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Help with TIRE issue !

9K views 59 replies 12 participants last post by  o1marc 
#1 ·
I have fallen in love with the FIRESTONE DELUX CHAMPION tire, but it does not exist in a 15inch… Grrrr !!!

Does anyone know of an alternative VINTAGE 15 inch tire, it is for a Cafe Racer project?

Please help !!!!

Best Regards

Michael Jorgensen
Copenhagen, Denmark
 
#37 ·
You may be going for a 'look' but it isn't any form of 'cafe' bike.
Call it what it is, hipster douchebag look
I have fallen in love with the FIRESTONE DELUX CHAMPION tire, but it does not exist in a 15inch… Grrrr !!!

Does anyone know of an alternative VINTAGE 15 inch tire, it is for a Cafe Racer project?

Please help !!!!

Best Regards

Michael Jorgensen
Copenhagen, Denmark
Well, you must be a lot dumber than you pretend to be. if you 'love' it, drill a hole in it and fuck it, then fuck off
 
#4 ·
There aren't any, really. Safety Mileage MKII's are 16" or bigger.

Shinko makes some 15" whitewalls that you may like. One of em looks kinda like the old VW tires people used to put on their choppers and bobbers a million years ago.
 
#10 ·
This guy has it right-on. Just do what he says.
 
#11 ·
Hi mlinder,

Yes a Cafe Racer can have a 15 inch tire

Building one that looks like this one, just 15 inch (instead of 16inch)

MONKEE #44 - Honda CB 750 K6
cool looking bike to take a picture of
too bad it is not possible to ride,unless of course the suspension/shocks are locked/welded SOLID
in which case a 250 scooter would be capable of greater pace on a public rode
 
#18 ·
I think my brain just collapsed in on itself. I think I will need therapy for "Anker management".



Yeah, go find a better way to kill yourself. If you think that your "inspiration" rides like a dream,..... with blown fork seals (probably from being slammed up on the bottom of the triple clamps on any bump larger than a pebble), no rear travel, and a frame that has no lateral support tying the rear together (guess this really doesn't matter since there is no way that this bike could go through any turn at speed tighter than a gentle bend)....that dream must be a nightmare of the worst kind.
 
#16 ·
By the way, the rear on that 'cafe racer' is a 16, not a 15.

How do you know it 'rides like a dream'?

Don't you mean 'A dream that it rides'?
 
#17 ·
Of course it rides like a dream, a dream is the only place anyone can ride it.

Chopper guys in the 70's used to use bias ply tires made for vw bugs that they would overinflate. I think I have one buried in my basement somewhere. This is only marginally more dangerous than using a non speed rated, non load rated reproduction firestone, or using a car space saver spare.

Since this is clearly an art installation and not any real motorcycle anyone would ride in any meaningful way, what about casting your own tires?


pics or this bike doesn't exist.
 
#19 ·
Hi All,

I think your all getting away from the topic :)

I wanted help in finding 15inch tires, that has a vintage look to it, that is all !!!

Whether you like the look i am going for, whether the bike rides like shit or whether I might kill myself riding it, really has nothing to do with this conversation…

In other words... If you have something constructive to say about the advice i need on 15inch tires with a vintage look, please share… Otherwise, please spend you time on commenting other pages, not mine :)

You all have a nice day, keep riding and living life.
 
#28 ·
As hillsy said, original wheel size on a 750k is 18".

The POS you linked to has a 16".

What wheel did you put on there to make it a 15"? What did it come off of?
 
#32 ·
Hi All,
LOOKING FOR A COOL VINTAGE LOOKING (MOTORBIKE) TIRE 15inch

I have put new alloys on my 1981 Honda CB750, the rear alloy is 15inch (I don't know which bike it is off)….

