Roller material

[2speedboi]

That Emery cloth didnt really wear it out the tire for the 20 miles I had it on.. lol

I think partially, wear is also comes from rubber compound in the tire.

I am going to order Michelin protek urban 700x40c tires for next ride season.
My idea is that solex used Michelin branded tires on their mopeds.

Right now I have 38c cheap kenda looking tires for 20 a piece that I am really happy with.
But bottom line is mileage.

If I get twice the miles out a twice as expensive tire, that's half the trouble of replacement and breaking down. Just in my opinion, seems to be worth the trade off.

I have the Armadillo tires that had great results with the steel spindle, but the thickness of the rubber plated part in that. At 32c it was skinny though. Ran at 55 a piece, I had zero issues all summer

 

[2speedboi]

Okay, results;


As I was installing the spindle a rain/sleet storm with a good head wind rolled in. So i took advantage of the conditions and took to the road.

I relieved a little spring clutch pressure which has me a heavy 1/8 in tire depth.

Roads wet and perfect for testing!

Kenda rebrand street slick in 700x38c.
I am overall impressed with the performance. It grips well like real clutch action and I dropped started a few tire, with even a slow roll up! All while wet!

The real test is wear. I did about 6 miles with a good head wind forcing the engine to apply more torque which will wear the spindle. So far no wear, just shiny.

Went out for more riding across town, picked up a "revolutions" cruiser bicycle for a good price considering it's a 400 mark bike. Wish it wasn't gloss black. Could go for a red or something.

Anyways, the bike towed the cruiser back to the shop no problem, no slipping and great acceleration.

So far it's about 10 miles at the second picture.
Still no wear, just smooth, the Emery cloth had shredded off by now so we have a contender!

Third picture is a couple more different sizes, plus a modified bigfoot spindle made to fit a 35mm bearing with a more torque driven carbide coating (7/8) for a customer to try out on his bike. Lots of hills, wind half the time and now its rain/snow season.

 

[Cannonball3]

Hows the tire wear. My 60grit rain roller was pretty hard on tires when dry. Not any noticeable wear when wet. Main thing that worked for the rain roller was to be able to change it out in under a minute when things dried out.

An interesting idea is to find a tire with a block type tread and come up with a roller that drives the blocks in the tread. Its a positive drive rain or shine. It may however more problematic to work out with smaller rollers because smaller area to add driving ridges in a small circumference. Has worked very well with the spoke driven Maytag bike. Older self propelled lawn mowers drove the wheels with a plastic gear/roller driving tires with a matching tread. I had some of those rollers to try, but they got lost over several moves. Something to ponder. The simplicity of an FD, with positive
drive characteristics.

 

[2speedboi]

My rat rods thread had indicated that i was really satisfied with the results, a little tire wear but I am pretty hard on the throttle trying to put this to the test.

Probably around 80 miles since installation and the spindle has not shown any wear. When I get the MB thing apart for winter over haul I'll pull the spindle and show a good picture of it.

I used 36grit, but my next rollers will be a 60/90 mix. May go straight 90.

I rode home in the beginning of a blizzard, with rain and sleet, couldn't hardly see.
No slipping and no problems!

I'll make a tutorial soon

 

[Cannonball3]

That Will be a great roller if the wear is tolerable. The Velosolex uses a similar roller, and tire wear on them
was pretty nil. Glad to see your innovation.

 

[2speedboi]

After 80 miles, my first made roller has shown no wear effect aside from surface wear. This is all I am getting for the rest of the year, its finally cold now.

Rock, dirt and gravel roads pretty frequently.

I will make another one on monday and tuesday and write up a tutorial!

 

[Cavity]

Quick question, how much does it cost you to fabricate each roller?

 

[2speedboi]

Quick question, how much does it cost you to fabricate each roller?

The steel rollers themselves are pre made goped spindles for zenoah and similar engines.

A spindle is 15-20 and the material I rough out to cost is 5 to coat with corundum and marine weld.

I've got a method to a good application process, stay tuned!