Speedo Seats & Luggage- racks Frame Chassis Suspension Forktubes Wheels Brake Fenders Gastanks Motorparts Gaskets Intake Transmission & Driveline Exhaust Electrical & Lights Handlebars, Cables & Mirrors Oil tanks Oil & Chemicals Fasteners Windshields Forward controls, Footpegs Miscellaneous WHEELS 06 407 AFTERMARKET PARTS & ACCESSORIES FOR CUSTOM MOTORCYCLES / MOTORCYCLESTOREHOUSE.COM INNER TUBES Replacement inner tubes for most H-D and custom motorcycles. 506775 599135 15 inch 506767 130/140-90-15. Rubber side valve 506769 175/185 -15 and 185/70-195/70-15. Rubber side valve 16 inch 506770 5.00/5.10. Rubber side valve 506775 5.00/5.10. Metal side valve 506771 5.00/5.10. Metal center valve 18 inch 500120 2.75/3.00. Metal center valve 500125 3.25/3.50. Metal center valve 506785 3.50/4.00. Metal center valve 506786 4.00/4.50. Metal center valve 506787 4.50/5.10. Metal center valve 520487 180. Metal center valve 19 inch 506772 2.75/3.00. Metal center valve 506790 3.25/3.50. Metal center valve 500115 3.25/3.50. Rubber center valve 21 inch 510006 2.75/3.00. Metal center valve 951046 3.25/3.50. Metal center valve RUBBER RIM STRIPS Used on inside of rim to protect inner tube from protruding spokes. 16 inch 508335 Side valve 590436 Center valve 17 inch 599135 Center valve 18 inch 508340 Center valve 19 inch 508345 Center valve 21 inch 508350 Center valve The truth about tires What is the best tire? Simple question but a straight forward answer is impossible. It is easier to explain the fundamentals behind the motorcycle tire. With that knowledge you may be able to choose the better tire for your specific bike with characteristics that suits your personal needs best. Vulcanization Rubber is quite soft, quickly becomes sticky when warming-up and will easily loose it shape. When cold it becomes brittle. Vulcanization of rubber is therefore a necessary chemical process that gives rubber its required characteristics. For a tire, and basically most other rubber requirements, high elasticity and good shape retention are amongst them. As early as 1844 the first patent on the vulcanization of rubber was awarded, making the use of rubber seals, instead of leather, on steam engines possible for the first time. Rubber compound Not just chemicals for the vulcanization process are added. For over a century tire manufacturers have been mixing and matching chemicals to give rubber characteristics that are required for a certain application. Rubber design is an ongoing high-level technological battle, between the engineers of tire manufacturers, to come up with an even better compound for a specific application. This competition ensures an ongoing development in rubber compounds for the best tire quality possible, in an effort to keep ahead of the competition, in more ways than one. Carcass A tire is made out of rubber and something else, called a carcass. Without a carcass a tire would have no strength and be very flexible, like you installed balloons on your bike. The first tires were full rubber without air. Bumpy ride. Tires with air inside did much better, but reflected a problem... a lack of strength and stiffness. To overcome the problem of excessive flexibility a tire was given reinforcements, extra cords and plies, below the rubber. This is called a carcass and it acts like the bones in your body. It reduces flexibility and gives the tire the required added strength and stiffness. When this reinforcing carcass is built, the actual rubber is added. Compromises Tire manufacturers develop and eventually make their products as a compromise to offer you, as far as possible, the best of both worlds. Tires with great grip, is that what you want? Racing tires offer ultimate grip but may hold for one race, something like 100km maybe, meaning you will run out of tire before you run out of gas. Also, racing tires must heat-up to a certain temperature and must be kept around that heat level, maybe some 70 degrees centigrade, to offer that super grip. On the other end of the spectrum, where longevity lives, a much harder and resilient rubber is required. An average family car tire will give great mileage, but this rubber compound will not do well on a bike. In days gone by wide tires were not available for motorcycles and car tires were mounted on hard-core choppers. Apart from the obvious cornering issues, regular car tire grip is not even close to what a motorcycle tire will give you. A quick start with a regular car tire on the back will give massive tire spin & a lot of tire-howl... but not much grip at all. Track day tires on the street? On the regular street, in traffic, it is not possible to keep a track day tire on the heat level that it requires for optimum performance. It needs heat and but is designed to cool down quickly too, necessary on the track where speeds continuously change and the tire can heat up quick but also must cool down