(Please see picture, if this helps… Current tire is 140/90-15

My request is not about whether you like my choice of alloy, my request is finding a tire for my choice of bike :)
 
#35 ·
Suzuki use a 15" wheel on a couple of different cruisers. Why anyone would fit one to a CB 750 of any type is beyond me?
Get some decent sized wheels on it, you'll fall down trying to go round corners with tiny wheels.
Also, forget about the crappy 'Firestone' copies, unless your doing a 1930's restoration :rolleyes:
 
#40 · (Edited)
there are only three aftermarket wheel manufacturers that made a 15" mag back in the day: Invader, Morris, and Cragar. These were all chopper/drag racer wheels and were never intended for anything sporting whatsoever. In fact I am pretty sure the only reason they made them in the first place was because it was easier to find a drag slick for a 15" car wheel than it was for a motorcycle. At least that is why crager and morris made them - everythin invader did was for style alone. Cragers and invaders are easy to spot: the cragers look like autodrag solid disc wheels, and the invaders are made out of square tubing welded to steel rims and hubs. I looked at your profile pic and it looks like what you have is a morris mag wheel for a car tire drag bike. Great if you want to go drag racing but it is literally the most useless piece of shit for a road bike, esp one you expect to make turns. If I were you I would look for a Morris 16" or 18" rear and use that instead if you really like the look. Be prepared to pay. Lots. Keeping that 15" rear rim for a "cafe racer" you intend to ride is useless to you, it is clear you don't know what you are doing and are going to hurt yourself. Stop, do some research and re-evaluate. These aren't cars, stop applying car mentality to them.

1978-1982 CB750F/900F/1100F and what you call the bol d'or came with 18" rear mags, the 1979-1982 cb750K came with either a 17" rear spoke rim or a 17" or 18" rear mag depending on what market you were in. The 1979-1982 cb750C came with a 16" rear.

It could also be some unknown wheel I have never heard of but I can't tell because your profile pic is shitty.

Honestly you have gotten off on the wrong foot and are using the wrong inspiration. The wrenchmonkee bikes are really art bikes than they are functional motorcycles. They impress only newbies, the stupid, and the inexperienced. They are very pretty but that is all most of them are (there are a few exceptions but the one you posted isn't one of them). I wouldn't call any of them cafe racers, I would call most of them posuer bikes. I def wouldn't use them as a pattern for building a bike I expected to ride, but there are a few elements I could see one using here and there - the wheels and tires are NOT one of those elements.


NONE of this is "OG" style by the way. OG style is 18" or 19" front and rear morris/henry abe/shelby dowd/lester mags or akronts/did/borrani record alloys laced to spoke hubs. When you get into the era of your bike the wheels are Performance machine chicanes or dymag tri spokes with a 16" or 18" front and 18" rear. That is OG style. 15", yeah that is some dickhead rewriting history.
 
#41 ·
So after 40 posts if you haven't figured out by now you are not going to get a satisfactory (to you) answer from anyone on this forum I can only assume you are not going to listen to reason. No one here will help you do the wrong thing. I suggest you go to DTT where they will give you kudos for anything you do or want to do yourself whether it is safe or not. I doubt you'll get the answer you are looking for even over there. But they'll tell you what a good job you are doing.
 
#42 ·
he got is answer a while ago. Nobody makes a motorcycle tire for a 15" for good reason. His options are: 1) a space saver spare car tire, 2) a VW bug OEM bias ply tire overinflated to give it a crown, 3) an old NOS tire, 4) casting his own 5) changing the rim to a more sensible size. None of these will be road legal but the firestone he want's anyway isn't road legal so what does it matter. If he is unhappy with the answer he needs to re-evaluate his project and it's goals. It isn't our problem he is unhappy with the answer and honestly he isn't going to get different answers from somewhere else.
 
#43 ·
Hi Getto67,

Thank you for the options mentioned, I am of course listening to the comments that are worth listening to and you option 5 is not the dumbest idea I have heard :)

What I find difficult is the many negative comments that have also been posted on my request to find a tire for my choice of bike..

Changing looks on a stock bike, is at the end of the day what creative people want to do.

Some are more successful then others and some find one look more tasteful then another, but I don't see any reason why anyone would be rude about it, instead of advising me, with a qualified answer…

Call my bike a Cafe Racer, a bobber, a chopper… I really don't care if it has a name, which fits, the whole idea of changing is customization and creating a look that i like :)

I thank the people who have taken the time to write something of value…. Top the rest of you, god luck with you own projects, personally I do not wish to sink to your level.. Where I come from, we have dignity, respect and pride… (Something that most of the world agrees that the US lost, some while ago)
 
#49 ·
You'd die if you put anyone on the back of that piece of shit monkeefuckingafootball or wtf ever it was.
 
#50 ·
If you can get chicks from the looks of your bike I know where all the dumb blonde jokes originated. If you had bothered to read some of the posts on this forum before you trusted us with your question you would have known what we are about, it is no secret.
 
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