New tires, no direction arrow.

[loch]

Hello Everyone,

I recently purchased these tires to replace the old cracked tires - the front tire has a quarter-sized chunk of rubber missing, right next to the rim.

Anyway, I purchased these from Cocker Tire last fall. I just noticed there isn't a direction arrow on either tire. Nor is there a balance mark, which I thought was an industry standard at least for motorcycle tires.

Any words of wisdom? No direction arrow, does it mean I can mount these however I want? The tires weren't sold as front and rear specific.

Thanks,
Lochlain


VLNewTires.jpg

VLNewTires2.jpg

[Rubone]

They are non-directional tread and can go on either direction.

[BigLakeBob]

A balance dot on a Coker wouldn't help much.

[loch]

Thanks Robbie, Bob.

Bob, does that have anything to do with the tire quality? And do you have any experience with balance beads?

Thanks,
Loch

[gerrystaffel]

What’s that gray chalky looking stuff all over those tires? The ones I bought recently were covered with it also.

[T. Cotten]

What’s that gray chalky looking stuff all over those tires? The ones I bought recently were covered with it also.

Back when, Gerry,..

If it was on purpose, and not 'mildew', it was probably talc.

But that's probably illegal now.

(I stll have a cone of pool table talc, and it worked great on inner tubes.)

....Cotten

[loch]

Hi Gerry, that's just the lighting and probably poor resolution in the photo. I just unwrapped them. There's some white substance stuck to the rubber on some spots in the tread but nothing covering the tire. I think it's just something leftover from the manufacturing environment.

Yeah, I'm sitting here looking at them and they're black, no marks or residue visible to the naked eye. I think it's just the camera and the lighting.

[BigLakeBob]

Thanks Robbie, Bob.

Bob, does that have anything to do with the tire quality? And do you have any experience with balance beads?

Thanks,
Loch

Tire opinions are like what oil to use opinions, but myself and most who I know have had a hard time balancing a Coker. No experience with beads.

[T. Cotten]

Let's talk 'balancing' first, Folks!

"Beads" are after my time, but in-the-tube balancers were the only reliable balancing method I found for HD star hub wheels, after subbing them out repeatedly to a shop with a super-duper elektronik spin balancer.

Every time I sent them back for obvious imbalance, they came back balanced differently, and still wrong.

Bubble balancers were a whole lot cheaper, but just as bad.

....Cotten

[loch]

Okay, Tom.

So I should probably redo my Panhead tires as well. They were done by a shop, one of the few shops that would even consider replacing the tires, and then. OMG! The sales "kid" behind the desk took at least 30 min to figure out how to read the tire size on the old tires. And then when I went to pick them up, I told him I was there for my Panhead wheels and he looked at me with a straight face and said, "That was the 2008 Panhead, right?" Not kidding.

So now I have a truing stand and tire irons. Youtube is excellent for finding out how to do stuff.

Loch

[T. Cotten]

The reason modern balancers wouldn't reproduce, Loch,..

..Is because the 'thrust bearing sleeve' within the 'star' would center differently between the cones each time. A stock axle centers it to hub.

I confess I cut a nylon centering sleeve to send along to the modern shop, and it improved things, but never as nice a ride, or as aesthetic, as an in-the-tube balancer. (My preferred was PJ1 "Balance Plus", but I'm not certain it is still available.)

....Cotten

[Carl Olsen]

I use a product called Ride On that you pump into the tube before you air it up. It works fantastic, but you do not want to check your tire pressure when the valve stem is at the bottom of the wheel for obvious reasons. No messing with steel wheel or stick on weights that always fall off and a nice clean look.
Carl

[T. Cotten]

I use a product called Ride On that you pump into the tube before you air it up. It works fantastic, but you do not want to check your tire pressure when the valve stem is at the bottom of the wheel for obvious reasons. No messing with steel wheel or stick on weights that always fall off and a nice clean look.
Carl

Good to know there's still a product, Carl, Thanks!

The PJ did spit at me a few times.

Anybody have recipes for dressing mildew'd tires? Somewhere I read glycerin for rubber, Thanks in advance as always,

....Cotten