Cycle wings and tyre choice

[Violet Elizabeth]

I am converting to cycles over the course of the upgrade, and think I probably need some de-numptification

 

The wings themselves come as standard for a certain tyres width, yes ? I have both 13" Minlites and 15" Prisoners. Not that I ever use the Prisoners, but did consider using them for touring. But if my thinking is correct they won't fit ?

 

So if I am limited to 13" tyres, perhaps putting something sensible on the Minilites and getting something lighter and stickier. Or bung A032s/A048s on and use for both track and road ?

 

The birth of the Gixxerham : pics here drivel here

[Shaun_E]

There are 2 sizes of cycle wing 13"/14" and 15"/16". I am sure I saw a thread on here recently that even gave the radius of them. The rolling radius of 15" rims with low profile rubber and 13" with higher profile (185/70) is similar so you could swap between them if so desired.

My cycle wings with 13" wheels running 185/60 tyres fit very close to the tyres such that it is actually quite difficult to remove the wheel - a slightly taller tyre would probably not fit under them.

For maximium flexibility you could get the 15"/16" cycle wings but it might look a bit silly if you were to run the 13" wheels with lower profile tyres such as the 185/60 or the CR500 in 175/55.

I won't comment on tyres too much as I have only ever run A021Rs and now A048Rs. The 21s were great as an all round tyre but overheated on a dry track. I really like the 48s - have had no problems on the road and they were great at Brands last week. Also reasonably priced at £67 each.

 

Yellow SL #32

[Jorgen]

as far as I know the cycle wings come in two sizes. 13-14 inch and 15-16 inch. Running bigger wheels under the smaller wings is not goind to work. However you could consider a new set of 14 inch wheels for touring.

 

Depending on your millage and driving style it might be just as good to just have the same set of wheels and leave them on for both road and track.

 

Jorgen

[Ferrino]

Running bigger wheels under the smaller wings is not goind to work.

As Shaun mentioned, the size wheel you can rfit under the wing type depends on which tyres you run. I was running 195/55/15 tyres under 13/14" wings comfortably.

[Sheds Moderator]

Some have said that you can make the big wings fit small wheels and vice versa with stay bending. I've never tried. However most BEC drivers say they are light on tyres so you'd get away with 048s or similar for touring IMO. Given that you won't be commuting or doing 600 mile weekends too often this may be acceptable. As a clue I have 2 sets of 13" but use only one set plus a spare.

[Normans_Ghost]

Just for the record my 13" DITP wing are ok with 15" wheels with ACB10's. If you look really hard at them you can see the different radii but you need to know they're different to notice it. The DITP wing is slightly wider so takes a wider wheel without it sticking out.

 

norman verona, 1989 BDR 220bhp, Mem No 2166, the full story here

[Nick Woods]

Also just for the record I have the smaller cycle wings with 185/70x13 A021's and there is plenty of room - see photo here

 

Nick

Red and Black 1.6K supersport

visit Carrotland.co.uk

 

[Casbar]

The car I bought had 13/14 inch cycle wings, and the car had 15 inch wheels on it, not sure of the tyre profile though. I am now running 13 inch with 32's and they look fine.

[Lotus Boy]

I have also seen cycle wings that are much longer in that they come round much further to the ground covering more tyre. Are these the larger ones or are there also different styleslength of wing.

 

I have only seen these longer wings with 16" wheels...

[Violet Elizabeth]

Thanks, will go for 13/14" jobbies.

 

The birth of the Gixxerham : pics here drivel here