Drag slicks

[Rusty McNeil]

I'm looking at drag slicks right now. Wheelie Bars too.

I have a completely stock swingarm and a 5.5" x 18" rear wheel.

I'm finding slicks in 25" diameter for an 18" wheel in either a 5.5" wide carcass or a 7" wide carcass.

My current tire measures 6.75" carcass width and clears the swingarm by a quarter inch (maybe slightly less)

I think the 7 wide tire will fit since the width should only be going up by 1/8" on each side.

Does anyone know for SURE if the 7" tire will fit?


Thanks,

Rusty

 

[lankeeyankee]

I'm looking at drag slicks right now. Wheelie Bars too.

I have a completely stock swingarm and a 5.5" x 18" rear wheel.

I'm finding slicks in 25" diameter for an 18" wheel in either a 5.5" wide carcass or a 7" wide carcass.

My current tire measures 6.75" carcass width and clears the swingarm by a quarter inch (maybe slightly less)

I think the 7 wide tire will fit since the width should only be going up by 1/8" on each side.

Does anyone know for SURE if the 7" tire will fit?


Thanks,

Rusty

Rusty:

Get the exact width of the tire (Cross section) if its any wider than a 8.0 your beat with a stock swingarm.
Even better get a tape measure and measure the inner width of your swingarm and compare it to the cross section of the slicks you are looking at.

I am running a M&H Car slick 25-6-15 and it measures 8.3 in wide. I do have it squeezed in but I had to modify my swingarm to drastic length and if I air my slick over 15 PSI it will rub the driveshaft not the swingarm but the driveshaft.
You can see the slick its in my profile pic below. NO spinning with that on and I can get my 60FT times in the high 1.580's- 1.590's with it

 

[Rusty McNeil]

The spec on slicks I'm looking at give a tread width and a section/carcass width.

If the carcass width they are giving is really 7 inches then I should be OK. I know that is dependent on the rim width as well but my 5.5" rim falls into line with their recommnded width.

I've got a 1/4" room on the left side so a tire that is up to a 1/2" wider than the width on my current tire; which is 6.75" wide should be OK

I'm going to call pingle and see if I can get verification.

Thanks for the reply BTW

Rusty

 

[shawn kloker]

The spec on slicks I'm looking at give a tread width and a section/carcass width.

If the carcass width they are giving is really 7 inches then I should be OK. I know that is dependent on the rim width as well but my 5.5" rim falls into line with their recommnded width.

I've got a 1/4" room on the left side so a tire that is up to a 1/2" wider than the width on my current tire; which is 6.75" wide should be OK

I'm going to call pingle and see if I can get verification.

Thanks for the reply BTW

Rusty

I still say traction at the strip is not a problem.Not flipping over is.I ran my bars with my street radial at the strip.Inflated to 8psi,Got it good and warm and was able to ride the bars the whole way through the 1/8th mile mark leaving at 9,000 rpm.Never spun at all.Can't wait to try with the stage 7 carbs back on instead of dealing with the flatslide bog.

 

[lankeeyankee]

I still say traction at the strip is not a problem.Not flipping over is.I ran my bars with my street radial at the strip.Inflated to 8psi,Got it good and warm and was able to ride the bars the whole way through the 1/8th mile mark leaving at 9,000 rpm.Never spun at all.Can't wait to try with the stage 7 carbs back on instead of dealing with the flatslide bog.

Your lucky if you dont get tire spin with a street tire. The local track here races Tue, Fri and Sat. Tue and Fridays the track isnt prepped very well and plus all the idiots with the street tires roll back in the water box and do there burn out draging water up to the starting line and dripping from there wheel wells. I wish they wouldnt allow people with street tires in the burnout box:bang head:
My last passes with the 60FT of 1.60's of course didnt have any traction issue, due to this time of the yr the track temps arent that high yet.
When the track temps get up 105+ degrees than I will smoke the rear tire off 3 times out of 5 if I launch hard on my street tire, now if I put the M&H car slick on than thats a different story NO wheel spin what so ever and doesnt take much of a burn out to get it to stick.


