wide white wall tires

[myth]

i am thinking about putting wide white walls all around. the front is no problem. im trying to find wide white walls for the rear. if anyone knows what tire i can get for the rear that are wide white walls and where i can get them.any help is much appreciated.

 

[Lee H. Mann]

use your search engine "wide whitewall tires" many to choose from but no cheapies......

 

[Bob Witte]

i am thinking about putting wide white walls all around. the front is no problem. im trying to find wide white walls for the rear. if anyone knows what tire i can get for the rear that are wide white walls and where i can get them.any help is much appreciated.

I myself am just about to place an order for a pair. Finding them locally is all but impossible for most of us. But actually finding wide whitewalls isn't that hard, thanks to Google. Search on the keywords "wide white wall tire" and/or "wide whitewall tire" and a number of sources will pop up. Your brands to choose from will be limited as will your sizes.

There are several permutations involved in selecting the tire size for you:

(1) Rim size & wideth
(2) Space available under the fender/body
(3) Diameter of the wheel that you need to have
(4) Size of the white band showing

You will want a "highway tread" design for your trike. That is where the tread pattern tends to run in parallel rings around the tire. In contrast, regular motorcycle tires tend to have a "V" pattern which rolls high up on the sidsewall to support radical leans in cornering. The rain, mud and winter tires will also have "V" type patterns designed to remove water, slush and muck. The highway pattern is quieter and I would hope that you will have little or no driving in really foul weather.

Not that you may have much choice in the matter, but there are two construction methods for the whitewalls. First is where the white wall is added to the tire later and those that were molded in when the tire was actually made. Obviously, the latter would be preferred, but for our purposes, the former is perfectly adequate. Be prepared for your supplier to be unaware of how the whitewalls were put there. It's not a deal braker either way.

Unless the conversion you have has messed with the final drive ratios, the tire size you want will end in a diameter that is very close to that of the OEM stock rear wheel. When picking a rear tire size for the many dozens of trike conversions I was involved with I always stuck very close to the OEM diameter for my tires. Our conversions were 1-to-1 for turns on the stock rear tire and our new rear tires. Therefore I wanted the new rear tires to be +/- 5% of the OEM size especially for the smaller engined conversions (i.e. 500cc's or less). The big cruisers have enough power that you could pretty much put anything back there and get away with it.

I also prefer a narrower tread (a 185 or less) because I have found that there's an improvement in handling over the fat tires especially for the smaller engined bikes. I know that goes against the grain of our "size matters" society. Right now I'm shopping for a 165 or 175 for my own bike (an 82 Silverwing GL500). If I could find a 155mm tread, I'd be delighted.

Okay, here's where I'm planning on getting my own tires this week:

Tire Wheels Depot Home Page

They have a limited choice, but agressive pricing and free shipping! Hard to beat.

 

[Speedy]

You might checkout Cokertire.com. They deal in wide whites for streetrods and classics.

Speedy

 

[rmrc51]

You might checkout Cokertire.com. They deal in wide whites for streetrods and classics.

Speedy

+1 They should definitely have them!

 

[scooty]

I can help you out on the wide white walls as I put a set on my Tri Glide
. Go to diamond back tires Diamond Back Classic Radial Tires and they will make the width that you want on the brand of tire that you want and they are beautiful. Give them a call they are great guys to deal with very willing to help. If you have any Questions send me a PM and I will get back to you

 

[myth]

thanks so much for all the help guys much appreciated. i will start my search and get back to you if i need further help. again thankyou all for taking time to give me some help. very cool. b safe....myth