Girder/rigid tire recommendation?

[SEDoan]

Sorry "tyre"

I have been running Avon AM26 Roadrider MkIIs but the tire pressure thread got me thinking about sidewall stiffness and riding comfort. I had been running pressures about 5psi above the original recommendations so high 20s in the front and low 20s in the rear. After reading the tyre pressure thread and Avon's recommendations I raised the pressure to 32 front, 28 rear and the ride is choppy.

Avon Roadriders have very stiff sidewalls compared to Avon Speedmaster or Dunlop K70s. Is there a modern 3.25x19 tire like the Roadrider or Bridgestone battleaxe or Conti or Michelin with softer sidewalls? And perhaps lighter weight?

Rigid Ariel singles are relatively light bikes so ideally there is a modern 3.25x19 tire that is both lighter and softer sidewall than the Roadrider MkII to cushion the ride and minimize unsprung weight on the girder fork. Or perhaps modern construction and softer sidewalls are incompatible?

BTW - the bike gets ridden in the winter when it is 40F (5 Celsius) and raining so still need good wet weather traction.

Thank you for your input!

[simon.holyfield]

I've got 28 front, 36 rear on both my MK1 and FH, both running Roadriders and both very happy on them. I've got K70s on the W/NG, but unfortunately I don't have the pressures to hand. It's lower, 26/32 I think.

Have you tried your bike with higher pressure in the rear compared to the front?

[simon.holyfield]

The W/NG is running 28f/32r.

[SEDoan]

Thanks Simon. I've been happy with the Roadriders too, just wondering if there is an alternative as the 3.35x19 Roadriders are out of stock over here. The Dunlop K70s are softer and lighter than the Roadriders but the soft rubber quickly wore out in the rear. And the Roadriders carve the turns so much nicer...

[simon.holyfield]

Thanks Simon. I've been happy with the Roadriders too, just wondering if there is an alternative as the 3.35x19 Roadriders are out of stock over here. The Dunlop K70s are softer and lighter than the Roadriders but the soft rubber quickly wore out in the rear. And the Roadriders carve the turns so much nicer...

Same here - I settled for a 90/90 in the end, when they eventually told me the 325 would be another 6 weeks.

My son's got Bridgestone BT46 on his RE which he really likes.

[SEDoan]

Lots of people on line like the Bridgestone BT46 and from the shipping weight listing on Amazon (highly suspect!) it may be lighter than the same size Roadrider...

[Simon.Gardiner]

I've been using BT45/BT46 on the BM for years and years, and they've been excellent (a massive improvement on the BM recommended fitment but that was never revised from the 1970s spec).
They would have been my first choice for the Ariel only you can't get a 19" rear....
The Ariel has Roadriders and they work extremely well - but wear has been an issue as the first rear tyre was down to the canvas after about 3k miles. I've seen this problem raised elsewhere and I understand that Avon revised the pressure recommendations so hopefully the second rear will last rather longer.
I haven't run a rigid rear-end for a very long time though so I can't offer anything on that front, except to say that tyre topics are a bit like oil topics, always good for a bit of controversy.

SG

[Ian.Taylor]

I use Dunlop K70 on my 31 VF at 26R 26F
On my VHA I use Dunlop K70s 28 R & 26F

[SEDoan]

Thanks for your help guys. I've ordered the Bridgestones and curious how they will compare.

Ian, your post got me to recheck the owner's guide after 2 decades and it's different than I remember! I was running a 3.00x21" and a 3.50x19" rear so 22psi front and 19psi rear were recommended (3psi different). Clearly the low pressure was part of the bike's suspension. Running modern tires meant raising the psi; but the rear being rigid I didn't raise its psi quite as much. I settled on 27F and 22R (5psi different). Well, almost 20 years ago I switched to a 3.25x19" front and rear so I could carry only 1 spare tube, but never changed the tire pressures differential! The owner's guide recommends 18 front and 22 rear when the tires are the same size - so 4psi different, but in the other direction!

This was mentioned in the pressure post - Avon recommends 25-28 psi front and 28-34 psi rear for modern rubber on classic bikes. Will try this out.

Thanks for your help.

[SEDoan]

Here is some comparison info for Avon Roadrider MKII and Bridgestone Battleaxe BT46 tires. Unfortunately it is a little apples to oranges as the tire coming off was a slightly different size.

Avons compared to Bridgestone:
Battleaxe 3.25 x 19: weight = 9.6lbs..............WM-2 mounted width 0......................WM-2 height from rim 0
Roadrider 100/90 x19: weight = 11.7lbs.............WM-2 mounted width + 10mm.............WM-2 height from rim + 2mm
Roadrider 3.25 x 19: weight ?.......................WM-2 mounted width + 2-3mm............WM-2 height from rim + 1mm

The Bridgestone is slightly smaller than the Avons but a surprising 2 lbs. lighter than the Avon.

The sidewall of the Bridgstone 3.25 x 19 is less stiff than the sidewall of the Avon 100/90 x19 but I don't have a way to compare both 3.25 x19s because the 3.25 Avon is already mounted and it ain't worth dismounting. Ride comfort seems improved by the lighter weight and more flexible Bridgestone front tire.

Also, the 3.25 x19 Battleaxe is labelled "front only" right on the sidewall. I was going to ignore this considering that Avon and other makers allow front tires on the rear and put up with accelerated tire wear, but it seems to handle well with the 100/90 x19 Avon on the rear and the 3.25 x 19 Bridgestone on the front. The bike turns into the corners very nicely with the Bridgstone.

Perhaps someone will find this useful.