Sorry to be the rehasher of this multi-visited topic, but I'm just looking for the short, simple, "yes" or "no" answers. Which of these 500 x 16 vintage look tires, will fit the front and rear of the stock "48" chassis without alteration (or very slight alteration such as adding washers to raise the front fender)? A picture of tires/wheels mounted to a motorcycle doesn't necessarily mean they "fit" the bike. However, if you have any of these tires mounted on your bike, and indeed they do "fit", please feel free to post a photo so that we can all enjoy.
Here is the list:
Coker Firestone Deluxe Champion
Coker Indian Script
Coker Firestone Cycle ANS
Coker Beck
Coker Classic....and
Avon SM Mark II
Thanks!

 

Heres the Coker/Becks, the front fender does need a washer or 2 to raise it up a bit.




I think they are a great tire performance wise. Their downfall and I think its the case for most of the vintage tire is longevity. The rears last 3-4K miles.

Here are the Indian Scripts. Though its on a different front end (vulcan wide glide). I did not like the way this tire rode at all. Got rid of them with less than 2 K on them.




Went back to a Coker/Beck on the front and a regular M/C tire on the rear just to get more life out of them. I dont like the way it looks though so next I think Ill try some Firestones. Even though I dont think it looks good it still won 2nd place in a car show




Coker/Becks handle well enough to do some scrapping on the Dragon riding 2 up




That enough pictures?

 

Rog48

Thank you for your reply and pics. Sizewise...is the Beck a taller and/or wider tire than the Script? Also, I see you have air shocks on the rear of your 48. Are these the 12" or 13"...and did you install any kind of lowering kit? Otherwise...no rubbing or contact issues at all with either set-up?

Going forward, which Firestones are you considering? Thanks again for your input.

 

No I think they are pretty close to the same size. They are a little taller and narrower than the OEM rear, taller and wider than the OEM front.

The shocks are 13" with 1 1/2" lowering blocks which is too much, Ive got some 1" lowering that I just havent put on yet. The problem is 2 up riding, on bad high speed bumps (poor bridge transitions) the rear will bottom out.

The firestones Ill try next are these
https://www.cokertire.com/500-16-fir...wall-tire.html

 

BTW....great looking bike! Shows your pride of ownership.

With the taller tires did you find your speedo reading on the low side? How many mph was it off?

Did you have to slip the clutch much starting from a stop with 2-up?

Hope you don't mind the questions but experience is key when trying to do something out of the norm.

Thx!

 

Never paid much attention to the speedo but yeah it would read low, not sure by how much. Hmmmmmmmmm...............maybe thats why Im always passing everyone wondering why their going so slow

GF doesnt weigh much, neither do I, no difference in roll outs. The only time I really noticed a difference was extended rides in the twisties 2 up. Repeated hard braking causes the brakes to start to fade.

We do on occasion load that sporty up, especially when camping.

 

man those Becks look outstanding I want to put a pair of those on my 2010 iron