tyres for featherbed twin

Paul, I have the new Avon RoadRiders on all my F/beds. 90/90 on the front and 90/100 (Or is that the other way around) on the back. (19 inch)

You can in fact fit a 110 on the rear with a standard swinging arm BUT you would need to make a tiny internal thread for the front mudguard fastener as no room for the nut. I have the 110 on the rear of my Model 50 and that works very well too.

The tyres are a massive improvement on the earlier tyres and inspire confidence when cornering, even in the wet.

These tyres may prove too wide for some featherbed bikes and foul the chainguard mountings. Even more so if the chain is a bit short and the wheel is right forward.I have seen wheels completely out of line to try and accomodate this!. The DL appears to accept nothing bigger than a 3.50 tyre. 3.75 would foul on mine.

I too run the Avon Roadriders on my Dommi, a 90/90 x 19 on the front and a 100/90 x 19 on the rear. I love the way that they heat up after about five miles of running and only once have I managed to slightly break traction and that was fully cranked over in first with a hand full of throttle. The clearances are tight (front mudguard bolts and rear mudguard near the chaincase) but they do fit and as Neil says, they do indeed inspire confidence. The only downside I have found is that they do wear out a lot quicker than the older tyres, but that a price worth paying in my opinion for the extra grip.

How many people are going to push a classic machine, like a Dominator, to it?s absolute limit? Avon Speedmaster, front, and SM rear were the original recommendations. For normal enthusiastic riding, they give excellent handling, plus a reasonably long life.

I would love to fit some modern tyres as I take my 99 to the track a couple of times a year and my lads (who ride bikes like the MT09 and SV) also ride my bikes,and have to adjust . I don't do enough milage to worry about wear but I don't think modern tyres age as well as the SM. I changed my old SM's after my son used the 99 on the IOM and said it would only do 80 going up the mountain but much faster coming down!. Young devil.

I have a early slimline featherbed (7"front forks) that I am in the process of rebuilding and a Mk3 Commando. The Commando is shod with 100/90 19 Roadriders front and rear - as said previously, they are excellent tyres. My Dommie has deep valance guards with the appropriate bridge which I measure as having only 96mm clearance between the sides. The 90/90 19 Roadrider is quoted by Avon as being 99mm max width, so in theory won't fit the Dommie... but I would really prefer to use them if I can. However, the actual width of the 100/90 on the Commando is nearly 8mm less than that quoted by Avon. So, two questions arise - firstly Bob (Matthews) what is your front fork/mudguard/bridge set up that the 90/90 19 will fit and secondly, what is the actual max width of the 90/90 19?

Previously alex_arthur wrote:

I have a early slimline featherbed (7"front forks) that I am in the process of rebuilding and a Mk3 Commando. The Commando is shod with 100/90 19 Roadriders front and rear - as said previously, they are excellent tyres. My Dommie has deep valance guards with the appropriate bridge which I measure as having only 96mm clearance between the sides. The 90/90 19 Roadrider is quoted by Avon as being 99mm max width, so in theory won't fit the Dommie... but I would really prefer to use them if I can. However, the actual width of the 100/90 on the Commando is nearly 8mm less than that quoted by Avon. So, two questions arise - firstly Bob (Matthews) what is your front fork/mudguard/bridge set up that the 90/90 19 will fit and secondly, what is the actual max width of the 90/90 19?

My forks are 7" centres, the mudguard is an original from 1959, the centre brace is from RGM and tyre measures 92mm exactly across its widest part. It's tight yes, but I've not had any rubbing at all.

https://s20.postimg.org/kgjct1w1p/Mud_Clearance.jpg

I bought a Roadrider for the front of my 99. It was too wide. I ended up with 3.00 x19 Avon Speedmaster on the front and a SM Mk II on the back. These tyres are underrated and good enough to allow footrest scraping on the bends.

Thanks gents for reminding me. My 99 has standard mudguards, with the new tyres, no issue at the back but I needed to use a stainless Commando bridge to get the desired clearance at the front.

Previously Bob Matthews wrote:

Previously alex_arthur wrote:

I have a early slimline featherbed (7"front forks) that I am in the process of rebuilding and a Mk3 Commando. The Commando is shod with 100/90 19 Roadriders front and rear - as said previously, they are excellent tyres. My Dommie has deep valance guards with the appropriate bridge which I measure as having only 96mm clearance between the sides. The 90/90 19 Roadrider is quoted by Avon as being 99mm max width, so in theory won't fit the Dommie... but I would really prefer to use them if I can. However, the actual width of the 100/90 on the Commando is nearly 8mm less than that quoted by Avon. So, two questions arise - firstly Bob (Matthews) what is your front fork/mudguard/bridge set up that the 90/90 19 will fit and secondly, what is the actual max width of the 90/90 19?

