. There were motorcross tires mounted on these rims that say not for highway use. Im wanting to use these rims on a occ stingray I'm building

 

[HeavyMetal74]

Ok, so yes I've been using the Harley-Davidson Tires on my OCC Schwinn Stingray Motorized Chopper's for quite a while now and just wanted to let others know, that yes it's possible they do fit!

Thanks to Sulley from RatRodBikes, for taking the lead and showing us all that it works!

The Harley tire is the Dunlop D-402 130/90B-16 or D-MT90B16, these tires can be picked up in the trash pile used at most Harley Dealerships or other Motorcycle shops.

Here's the Dunlop Link:
http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tir...dson/dunlop-harley-davidson-tire-series/d402/

http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/fitment-guide/search?type=fitment&make=11&model=256&year=282&submit=

The Harley D-402 is 25.70-inches in diameter and 5.20-inches in width.

Here's a couple of pictures mounted on the stock OCC Schwinn Stingray Chopper wheel:





I got 6-used D-402 tires from local Harley Dealership for free in the trash pile with plenty of tread for motorized bicycle use:




If you have questions or need suggestions just let me know!

C.H.

What forks are those?