Technical: Wheels and Tires
Various Authors
Request For Comments
Big Harleys historically had 18-inch wheels. In 1940, the 16-inch wheels started to appear, and by 1958, all new big twins had 5.00 x 16 tires. The odd 19-inch size first appeared on the 1948 Model 125, and 3.25 x 19 tires were used on the lightweights until 1955/1956. The 1952 K inherited a number of features of the Model 125, including the fender design, and the odd 19-inch wheels and tires.
Harley had long purchased tires from the big two tiremakers - Firestone and Goodyear. Your new Harley might come with tires from either company - in fact, many Season Order Blanks said “We reserve the right to furnish any standard make of tire”. Begining around 1950, Harley started phasing out Firestone in favor of Goodyear. 1950 and later big twins used only Goodyears. The Model 125/165 used both Firestone and Goodyear 19-inch tires through 1955, and in 1956 switched to 18-inch with Goodyears exclusively. In 1955, the KH also switched to 18-inch and Goodyear exclusively.
The Legend Begins gives us the tire options for each year.
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Rear Wheel Rims The rear wheel rims stayed pretty much the same from 1952 through 1969, although the hubs and other parts changed over the years.
There was a poorly documented change to the aluminum rear wheel rim, which first appears in the 1968 Supplement. There are conflicts and omissions in the 1967 Parts Catalog and 1968 and 1969 Supplements. More information is needed here.
Front Wheel Rims The front wheel rims changed in 1964 to accomodate the new full-width brake drum. Spokes and other parts changed also.
There was a small change in the chrome rims in 1969. The aluminum rims stayed the same.
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This leaflet fragment, which reads like a mid-year special, shows a note signed by Dick O'Brien and sent to Fred Warr in GB about his order. This shows that aluminum wheels were available at least by June 1960, and probably earlier. |