What tire and rim are you using to be able to run 8PSI in a street tire and not have the center bow in leaving to blk lines?? I run 17 PSI in my street tire before the center bows in. Have you checked this? Take off hard on the street spinning the tire a little (not going for a full white smoke cloud) and go back and see what kind of foot print you left.

 

[shawn kloker]

Don't believe me!

At 8 pounds it will hook up if warm.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

I ran my tire at 15 psi last time. It's a180/55-18 Avon Venom R.

I don't have tons of experience, this is the first bike i've had to the strip in my life but I do have some observations.

With no strut or wheelie bar, traction has never been a problem for me, its wheel lift that is a problem. If I could launch hard enough to almost but not quite run out of traction and keep the front down it would be great.

That's why I've always used the almost bog and loft clutch technique from about 5500rpm, anything higher rpm and more rapid deployment of the clutch and the front comes up ridiculously high.

So I tried front straps, remarkable improvement since as I look at the primary reason the straps help is that it put about 35 lbs of unsprung weight back into the chassis, forcing the bike to lift the wheel, tire, brake calipers and fork lowers if it insists on coming up.

With the straps I was launching from around 6500-7000 and being a little more aggresive with clutch release rate.

The front was coming up a little and setting down gently as I shifted into 2nd....

The other night might not be a good measure of things tho becuase my clutch, at 32,000 miles was gradually going away. All the runs felt much better and cleaner than the slips were indicating and my times were gradually getting worse.

So far I haven't seen anything that really tells me I need a slick....Except

I'm wanting wheeelie bars and think that with wheelie bars I may need a slick since as I'm hearing from others I can basically launch as hard as I want.

With an almost worn out rear radial I'll probably try it at 8-10 psi with the bars when I get them before spending the money on a slick.

Thanks for the advice guys, I can use all I can get.

Rusty

 

[backfire]

Wow! Good thread- thanks Shawn and Lankey.

I'm also in the market for a good slick and I have a spare 2005 wheel (new take-off) to mount it on. I was looking at the Phoenix 6.0" x 26.0" x 15.0" slick, but I didn't want to thicken the gear ratio by adding another inch of tire diameter...

Lankee, I see you said you have a M&H Drag Slick of 8.5" x 25.0" x 15.0" on your bike. How do you like it? I looked on M&H's website and couldn't find that specific size you have for either car or bike slick, so can you help me find that one?

Is this it? http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn=71&rn=332&action=show_detail

Do you have to run a tube?

What is the stock 2005 rim width?

The wheel I'm using is attached below, as well as a couple of pictures of what I'm running now. Thanks a bunch!

*BTW- Anyone interested in the stock take-off tire from this wheel? It's new..

 

[one2dmax]

I could probably use it! You do know the slick is not a bolt on? You have to machine the bead locks down since the car tire beads are thicker.

Sean

 

[lankeeyankee]

Wow! Good thread- thanks Shawn and Lankey.

I'm also in the market for a good slick and I have a spare 2005 wheel (new take-off) to mount it on. I was looking at the Phoenix 6.0" x 26.0" x 15.0" slick, but I didn't want to thicken the gear ratio by adding another inch of tire diameter...

Lankee, I see you said you have a M&H Drag Slick of 8.5" x 25.0" x 15.0" on your bike. How do you like it? I looked on M&H's website and couldn't find that specific size you have for either car or bike slick, so can you help me find that one?

Is this it? http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn=71&rn=332&action=show_detail

Do you have to run a tube?

What is the stock 2005 rim width?

The wheel I'm using is attached below, as well as a couple of pictures of what I'm running now. Thanks a bunch!

*BTW- Anyone interested in the stock take-off tire from this wheel? It's new..

