rear wheel options sidecar use

[John A]

This winters project on my sidecar equipped Bassa will be a car tire on the rear of the bike. I have a double cardan type swingarm that I have widened and a non tubless wheel from an '02 Stone for a donor hub. What do you think I should use for tire size and wheel size, Id like some advice in that area so I can work up an order from Buchannons wheel for spokes and rim. thanks

[rodekyll]

John, I'd start with the road speed/engine speed/given gear equations and work them back to an overall wheel diameter.  Once I decided what the overall height of the tire needs to be I'd look to see what is available and choose my wheel to match that tire.

I failed to do that when I built the trike.  I had some rims and I was hell-bent on using them.  What I ended up with is very poor tire options.  I might have to redo the differential (go from 5.11 to 4.60) to run modern tubeless tires efficiently.  You can avoid all that . . .

[John A]

Diameter should be about 25 or less inches

[oldbike54]

 What is a "non-tubeless rim" ?

 Dusty

[rodekyll]

Non-tubeless = tube type spoked rim.  John's saying that he isn't butchering a tubeless wheel to get the hub.

[oldbike54]

Non-tubeless = tube type spoked rim.  John's saying that he isn't butchering a tubeless wheel to get the hub.

 Ahh , so a tube rim then .

 Dusty

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Of the best rear tires for sidecar rig I have found was dark side Michilin automotive tire.
 The second best is the Avon or Metzler special sidecar tires.
 I was getting 30 thousand miles on a dark side rear.  I had an Avon on the front and it had more than 20 thousand when I sold the machine.
The dark side gave better milage and better traction because even though it had a bigger footprint, it was harder rubber and was higher air pressure.  The bigger footprint made the rear brake more effective too.
 Not all bikes can wear a darksider though.  Sometimes the rim just doesn't co-operate.

[John A]

Thanks, I was sort of hoping I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel..

[John A]

WI Rep Chris C. Tells me he used a 165-55-15 on the rear of one of his, aha, a starting point!
For a smart car. I don't know if I need an offset in the wheel, but I can look up to see what rim width I need once I get to a computer . Jim jogged my memory too, there is a website called The Darkside with a wealth of info on car tires on bikes.

[ccoli]

Having widened your swingarm maybe you won't need an offset. I did not widen my stock '03 one.
Be aware that the tubeless wheel models use a different rear drive, etc. than the tube type. Guzzi made different drive, axle, brake holder, hub and spacers in order to use the cheaper wheel.
I found out the hard way. Used a Stone hub on an EV.
The drives are obviously different in that the splines that the wheel engage with stick up proud of the seal about 1/4" on the tube type. This is to center the narrower wheel assembly.
The tube type wheel hub has a larger flange to cover the space.
Earlier Tonti's have parts like the tubeless.

WI Rep Chris C. Tells me he used a 165-55-15 on the rear of one of his, aha, a starting point!
For a smart car. I don't know if I need an offset in the wheel, but I can look up to see what rim width I need once I get to a computer . Jim jogged my memory too, there is a website called The Darkside with a wealth of info on car tires on bikes.

[John A]

Chris I made a bunch of stuff so I could use several different wheels, I modified a brake spacer and axel and I don't remember what all. right now Im leaning toward lacing on a 15" x 6" wheel, seems like there are more tire choices. I made the mistake of an antique truck tire on a 17" wheel. it mounted up fine but the diameter was too great and wouldn't clear the ujoint bump, which is why I carved up that swingarm.I even made a jig for trueing up swingarms after welding. there is not much choice in a skinney tire in 17" that is not too big that way. my eyes are dizzy from looking at tire size charts!

[John A]

It looks like this is a dead end, I was looking on Buchanans website and that looks like an oddball size so I'm not sure it's feasable

[rodekyll]

That tire chart stuff and rare sizes is why I suggested starting from the tire diameter you want and working backwards.  Once you do the pick-a-card-any-card exercise you might find out that there are no choices  . . .

 . . . also the trike site I frequent says that the 15" rim is the most popular.  Some are running compact spare tires in 16".  They're all darkside, but a lot of them get custom rims built with the offsets and width that they want.  I've decided that the only reasons to be concerned about offset is for clearance on the brake caliper (if disk rear) and swing arm clearance (all cases).  With your wider swing arm you might have already solved both problems.