Author Topic: tires? (Read 4283 times)

doransignal · **on:** June 18, 2009, 02:54:27 am

i currently have a 3.5 x19 tire on the rear of my bullet how wide or how small can you go.

Geirskogul · **Reply #1 on:** June 18, 2009, 03:37:00 am

At least, on my bullet 09 military, there is not a lot of room on the right side of the tire - it's quite close to the frame.

Don't go too much bigger, but a tire with a better contour may help you, and actually have a narrower profile.

doransignal · **Reply #2 on:** June 18, 2009, 03:38:45 am

would a 3.25 x19 work?

chris-bartlett · **Reply #3 on:** June 18, 2009, 06:53:30 am

3.25 x 19 is the size of the front tire so that would work fine.

dogbone · **Reply #4 on:** June 18, 2009, 02:04:25 pm

Quality is better than quantity.

plane95302 · **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2009, 02:24:01 pm

A lot of people seem to have a problem with the stock tires. Other than the grooved front tire which gets squirrely on rain grooves and given the fact one rarely goes over 55MPH whats wrong with them?

GBBullet · **Reply #6 on:** June 18, 2009, 02:28:27 pm

What's wrong is it gets squirrely on rain grooves and if you live in the Western US you have to exceed 55 quite often, because if you don't you get run over.

northshore_paul · **Reply #7 on:** June 19, 2009, 03:36:47 am

I know you guys live life in the fast lane but don't you have a slow lane for the folks from back east, the south or the midwest?

jest2dogs · **Reply #8 on:** June 19, 2009, 04:02:16 am

In Washington, the rule is that if you are holding up five or more vehicles you have to pull over. Thus we have slow vehicle turnouts. Some visitors (locals, too) with big RV's ignore the rule. Thus we have huge logging trucks (time is money!) which will put RV's in their place.

I run Dunlop K70 3.25 x 19 front and rear. Handles superbly in a variety of weather and road conditions. Four to six inches of snow on gravel logging roads is fun. I would like to find a 3.50 x 19 for the rear, but, as yet, CMW doesn't carry that size. I may have to turn to a Canadian source. The 3.25 is okay, but I'm 190+lbs and it's a bit small especially if I load her up with camping gear or a pillion. At 4,800 miles I am soon in need of a new rear. (Tire!)

-Jesse

charte · **Reply #9 on:** June 19, 2009, 04:42:28 am

I have a friend who put a 4" tire on the rear (or maybe it was 3.75, but larger than the standard 3.5) and he noticed that it did not perform well in rain. He changed back to the 3.5.

That could also be due to the tred, etc., of the larger tire and not the size itself, but he concluded that the stock 3.5 gives best all around performance.

baird4444 · **Reply #10 on:** June 19, 2009, 07:37:48 am

I ran my originals for about 18,000 miles... yea; I pushed my luck....
changed to the Cheng Shin 3.50x19 in the front and the stock "square" Avon in the rear 2 years ago...
11,000 miles later the front is still very good and the rear will be changed this winter. The only handling problems is the rear kicking out a little on those damn
" Tar snakes" that we have here in the midwest.
- Mike
- the text below is pasted in from my files on tires-
<><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><>>><><><>><
In prepration for my upcoming trip to the REunion in Minnesota I purchased a Cheng Shin Rear 3.25/3.85-19 (Z91206) tire from CMW. The original Avon was replaced with a Cheng Shin 3.50-19 that I obtained from JC Whitney some 7K miles ago.
Since the JCW tire was several dollars cheaper and had given good service I considered getting another but finally chose the CMW item.
Now to the point...... the JCW tire was thin walled and flexable compared to the Avon it replaced. I was concerned with it's durability but it did hold up for over 7K miles. I expected the same with the tire from CMW and was pleasent surprised when it turned out to be a much heaver tire than JCW's. At this point I think the CMW tire is worth the extra money and it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.
Leonard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The front is a chenn shinn k70 copy. 3.50X19. They call it a C180- they are only around $25-$30. The rear is an Avon SM MKII 4.00X19 they usually run around $110 or so. The combination seems to work very well. I thought about putting Cheng Shinn's on the back but was advised by Dan Holmes that they were too soft and would wear out really fast. Cheers, Pat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out campfire talk "quick release rear wheel". I posted 1-5-08. Basically I strongly recommend the Avon Road Rider AM26. Use 90/90-19 front and 100/90-19 rear. This is a fabulous choice. In my opinion you will not find a better for the Enfield. - Vince

