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Can you fit a car tyre to a bike wheel
smart51 - 16/6/14 at 03:27 PM

My 3 wheeler is coming on and everything I do improves it a bit, but the rear isn't quite as stable as I'd like. It has a single rear wheel and still has the original bike tyre on it. I've been wondering if having a bike tyre on it is part of the problem. Will a car tyre fit on the bike rim? Is my local tyre place likely to be able to fit and balance it OK?

daveb666 - 16/6/14 at 03:45 PM

Yes, 'venom project' uses a car tyre on his tr1ke

stevebubs - 16/6/14 at 03:57 PM

Think of the physics involved - a bike tyre is designed for the bike to lean into corners...if your trike isn't leaning then you've only got that contact patch in the centre of the tyre doing any work - the rest of the tyre is redundant; you're never going to use it...hence car tyres are flat...

BUT in answer to your original question - yes a car tyre can often be fitted onto a bike rim.

chrism - 16/6/14 at 04:20 PM

It has been done on bikes before, I believe its called darksiding.

Bike tyres bead the same way as car tyres so as long as you get a tyre designed for the width of the rim you should be ok.

MikeRJ - 16/6/14 at 05:06 PM

quote:
Originally posted by chrism
It has been done on bikes before, I believe its called darksiding.


Usually on Gold Wings and occasionally cruisers where the typical riders never dare to experience more than a few degrees of lean. However, the people that do this are almost evangelical, claiming conspiracies by tyre manufacturers and that bikes fitted with car tyres will out perform anything with bike tyres.

Of course this is utter BS when it comes to anything remotely performance oriented (drag bikes excepted - they are even more straight line machines than cruisers and Goldwings).

On a trike I can see only benefits from running car tyres rather than bike tyres, the latter will flatspot very quickly and have a much shorter life.

smart51 - 16/6/14 at 05:14 PM

Thanks everyone.

Macbeast - 16/6/14 at 05:19 PM

It would be a good idea to replace the bike rim too, if that's what you're using. Bike rims are not built to take lateral forces.

smart51 - 16/6/14 at 05:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
It would be a good idea to replace the bike rim too, if that's what you're using. Bike rims are not built to take lateral forces.


It's a 1 piece cast 12" scooter rim. Because of its small size, it is probably more able to take lateral forces than a 17" bike rim.

Pat_T - 16/6/14 at 05:25 PM

It's a very common thing to do in the USA/Australia on the Triumph Rocket III

pewe - 16/6/14 at 06:06 PM

Pat_T ^^ but that looks just so wrong.
Presumably there are only straight roads in US and Oz?
Cheers, Pewe10

Angel Acevedo - 16/6/14 at 10:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Pat_T
It's a very common thing to do in the USA/Australia on the Triumph Rocket III



By any chance do you know the Rim Diameter/Width/Tyre Size.
Thanks.

Norfolkluegojnr - 17/6/14 at 08:29 AM

being an ex-biker, i'm curious.....

What the hell happens when yuo lean it into a corner? surely you have naff all contact patch and fall off?

Also, there must be a horrible sensation as it goes onto the 'corner' of the tyre.....


smart51 - 17/6/14 at 09:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Norfolkluegojnr
being an ex-biker, i'm curious.....

What the hell happens when yuo lean it into a corner? surely you have naff all contact patch and fall off?

Also, there must be a horrible sensation as it goes onto the 'corner' of the tyre.....




There's plenty of shoulder on most car tyres. This vid shows about half the tyre being in contact when cornering. He isn't getting his knee down though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZKhoFbL7Fo

Norfolkluegojnr - 17/6/14 at 09:26 AM

quote:
Originally posted by smart51
quote:
Originally posted by Norfolkluegojnr
being an ex-biker, i'm curious.....

What the hell happens when yuo lean it into a corner? surely you have naff all contact patch and fall off?

Also, there must be a horrible sensation as it goes onto the 'corner' of the tyre.....




There's plenty of shoulder on most car tyres. This vid shows about half the tyre being in contact when cornering. He isn't getting his knee down though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZKhoFbL7Fo


Interesting thanks.

threadbare wallet - 17/6/14 at 05:25 PM

I have ridden a bike with a car tyre on it and it was truely awful,like rideing with a flat tyre.you have to counter steer so much to get it on to the shoulder its horrible.best left to the "harleys and crusiers really handle and go well" brigade.

smart51 - 10/9/14 at 01:52 PM

I've finally got round to taking off the back wheel to have a car tyre fitted and my local Kwik Fit flatly refuse to do it. Is this something they're all going to refuse or is my local place just being awkward?

Where do bikers get their tyres done? Do they go to a tyre place to to a bike shop?

scootz - 10/9/14 at 02:31 PM

Take it to a one-man garage and bung him a tenner...

Slimy38 - 10/9/14 at 02:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by smart51
I've finally got round to taking off the back wheel to have a car tyre fitted and my local Kwik Fit flatly refuse to do it. Is this something they're all going to refuse or is my local place just being awkward?

Where do bikers get their tyres done? Do they go to a tyre place to to a bike shop?


Kwik fit won't do anything that's slightly out of the ordinary. Having said that, I don't know whether you need specific kit to cater for the different shaped wheels. For example, car wheels don't have brake discs attached which might mean a bike wheel can't lie flat on a car tyre 'thingy' (technical term). Personally I'd either go to a trusted bike shop, or even find a fitter that does car and bike tyres.

smart51 - 29/9/14 at 01:02 PM

I've finally done it. With a bit of persuasion, my local bike shop did it for me. The tyre looks right on the rim, but if anything, the handling of the trike is slightly worse than when it had a bike tyre on the back. At least I've ruled out one more thing.

[Edited on 29-9-2014 by smart51]

SteveWalker - 29/9/14 at 03:56 PM

quote:
Originally posted by smart51
I've finally got round to taking off the back wheel to have a car tyre fitted and my local Kwik Fit flatly refuse to do it. Is this something they're all going to refuse or is my local place just being awkward?


Kwik Fit are useless. When I was going for SVA, I wanted to get the tracking checked and adjusted on the way. Obviously being unregistered, untaxed and without plates, I wanted to use somewhere directly on the route. They flatly refused, as they are apparently only allowed to use the figures from their book. Even offering to sign a disclaimer was no good. I later confirmed with a couple of other outlets that the policy was the same there. Luckily there was an ATS place half a mile further on and they were happy to do it, as long as I signed that it was set to my figures across the invoice.

Kwik Fit are also the place that told my mother that both of the rear shocks on her Fiesta were leaking. She didn't let them replace them, but brought it home. We removed them and found them covered in bone-dry mud, with not a sign of a leak. We showed them to the local manager, but he was completely dismissive.

They also refuse totally to fit tyres that they have not supplied.

Funnily enough, the local branch has shut down.

RSr - 29/9/14 at 05:40 PM

http://www.home.mride.se/