Need tire size help

[58er]

Need help with determining a tire size for a 1915 Harley belt drive bike I'm going to start, have frame bent up but not sure what size tire would be close to what was on original bike. I am thinking that a Fat Frank- 26 x 2.35 would be good. Any one use these before? I know there is a 26 x 3 Thick Brick tire also, would this be better? Here is picture of what I'm shooting for....Thanks

 

[butchl]

Where are you in MI? I'm in Garden City

 

[Mr.B.]

The original Harley’s (and most motorcycles) of that era used 28” x 3”, an antique size that’s hard to find nowadays or very expensive to buy replica’s for. Those are about 10% larger than modern 26’ bicycle tires.

But 26” by far has the largest variety of options to choose from.

Either of the two you mentioned will look “right” on a bicycle based tribute, others here will likely have opinions about their durability...

-Kirk

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Maybe you can get with KC Vale on this for advice. He's done several fat tire builds.

 

[wret]

The Fat Franks look good but there's no avoiding the fact that they are bicycle tires, not motorcycle tires. I started my build with the Fat Franks but ultimately switched to 21x2.15 motorcycle rims, which are cheap and readily available. Vintage looking tires are not though.

Here's a discussion I started on the bike tire / MC tire issue: http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=56966

 

[racie35]

You can buy simplex servi cycle tires...26x3. They're better then bicycle tires but pricy