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

FWIW, I have a similar setup on my Bike. Front is a Chenn K-70 copy @ 350X19,
rear is a Avon SM MKII 400X19. Handles great. The Avon was a little "blocky" for
a while, until I got the edges worn down some.
Cheers,
Pat
~~~~~~~~~
A 4.10 is just a low profile 3.50. It should be narrower than a
4:00-19, although the only way to tell for sure is to measure it. Not
all tires of a given size are actually the same size.

I run K81's on my Commando. Nice tires, but too wide for the front on
my Bullet (hits the fender stays). Should fit on the rear I would
think, but I haven't actually tried it.

Debby
-- In royalenfield@yahoogroups.com, Damon Fever <twotyred@...> wrote:
> The 4.0 x 19 Metzeler trials universal I have on the rear of mine is
very close to the swingarm on both sides. I think I would avoid a 4.10
tire and stay with a 3.50 for road use.

Talcecom · **Reply #11 on:** June 19, 2009, 01:35:13 pm

Does anyone know of any wide white walls I can put on an 03 Bullet ? Thanks in advance, Bob.

dogbone · **Reply #12 on:** June 19, 2009, 01:57:28 pm

Avon makes a front w/ wide ww, but not in rr sizes

holodeck · **Reply #13 on:** June 19, 2009, 07:29:32 pm

Maxxis also makes a 90/90 front in wide white wall. I have looked for a rear tire but can't find anything.

White walls look great on a motor cycle. Give them an ultra vintage look.

c1skout · **Reply #14 on:** June 21, 2009, 03:12:04 am

Discount motorcycle tires shows the Dunlop K70 rear in 3.50x19 if anyone here is looking for them. I've never dealt with this company so I don't know anything about them.
http://www.motorcycletires.com/productdetail.asp?gn=K70

LJRead · **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2009, 06:59:14 am

I ordered Cheng Shin tires twice this year, the order went through, then the suppliers said Cheng Shin is out of the bike tire business and no longer stocked. I ended up with an Avon 26 rear at Vince's suggestion in a couple threads and it is still on its way. I got free shipping within the U.S. and a price of around $80. Not bad. Not traditional I suppose, but it makes no difference to me. Vince claims it will improve the handling of the bike. I will continue to use the ribbed tire on the front as I have two near new or new of them to go through.

northshore_paul · **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:31:27 am

Speaking of Cheng Shin tires, there is a set on Ebay that shows up under the Royal Enfield search or search using this item number 280360317282.

Geirskogul · **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:40:53 am

Not anymore

Vince · **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2009, 03:25:08 pm

Quote from: LJRead on June 21, 2009, 06:59:14 am

I ordered Cheng Shin tires twice this year, the order went through, then the suppliers said Cheng Shin is out of the bike tire business and no longer stocked. I ended up with an Avon 26 rear at Vince's suggestion in a couple threads and it is still on its way. I got free shipping within the U.S. and a price of around $80. Not bad. Not traditional I suppose, but it makes no difference to me. Vince claims it will improve the handling of the bike. I will continue to use the ribbed tire on the front as I have two near new or new of them to go through.

The profiles are different. When you notice the bike feels funny, blame it on the Cheng Shin. Get the Avon front to really maximize handling potential.

stipa · **Reply #19 on:** June 22, 2009, 03:45:18 pm

Listen to Vince. I didn't and should have. I have the K-70 on the front, and the K-81 on the back. They are both fine tires, but the K-81 is a bit wide for the stern there. Jammed some air into it quick and dirty a few days ago, (wanted to get on the road), didn't check the pressure, and found later the overinflated tire had been rubbing the left side swingarm, just a bit. Not much clearance there, especially if you pick up a pebble or lots of mud.
Got a flat with that same K-81 last summer, but had the tire underinflated; apparently pinched the tube and,,blammo!!! Bottom line, check your pressures, always.

PaulF · **Reply #20 on:** June 22, 2009, 03:58:57 pm

Had a quick two-minute conversation with a friend who restores British machines and asked how he was handling replacements of original Dunlop tires. He told me that the Dunlop reproductions are now made in Japan and are better quality than the Cheng Shins were but didn't have time to give me details. I didn't ask because I don't need tires yet. If I can get vendor information, I'll post it.

PaulF · **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2009, 04:14:50 pm

Try this:

http://www.tiresunlimited.com/ALL%20TIRES/Dunlop/dunlop_vintage_k70.htm

doransignal · **Reply #22 on:** June 23, 2009, 01:50:37 am

i seen this stuff that you can paint on your tires to make it look like they are whitewall tires.

http://www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/other/tirepaint.htm

Lee

Geirskogul · **Reply #23 on:** June 23, 2009, 04:20:13 am

I think it would be cool, albeit slow, to paint the tire in thin-thin layers with it on the bike, to get a smooth curve. Too thick (heavy) or too thin (runny) would cause it to drip, but that's just me. He says to "tape it off" but that would end up with jagged edges, unless you had forever to do it.

holodeck · **Reply #24 on:** June 23, 2009, 05:15:20 am

I have seen the same ad re. white wall tire paint but have never seen a reliable review