Tire Clearance on belt drive

[djh3]

I just changed tires on my 2013 Victory. Its a belt drive and mono shock suspension. So the OEM tire is supposed to be a 180/60-16, that size is kind of limited in choice, so last time I went to a 180/65-16 Continental. All was well and I got 10k or so out of it. I ordered a Shinko 777 180/65-16 and installed it a week or so ago. I had only got to ride minimal to store and such maybe 20 miles under 50 or so. Monday I got read to put some miles on it to seat it in and go look at something about 80 miles away. I was heading out of town and got up to about 60 mph, I started to smell rubber. I found a place to pull over and inspect things. It appears the rear tire is making some contact with the swing arm. What the hey the other tire same size and has been fine for 10k. So I go home and put on the lift. I checked the radial run out and came up with maybe .020-.028, lateral was less than about .005.

Off came the tire again (which on this is no small job) and got out the grind disk and clearanced the swing arm some. Mainly I just took off the seam of the casting flange and smoothed out the arch in it. No mass amount of material, then I painted it to make it easier to spot any contact. Today I got to take it out for a short ride at speed and it still shows evidence of contact (slight smell, but not like before) and light marking on the swing arm.

So do I just rid it out and see if it works itself out? Or what can I do now?

[videoarizona]

Crank the tire pressure to max? Will that flatten the sidewall a touch?

[Du-Rron]

I just changed tires on my 2013 Victory. ...

 

Are not the factory tires radials? Those have stiff sidewalls. The Shinkos 777's are belted-bias. If you are going to run the Shinko 777's I would run them at max sidewall pressure to keep their deflection to a minimum.

 

Another option is to next time order a 150/80-16 or 170/70-16

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Du-Rron

[djh3]

Center of tire is what seems to be hitting the swing arm. I hate to run 49 psi in the tire and run the center out of it because it is over pressure for load it is currently carrying. Its almost like the thing acts like a drag slick. Today I did not smell it at 60 but when I bumped it up to 70 for a bit I could. I does not vibrate like if it was out of round or something like that.

[Flyinfool]

Put some chalk or powder on the sidewall of the tire to see if it is rubbing all the way around or just in one spot. If just in one spot there may be a deformity in the tire. Possibly a slight defect? Possibly not fully seated on the rim? Possibly a bent rim?

[Du-Rron]

[WildBill1]

If the center is rubbing that sounds to reason being it's height is 65% of the actual width of the tread as opposed to 60%.

[djh3]

I got a chance to take it out a day or so back. I rode for awhile @ 50-55, say 20 min, then I bumped up to 60-65, no real noticeable smell. So I turned around and headed home. Bumped it up to around 70+ on way home had a faint smell and when I got home I checked the swing arm and small amount of evidence. It still hits in the center but it is not a wide spot. Very center is maybe 3/8" wide, then 3/8" or so over on either side a mark about 1/4" wide. I painted the swing arm specifically so I could tell if and how much it contacted. I think maybe I will try a few pounds more air pressure. Currently I am run 39 which is what I ran the previous tire at. I need to see what the max was on it and what the max is on this one, I think its 49. I dont want to run it that hard and burn the center out of it. The previous tire was also a 180/65-16. I guess there could be a slight variance in over all diameter between the 2.

[videoarizona]

Dion,

Does sound like you might be a touch underinflated with max pressure being 49 pounds. Try upping the pressure a few pounds at a time....say 45lbs next. Or, try it at Max pressure then work down just to see if that helps. I've run my Shinkos within 2lbs of max on both bikes (40-42 pounds) and had no problems.