My forks are 7" centres, the mudguard is an original from 1959, the centre brace is from RGM and tyre measures 92mm exactly across its widest part. It's tight yes, but I've not had any rubbing at all.

https://s20.postimg.org/kgjct1w1p/Mud_Clearance.jpg

Bob, Looks like you are using the later Commando stainless bridge. The original Dommie version is much thicker in steel, hence the clearance issue.

A very good mod to allow for GR8 tyres.

Well there's a thing and I had no clue I just asked RGM what the dimensions were of the bracket (and yes it's stainless) and what they told me suited, so I just bought, fitted and used without further thought!

The original heavy Dominator mudguard stay is effectively a fork brace. I don't suppose using the thinner lighter Commando one makes any significant difference though.

my twopennyworth, I would rather walk than use a SM on my machine, two reasons, well three even, when they wear they tend to get very square, and ride up on the edges when cornering, they are of a very old fashioned tread pattern,pretty sure we had them in the 60's, although the rubber is of course of modern construction, and the third, I recently read an article on square tread tyres and rounded tread tyres, the gist was should you get a flat the square pattern will go to one side of the rim and probably throw you off the rounded pattern will collapse into the well and you will probably stay aboard.

I havn't tried it!

for what it is worth,

kind regards

I tried it at the weekend and can confirm that a rapidly deflated SM will throw you off, thankfully no great damage to bike or rider as the landing for both was a nice soft grassed roadside drain.

No I am not volunteering to do a comparison with a newer tyre.

Previously iain_brown wrote:

I tried it at the weekend and can confirm that a rapidly deflated SM will throw you off, thankfully no great damage to bike or rider as the landing for both was a nice soft grassed roadside drain.

No I am not volunteering to do a comparison with a newer tyre.

Hope you are uninjured, Iain?

Neil.

You should really have security bolts on the rear rim. Stops the tyre coming off the rim in event of a puncture. I've been using SM tyres for 50 years now, have had the odd puncture and no catastrophic consequences. No, I'd rather not walk.

There was a splendid article in Motorcycle Sport years agow hen it was recounted that on the Motorway, a rider noticed his front tyre deflating. He accelerated to 75 mph and the centifrugral force on the tyre kept it in shape and everything steadied up. He was feeling quite smug and then spotted the Motorway Ends signs. He never did say what happened...

Over many years I have had a few rear Wheel punctures on the Norton,all with SM tyres and security bolts, never came off,possibly because of the steady Featherbed set up. Always a bit of a struggle to control as you come to a stop. The car gives you a warning on the dash if the tyre is soft, how does it do that?. The last deflation was on a fully loaded Transit (3 bikes,3 blokes and all the kit for 10 days at 70mph busy M25), little left of the tyre,not funny.

Hi

On my slimline ES2, I run roadriders too. A 90/90 x 19" on the front and a 3.25 x 19" on the rear.

They come up narrower than the listed width on Avon's site but they spec for a wider rim. 2.15 (Wm3 in old money.)

They measure almost exactly the same width when fitted on wm2 rims. 93mm on the front and 94mm on the rear. The good thing is they clear everything nicely with original mudguards and fittings.

Paul

Thanks Neil,

yes all good, not even a bruise. After some interesting slalom work ended with a lowside in the roadside drain so a relatively soft landing. Just had to sponge the mud off my wet weather gear which survived intact.

I had a rim lock fitted and the tyre stayed on the rim but that back end was all over the place.

cheers iain.

Previously Neil Wyatt wrote:

Hope you are uninjured, Iain?

Neil.

Previously paul_standeven wrote:

I am recommissioning my bike after a long lay-off. A very, VERY prolonged engine rebuild. The tyres are TT 100s, now 34 years old. They have to be replaced. What tyres work best with the featherbed frame? Particularly, how do the TT 100 compare with newer tyres like the Avon RoadRider?

Paul

hello TT 100 are Dunlop K82 which are still available or Dunlop K70, Avonroad riders wear quicker than you think. But there are other makes of tyres like Continental or Mitas and Bridgestone you pays your money and takes your choice, yours anna j