Author Topic: WHEEL RIMS AND TYRES FOR EW'S, B29's AND SIMILAR  (Read 4527 times)

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Offline Alan

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WHEEL RIMS AND TYRES FOR EW'S, B29's AND SIMILAR
« on: 28 Sep 2007 at 05:14 »
 This might help...my B29 arrived with beaded edge rims and beaded edge tyres for this size are impossible to obtain. Some people fit skinny tyres and the bikes look awful, totally out of proportion, plus driving on beaded edge tyres is maybe not the best thing to do as my B29 really motors on (alas stopping is another issue). Although some purists deny it, the BSA Bantam for a very short period had a 40 spoke rim and new rims are available I believe ex- UK (I got mine from Eades in Sydney).
 Fitting these means that a decent range of tyres are available and the bike looks perfectly proportioned.
  Of interest and why tyres for the TS  and similar sized rims are so easily available, is that Rickshaw's in Asia still run this size as a standard...

Offline davebarkshire

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Re: WHEEL RIMS AND TYRES FOR EW'S, B29's AND SIMILAR
« Reply #1 on: 28 Sep 2007 at 08:04 »
Alan

I have recently been through this process with my EW which came with rims for beaded 25" tyres. After much research and phone calls I found that the only available 25" tyre is a skinny one (from Coker) and that 26" tyres are easy to get in the 3" size and will continue to be available for years to come. Also I was told that whilst some people do fit 26 tyres on 25 rims and get away with it, nobody could really say that it was 'ok'. Most British motorcycles changed from beaded to wired tyres in 1926 and although I know nothing about the 29 Douglas I'd be suprised if a wired tyre would be out of place. Also, I also like to ride my vintage machines hard and have done many frantic miles on a 25 Enfield with rather old beaded tyres and have never had a problem with them. The Enfield also has very sharp brakes which are often pulled on hard. So long as beaded tyres are pumped up properly and you aren't riding at Brooklands speeds then all should be well. I'd not feel so secure doing over a 100mph on them after reading period accounts from Brooklands. Don't be tempted to use old tyres. Mine came with ancient 25" tyres which looked ok but were very old and when I inflated them properly one of them blew up during the night as the internal cotton was rotten.