I bought a pair of demountable rims with rock hard tires on them. Price was very cheap, and rims looked good. I cut the tires with an air powered hack saw. It cut through the tires like butter. I cut a section of the tire out close to the rim, then pried the bead out and cut that. I actually did this without damaging the tubes, which were in remarkably good shape, and held air when I was done. There were no flaps, yet the rims and the tubes were in excellent shape.
The old tires did not need a liner, they had very little or no gap where the beads came together inside unlike the new tires that leave a gap. That is why you had to cut a place for the tube valve to fit through in most old tires. If you look you might see a notch to match the valve location in the tire.
What I can see of those rims looks pretty good. Often the ones with tires on them turn out to be rust sharpened.
I would have run those tires.
Me too. Especially a the price of new tires.
Flaps don't do anything in a clincher as you can see. The tube lasts for decades. No flap required.
Steve, I really lucked out on these rims. The edges are like brand new. They looked so good on the outside I decided to take a chance (and the cheap price). As you say, a lot of times if the tires are on them, they are rusty.
I have run across rims with old tires on them also and in every case the rimes turned out to be to far gone.
Dans rims must have been stored inside and not have been around much moisture.
Good find!
Dan, I am not sure what I am looking at, the top rim in the second picture looks like a clincher rim with a removable ring for ease of mounting and de-mounting. I have never seen a clincher rim like that. Is that model T or is my eyesight failing ???
Willie, No, they are Kelsey Hayes clinchers. Sounds like that would be a good idea though.
I probably would have run that tire for a few thousand miles.
But that is me.
Does that old red tube still have its original black branding marks on it.
On a later model larger tire,use a chainsaw,being carefull not to hit the rim to cut most of the tire,then cut the wire with wire cutters.
It is my humble opinion that you cut off much better,longer lasting tires than any money will buy today.
David, The tube still has the original markings on it. The tires and tubes are Allstates. Later on I'll post a pic.
Jeff,Hal,Wayne,and Mack- I don't think you would really want to run these tires, as the side walls were pretty rotten. You could see some of the cords. I was surprised at how thick the tread area was. If they weren't so hard and rotten they would have had a few more miles on them.
When I bought my 20 in 1990, it still had Montgomery Wards that were put on it in 1957. The guy that had it was always afraid it was going to break down. From 1957 to 1990, he only put 75 miles on it. The tires still had the rubber tits on it when I bought it. The first summer I had it, I put 3000 miles on it, with no breakdowns. After the Montgomery Ward tires finally wore out, I have put 4 sets of Universals on it. The Universals didn't last anywhere near as long as the Montgomery Wards did. I still have one of the Montgomery Wards on as a spare.
Tires sure aren't made the way they use to be.
A saw will certainly get the job done, but therein lies a danger of damaging the rim (and tube and flap).
I once peeled off a WWII-era, Ward's Riverside clincher that was stiffer than Foster Brooks at a Dean Martin roast. Though my set of tire irons was absolutely useless against the rubber from Krypton, the mechanical advantage of a pair of jumbo C-clamps was irresistible.
C-clamps will break the bead with authority and elegance and the process is not significantly slower than using a saw. It also carries the satisfaction of having won the battle fair and square, without "cheating."
Fantastic looking rims! Most have a lot of pitting. Lucky find!
David, here are picture's of the tube with the markings on it.
Bob, I don't know about using a chainsaw, but with the saw I used, you have about a zero chance of damaging the rim. With a tire this old, damaging the tube wouldn't really matter, as you wouldn't want to reuse it. Maybe we can have a rock tire removal Olympics, you take the C clamp and irons, I'll use the saw, I can see my first gold metal now.
I'm busy enough that I don't care about the challenge. I'll go by the famous NASCAR quote.If you're not winning, you are not cheating.