I am thinking of putting car tyres on my K100LT combination and am pretty sure that the rear one is 165/80/15 VW Beetle / MG (found on this forum), anyone know what I would need on the front?
The front has leading link forks, I think the same width as standard forks. Must get a manual so I can look up sizes and also find out what all the switches do on the handlebars, only had the bike for 48 hours and still finding my way around it - where is the fuel switch for example, hope there is a reserve fuel position when I find it!

Cheers
Charlie

I've run two different K outfits with 15" front and rears.  Both have had 15x4" front rims.  Currently I'm running a 145/65-15 "Smart car" front tyre, I've also run a 135/80 and a 145/80 at various times. The 145/65 handles the best out of all these, I would run a 135/80 again, but not the 145/80, it made it feel too heavy in comparison.

The 145/65-15 is a bit of an orphan here in OZ.  I have to order them and have the choice of Continental or Bridgestone only. So currently I have Continental front, Nankang rear and Kumho on the chair.

Al

Re the last bit, there is no fuel switch. You get a 'reserve' warning light that comes on when the tank gets down to a certain level.

Al

Thanks Al, will definitely get a smart car on the front. I got a feeling that the wheels on this one are 17" will have a check when I get back weekend.

Cheers

Most likely an 18" front on an LT.

Changing to car wheels is not inexpensive I was just lucky to buy a worn outfit that had all the right bits from a guy who needed the money otherwise I wouldn't have them either.

There's nothing wrong with an 18 front on a sidecar they handle just fine. From my own experience I wouldn't bother with an 18" sidecar tyre up front, the only advantage they give is longer wear. A straight bike tyre steers better. I absolutely hated them on dirt roads, They'd lock too easy and I couldn't stop the thing in a hurry if needed. For my own purposes I tended to use an 18" dual purpose tyre up front (usually a Metzeler Enduro 2).

A 15" car tyre(front) will give you a bigger contact patch and better braking/cornering capability but at a cost. There is also some trail reduction with the smaller diameter which will make your steering lighter again. Some leading links have adjustable trail for this purpose.

Al

Agreed with AL about expense.
I am still running the stock front rim and have used a variety of tyres over time. 17 inch RT rim. At the moment there is a BT45 on it, which does the job quite well, though I suspect won't last a very long time. Have used other tyres...Metzler, Duro etc. They all scrub out. The car rim at the rear made a surprising difference to the handling, with wider contact patch and the whole outfit seemed to 'hunker down' a bit. Better all round road speed and a hell of a lot cheaper...changing tyres at 35,000 instead of 3,000km. With the reduced trail, it would make the front end a bit less stable at speed, I imagine...have ridden a couple of those EurailUral outfits and the front end feels like you're standing up on the pegs and looking over the front wheel.

I would not think a Ural could get the wobbles up at "speed".

I dunno....it's amazing how terrifying 50kmh can feel!

My 'little' front wheel is not unstable at all, until you disconnect the steering damper!!! I do want to try a lighter damper as the damper is the only thing that makes the steering heavy.

Once we got the sidecar of the RS the other day, my mate Pat was daring me to take it around the block think I'd be scared of the square tyres. It was the instant tank slappers from the trail reduction that stopped me from even thinking about it.

Al

I might have one of those old black 70's-80's steering dampers that people used to put on their Z900s etc to try and keep some teeth in. Will have a look when I go to the shed.

Scratch that...couldn't find it.

Al, I've been using an 'O' ring as a steering damper for the past 25 years.
Works a treat, no steering wobbles at any speed.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t3332-steering-damper-for-sidecar-outfits

Worth a try if you've got the bike in bits.

Paul.

sidecar paul wrote:Al, I've been using an 'O' ring as a steering damper for the past 25 years.
Works a treat, no steering wobbles at any speed.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t3332-steering-damper-for-sidecar-outfits

Worth a try if you've got the bike in bits.

Paul.

Certainly worth a try, currently I have one of the typical VW dampers, it works fine but is probably more that is really needed making the steering heavier than it needs to be. There are also some cheap ebay adjustable dampers from China, they work OK apparently but I need to get the length and the stroke length correct.

Al

Skidmaster.

Dai wrote:Skidmaster.

Kind of you to say so. But I do wash them regularly.