fast. On the street this way of 'short burst riding' is virtually impossible and can easily result in a too cold tire, or on a longer stretch, an overheated tire. This can create dangerous situations when riding hard. For high performance on the street your best choice is therefore a non-racing super sport tire that will allow you to reach and maintain the correct heat level for the tire to perform well under a wide range of conditions. Bias-Ply tires In Bias-Ply, or Cross-Ply, tires the problem of excessive tire flexibility is controlled by using various layers of overlapping / crossing plies, from heel to heel, in around a 50 degree angle from the riding direction. This network of cords effectively reduces flexibility and gives the bias-ply tire exceptional strength and stiffness. The down side is that a tire flexes during use and the crossing strands will rub, causing heat. Biasply tires are limited in width since very wide bias-ply tires would give crazy high sidewalls due to technical issues, therefore very low sidewalls cannot be made. High sidewalls will give more comfort, since tires are part of the suspension. This make the bias-ply tire a fine and strong tire for heavy touring bikes or customs. Radial tires Radial tires are basically identical to bias-ply tires but the reinforcement cords, usually made of steel or aramid fibers, are radially placed in the carcass. This means from the left side to the right side of the tire heel, in a 90 degree angle from the riding direction. They do not overlap and that is why these radially reinforcing cords do not rub against each other when the tire flexes, like during riding conditions. This gives a lower operating temperature of radial tires, less rolling friction and a longer life. An other advantage is that with radial tire technology very wide tires with a low sidewall can be constructed. This is an advantage in reduced weight, gives a larger 'footprint' and the weaker but much lower sidewall gives better stability through corners and much better feedback to the rider. Radial vs Bias-Ply Downside of the radial tire, due to less reinforcement in the side walls when compared to the bias-ply, is less strength or rigidity in the side walls. That is why radial tires typically are made as wide and low-profile tires and will not carry as much weight as a radial-ply of the same size. The weaker sidewalls may not give as much strength or comfort as bias-ply tires, but will give much better feedback to the rider of, especially, sportbikes. Especially when the radial-ply tire comes with the 'B' in the tire designation for 'belted' which comes with extra plies for an even higher maximum allowable weight. This is, essentially, the reason why bias-ply tires are used on large heavy touring bikes and radials on light high performance sport bikes. With modern high power fast ridden sport/touring cross-breed type of bikes the advantage could swing back to radials. Tire pressure Stick to the tire pressure as mentioned in the instruction manual of your bike and you will be on the safe side in all circumstances. In racing (radial) tires are deflated, depending on track and circumstances, to around 1.6 to 1.8 bar. This gives a wider footprint, more grip and better feedback to the rider. This is not a good idea for street riding since tires will run hot very quickly, but on a racetrack sustained full throttle high speeds do not exist. Essentially a race is from corner to corner where the tire gets time to cool down, before it heats-up again. On the street, like running 300km/h on the autobahn for 15 minutes, cannot be compared to track racing. An under inflated tire could easily fail at sustained high speeds. Worse even with bias-ply tires which have a tendency to heat up even more, from the friction of the cross-ply cords alone, when the tire flexes under normal riding conditions. Under-inflated tires can give more grip and feedback but the additional heat, wear and other issues from under inflation suggest not to do so. Mixing Radials and Bias-Ply tires It is getting tricky, or even impossible, to say what will and what will not work since there are almost endless variables. We will always recommend you to stick to the tire recommendations of your motorcycle manufacturer. They have tested the specific bike, often together with the tire manufacturer, and invested a lot of money in the process to find the right combination of tires for a certain bike. If you think you can do better, do so at your own risk. Some manufacturers, like Harley on some models, combine a wide radial rear with a narrow bias-ply front. In general it is not recommended to mix and match different tires or tire brands and or mix and match radials and bias-ply tires. As said before, it is best to stick with the motorcycle manufacturer recommendations. Ride safe! Tech-tip 78
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