Hi John

I had my 98 (same as all other years as far as width goes. You will have to take your wheel to a machine shop and have them take off I believe dont quote me its been a few years (.0090) off the bead of the rim. They made 15 in motorcycle rims like this to prevent automotive tires being mounted.
One word of advice, dont even try a automobile tire such as a 195-60-15 it will just spin.
As far as the M&H slick, this is all and more the tire you will need as far as traction. I had a buddy here that dragraced his VMAX with an M&H slick with bars 60 footing att thtrack 1.30's its a flat tire with a very soft sidewall meant to wrinkle under hard launches. I dont run a tube in mine but one word of advice if you also choose not to run a tube place something under the right side peg if not you will come out after a few hours with your bike laying on its side and a ding in the faux (dont ask me how I know this :bang head
Ok here is the part you may not like to hear. You will HAVE to chop up the inner left part of the swingarm to the point you see the driveshaft in order to clear this fat wide slick.
Yes it is a taller tire and no it wont effect the low end power. This motor makes great torque its not a 600 CC sport bike to where it will bog. To be honest the taller tire picks up your MPH with the VMAX engine about 1.5 mph+ in the 1/8 mile. I cant find more detailed pics but my pic here is taken with the slick on the rear.
I have over 80 passes on this slick and it still hooks hard when I run it. the bad thing is its not a DOT tire so I cant run it on street night of the drags here for money runs.
I will list the good points along with the bad points if you have any more ?'s feel free to ask.

Good points, Its the cheapest way to run a slick on the VMAX. It looks really cool fills in the rear of the bike, last forever and doesnt take much of a burnout to get it to hook. When you do a burn out it will smoke to the extent where someone will think there is a fire and call the fire dpet.

Bad points, have to cut your left inner swingarm, soft sidewall where you get a bounce if ridden on the street and its sqaure to where you steer your bike and not lean it.

 

[backfire]

I could probably use it! You do know the slick is not a bolt on? You have to machine the bead locks down since the car tire beads are thicker.

Sean

No, I didn't know the slick wasn't a bolt-on deal- thanks for letting me know. I see from Yankee's post that there is some swingarm modification needed to fit that big tire.

Do you have another good swingarm I could use for modification that we could maybe trade for the new tire I have? If so, I'll get it de-mounted, ship it to you for free and you can have it.

Let me know and thanks!

 

[backfire]

Hi John

I had my 98 (same as all other years as far as width goes. You will have to take your wheel to a machine shop and have them take off I believe dont quote me its been a few years (.0090) off the bead of the rim. They made 15 in motorcycle rims like this to prevent automotive tires being mounted.
One word of advice, dont even try a automobile tire such as a 195-60-15 it will just spin.
As far as the M&H slick, this is all and more the tire you will need as far as traction. I had a buddy here that dragraced his VMAX with an M&H slick with bars 60 footing att thtrack 1.30's its a flat tire with a very soft sidewall meant to wrinkle under hard launches. I dont run a tube in mine but one word of advice if you also choose not to run a tube place something under the right side peg if not you will come out after a few hours with your bike laying on its side and a ding in the faux (dont ask me how I know this :bang head
Ok here is the part you may not like to hear. You will HAVE to chop up the inner left part of the swingarm to the point you see the driveshaft in order to clear this fat wide slick.
Yes it is a taller tire and no it wont effect the low end power. This motor makes great torque its not a 600 CC sport bike to where it will bog. To be honest the taller tire picks up your MPH with the VMAX engine about 1.5 mph+ in the 1/8 mile. I cant find more detailed pics but my pic here is taken with the slick on the rear.
I have over 80 passes on this slick and it still hooks hard when I run it. the bad thing is its not a DOT tire so I cant run it on street night of the drags here for money runs.
I will list the good points along with the bad points if you have any more ?'s feel free to ask.

Good points, Its the cheapest way to run a slick on the VMAX. It looks really cool fills in the rear of the bike, last forever and doesnt take much of a burnout to get it to hook. When you do a burn out it will smoke to the extent where someone will think there is a fire and call the fire dpet.

Bad points, have to cut your left inner swingarm, soft sidewall where you get a bounce if ridden on the street and its sqaure to where you steer your bike and not lean it.

Based on your information, it sounds like I need to use a tube, I'll need another swingarm to modify so I can keep my original one and I'll need that slick I posted the link to, so that I can do all of this right.

