MTFCA Forum

I just read the MTFCA article about a T'er who installed 21" motorcycle wheels with T tires on his '24 T C-Cab. Conversely, would comparably sized motorcycle tires fit onto 30x3 or 30x3-1/2 rims?

Motor cycle tyres are made for well based rims, [unless you are talking veteran cycles] so 21" straight sided tyres like those used on 26-7 T's could be used, but it is not advisable. Motorcycle tyres have rounded treads to assist with grip when cornering. Using them on a T would greatly decrease the footprint on the road and seriously compromise the already marginal braking on a T.
30" tyres used on the majority of T's are beaded edge tyres. To my knowledge, even if you could still buy 23" motorcycle tyres, they would be straight sided tyres requiring split rims to mount them, like some Chevs had back in the 1920's.

Allan from down under.

We put motorcycle knobbies on this racer's rear wire wheels. They were a bit small on the outside but worked well for it's 8 or 9 cross-countries. They were the largest we could find in the 70s. I apologize for the snow but it's the only photo I could find.

Like Allen says... tires need to match the rim design. The term "Motorcycle Tire" is insufficient to clearly describe the tires bead. Some have a beaded edge and some don't for mounting on the respective rim. I think you can se that the Typical Motorcycle Tire's edge doesn't match the clincher rim but might work on a split rim. The opposite would be true for a beaded edge tire

Jay: I wondered about that too, but I did not see a reference to "21" motorcycle wheels with T tires" in that article. I could be mistaken, but I think he used motorcycle tires matched to the correct rims in his project. fwiw, respectfully, jb

How about motorcycle inner tubes? they have to be better than what's out there for T's.

The motorcycle tubes that came with the knobbies were metal stemmed and worked just fine.

r

ead the MTFCA article about a T'er who installed 21" motorcycle wheels with T tires on his '24 T C-Cab. Conversely, would comparably sized motorcycle tires fit onto 30x3 or 30x3-1/2 rims?

Answer would be no for motorcycle tire to use on T clincher rims, for the tire patch coverage as mentioned.

As for the motorcycle rims in that Jan Feb issue of Vintage Ford, those were custom blanks, and in 21" rim size for the std. 21" balloon tires.
The tires in the article have "LUCAS" on the sidewall, so believe these to be std. 440/450x21 tires. Those alum rim disc blanks can be found in sizes from 16" to 21" , the 21" being 2.15" wide rim, so fits up to T size balloon tire! And pretty cool adaption for use on that T truck by the owner.

Many thanks to Dan and all. My curiosity has been settled.