MTFCA Forum

.fit straight edged tyres to clincher rims?
I've been working on the barn fresh tourer from Booboorowie. It was fitted with 4.40 x 23" tyres three of which were straight sided. To get them on the rims they cut the rims!!!! The cuts were made at one of the loose lug mounting slots, so the joint was somewhat supported. There was no joining fixture whatever. The pity is they are three of the best clincher rims I have ever handled.
The other two were hard clincher tyres which I had to cut off. It seems fitting flaps in clinchers was a headache back then too..

Allan from down under.

With no top I see its keeping one eye out for rain

Yes those do appear to be solid rims - some of the best I’ve seen too. With a great deal of patience and fitting, couldn’t they be successfully welded ? Marvelous patina on that tourer… good on you to preserve it. Don’t forget the Babbitt thrust washers

As George suggests, I would find a good welder for those rims.

I've seen straight side tires mounted to clincher rims also. They packed the "clinching" part of the rims with rope. They didn't cut the rims however. Must have been a bear to mount them!

I run straight side tires on my '10 Chalmers-Detoit with has split rim clinchers. They are a bear to mount but with rope set in the clincher grooves they work just fine. Can't understand why anyone would have cut those rims because it just isn't necessary to do that to run straight side tires on a clincher rim.

Russ T Fender wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 22, 2023 11:00 am

I run straight side tires on my '10 Chalmers-Detoit with has split rim clinchers. They are a bear to mount but with rope set in the clincher grooves they work just fine. Can't understand why anyone would have cut those rims because it just isn't necessary to do that to run straight side tires on a clincher rim.

Straight side tires have steel wire running through the beads. They can't stretch over a clincher rim as easily as a clincher tire, with only nylon cord on the beads. That's why 21", non-split rims need to have a drop center in order to mount the tire. Straight side beads need to be much stronger, since they don't have the clincher lip to grab them and hold them in place.

That makes sense. I can mount them because my rims are split rim clinchers.

Val, normally it makes no sense to have straight sided tyres on clincher rims. Perhaps your rims were modified some time like these I have. I doubt they were manufactured that way.
4.40 x 23" straight sided tyres continued to be offered long after that size was deleted in clincher tyres, in Australia at least. Chev went from 4.40 x 23" clinchers to the same size straight sided tyres on split rims. I use a Chev split rim to help stretch old clincher tyres so they can be fitted.

My Tarrant special T tourer had these balloon tyres as part of the original up-market spec. I still run them, albeit with Chev split rims on threee wheels. The fourth one is a straight sided tyre on a clincher rim. I bought this one as a spare, already mounted. Someone had gone to a great deal of effort to bend out the bead on the edge, all the way around, on both sides. Then they had to spit the rim and make a joining clip. It was a lot of effort, but I guess it falls into the "do what you have to do" category. It was inflated when I bought it 15 years ago, and is still in use, so I have had no reason yet to demount it.

Allan from down under.

Alan, the rims I was referring to are 36X4-1/2" slit rim clinchers on my 1910 Chalmers-Detroit. Years ago that size tire was not available. Today I believe they are available but ridiculously expensive so using straight side tires can save you $300 or more per wheel.

Val, the non-availability of the clincher tyres was probably why your clincher rims became split rims, so that straight sided tyres could be fitted. It is the same scenario with 4.40X 23" clincher tyres going off the market that led to the creation of my split clincher rims.

Allan from down under.

Alan you are probably right but I believe split rim clinchers were produced by Stanweld back in the day when the tire size was available. I'm sure they make mounting clinchers a bit easier and, as you point out, they make mounting straight side tires possible.

I have seen rims that had adapter pieces, kind of a half-round metal ring the fit into the clincher area, to make them straight-sided rims. It should not be a big deal to make up a set of these if you needed to. Just find the correct diameter of steel rod, that is a snug fit in the clincher bead, and then machine it flat on one side, and then roll it to fit the rim. I have seen a couple sets of these, and they looked production-made, NOT from a backyard shop. They appeared to have been a set, perhaps supplied by some company such as J.C. Whitney in the 1930's or so. I never saw a makers mark or trademark on them.