I measured the stock tire height and it measures approx. 25" tall and the slick I picked out in that link measures 24.5" tall- so that tire should not take any gear away, but rather add a tick more. (which is always good to haul my 250 lb. azz around) I don't plan on running this set-up on the street, only at our local 1/4" mile track that has been named, the "House of Hook". It's always sticks awesome and since we sponsor them, they spray her down just a little more when we rent it.

Question~ That .090" that you say needs removed... I assume that's per side or the total of both sides?


Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[lankeeyankee]

Based on your information, it sounds like I need to use a tube, I'll need another swingarm to modify so I can keep my original one and I'll need that slick I posted the link to, so that I can do all of this right.

I measured the stock tire height and it measures approx. 25" tall and the slick I picked out in that link measures 24.5" tall- so that tire should not take any gear away, but rather add a tick more. (which is always good to haul my 250 lb. azz around) I don't plan on running this set-up on the street, only at our local 1/4" mile track that has been named, the "House of Hook". It's always sticks awesome and since we sponsor them, they spray her down just a little more when we rent it.

Question~ That .090" that you say needs removed... I assume that's per side or the total of both sides?


Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

Hi John
I believe its ninety thousandth I know the exact spec is somewhere on the net I believe when Pee Wee Gleason ran in the 10's on a stock VMAX back in 1985 they give the spec on what they had to do as far as shaving BOTH sides of the bead its in the article
I didnt run a tube in fear of it being out of balance I just stated you can ride it on the street if you want to ride it to the track I used to race at JAX raceway located in Jacksonville Fla when I did there bike bracket dash for cash races which was about 35 miles from my house
I am a bit confused do you have an 18 aftermarket wheel already if so why dont you get the Shinko its a street slick that hooks very well I used the slick setup for bracket racing due to it was very consistent in 60ft times never varying anymore than 2 hundreth at the track in the 1.52's 60 ft times no bars

Here is the link for the tire

http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn=71&rn=329&action=show_detail

 

[backfire]

Hi John
I believe its ninety thousandth I know the exact spec is somewhere on the net I believe when Pee Wee Gleason ran in the 10's on a stock VMAX back in 1985 they give the spec on what they had to do as far as shaving BOTH sides of the bead its in the article
I didnt run a tube in fear of it being out of balance I just stated you can ride it on the street if you want to ride it to the track I used to race at JAX raceway located in Jacksonville Fla when I did there bike bracket dash for cash races which was about 35 miles from my house
I am a bit confused do you have an 18 aftermarket wheel already if so why dont you get the Shinko its a street slick that hooks very well I used the slick setup for bracket racing due to it was very consistent in 60ft times never varying anymore than 2 hundreth at the track in the 1.52's 60 ft times no bars

Here is the link for the tire

[URL="http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn=71&rn=329&action=show_detail"]http://www.mandhtires.com/store.php?crn=71&rn=329&action=show_detail[/URL]

The spare wheel I have here is a stock unit from a 2005 VMAX, so was going to mount a slick to it and swap back-and-forth to go racing. I don't want to tear up my expensive street tire and I'll haul it to the track in my truck.

The tire link you sent confuses me? :confused2:In your first post in this thread, you said you used an M&H 25/6/15 tire on your bike, however, the link you posted says the tire size is a 26/6/15? I guess I'm not sure now which one you used now, since the info differs?

Can you please clarify?

Just to give you some reference~ My current bike has a wider-than-stock Bridgestone Spitfire tire on it now and it's total cross section width is already approx. 6 3/4" wide from edge-to-edge. Currently, it has approx. 1/4" of clearance on the swingarm side and plenty of clearance on the brake side, so I'm guessing that this is the widest cross section of tire I can fit between the stock swingarm.

I do realize though that a squared off slick would have a wider cross section width that would need to be accounted/adjusted for, even if the tire was sold as a 6" tread.

 

[backfire]

Nevermind.... I figured it out. The tire you linked is the right one and mine wasn't, as I see the cross-section width of my tire is wayyy too wide at 10.0" and the one you linked is 8.5".

I understand now.

 

[one2dmax]

Find out from HuberJ (Jeff) what slick is on the wheel I loaned him. No swingarm modification is needed with it and pretty much 100% traction. I don't know the amount to remove but it's going to be a lot and needs to be done on a large lathe. Many shops won't have one big enough.

Let me know on the tire and if you need a swingarm (which you should not need).

Sean

Sean

 

[hubeerjw]

The one that Morley lent me has an old Firestone 6.00/26-15 on it. Hooks like a Mo-Fo! I used to think the street tire would hook well at the track at 15-20psi, but there is a night and day difference.... I would just bog with the slick on it... I needed to bring my launch RPMs up a lot more with this tire and slip the clutch more.... I need a LOT more practice.

The Firestone has about 5.5" of flat cross section and the tire is probably a hair over 6" at the widest point.

I have been looking at getting a new slick for it and found a few options:

Phoenix and M&H both make 6/26-15 which should work without modding the swing arm, but you will still need to mod the rim and add sheet metal screws as previously discussed. I also saw a tire on eBay that I wanted to try, it is for the front wheel on a car, but could this be a way for us to use a "DOT" tire at the strip?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/26X6...002QQitemZ120234180417QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

 

[backfire]

The one that Morley lent me has an old Firestone 6.00/26-15 on it. Hooks like a Mo-Fo! I used to think the street tire would hook well at the track at 15-20psi, but there is a night and day difference.... I would just bog with the slick on it... I needed to bring my launch RPMs up a lot more with this tire and slip the clutch more.... I need a LOT more practice.

The Firestone has about 5.5" of flat cross section and the tire is probably a hair over 6" at the widest point.

I have been looking at getting a new slick for it and found a few options:

Phoenix and M&H both make 6/26-15 which should work without modding the swing arm, but you will still need to mod the rim and add sheet metal screws as previously discussed. I also saw a tire on eBay that I wanted to try, it is for the front wheel on a car, but could this be a way for us to use a "DOT" tire at the strip?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/26X6...002QQitemZ120234180417QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

It's funny you should suggest that Firestone tire, because I was just looking at the Phoenix brand of drag slick the other day (formerly Firestone) and I did see that specific tire you mentioned here. I dismissed it, since I saw Yankee using another type that worked out well for him, (bigger) but as he explained to me, his tire requires swingarm modification and apparently the Phoenix tire in that size does not. I'd prefer to not cut on the bike too much to make all of this stuff work, so the Phoenix tire might be the better option, albiet the narrower foot print. I'll call them Monday to get detailed specs on the Phoenix and the M&H to compare before I purchase. They both look like excellent tires, but each with different carcass specs for the same size.

Here is the Phonix tire I had found~ 26.0"/6.0"/15.0"
http://www.dragracetires.com/product.php?productid=97

The tube also~
http://www.dragracetires.com/products/900-1415-drag-tube.html


Thanks for the help.

 

[backfire]

Find out from HuberJ (Jeff) what slick is on the wheel I loaned him. No swingarm modification is needed with it and pretty much 100% traction. I don't know the amount to remove but it's going to be a lot and needs to be done on a large lathe. Many shops won't have one big enough.

Let me know on the tire and if you need a swingarm (which you should not need).

Sean

You just have the tire Sean once I get it de-mounted and maybe we can trade for something I might need from you later on if that works ok for you.

 

[lankeeyankee]

Ok since many are confused with the size 26-6-15 Yes it lays a patch 6 inches wide Ok this is great and yes 6 inches wont rub the swingarm

This is the key information your going to need I dont care if its a M&H Hoosier Phoneix Good Year Or any Joe Smoh slick that is the foot print

Key here is Section Width: 8.5"

I have been down this road with car slicks I have researched different brands YOU HAVE TO CHOP YOUR SWINGARM no way around it UNLESS you run a 7.0 Motorcycle slick made by goodyear in an 18in

Leave it at that