DIY Slick Tires

[OneHorsePower]

Hi all ,
I am gonna show you how to transform Any tires into Slick tires 8)

you will need :

-a Belt sander
-40grit sandpaper belt
-a Old fork
-a rim
-a vice
-a dust mask and safety goggles (((were them ,cause this process is messy and rubber dust is toxic)))
-Ideally some panels of any sort to surround the work area and keep the dust from getting everywhere

You can start with any sort of tires,with big threads or small , but it will the time it takes to make it into slicks

-1st take the wheel"tire inflated on" and mount it on the old fork ... then mount the fork in the vice
>(you can use your good wheels , but you will have to clean it afterwards)
>(Old fork , cause you will probably damage it in the vice and you will probably have to bent it a bit to fit the wider back rim in it )

-2nd take your belt sander with 40grit and place it at a angle on the tire so the wheel rotate and sand at the same time "dont make it spin to fast!" it could cause scary vibrations.
you will have to be gentle when it comes to the middle of the tire , cause this can cause extreme vibrations too cause of the lateral force .. Do it 5 or 10 min at the time to
prevent the belt and the sander from overheating and rupture the sand paper belt.

-3rd finish it with finer grip paper if you desire ... clean/rince the tires

DONE!

(use old shoes , and leave it in the work area , or the rubber dust will stick to it and you will have some all over the house )
(dont forget to put the vaccum bag on the sander)
(Don't sand the walls ,wall are thinner , there is usualy a line on the side of the tires , sand till you reach this mark for a clean look)
(you may have to finish some spots by holding the tire by one hand and sanding with the belt sander with the other hand)good workout :wink:

it took me about 1h for 2 threaded tires "without wait/cooling time"
or about 15min for 1 already almost slick worn down tire

Have fun and be careful :mrgreen:

 

[kingfish254]

Sweet!
That probably works a lot better than Burt Munro's butcher knife.

 

[OneHorsePower]

haha but his shoe polish idea might be good to give back the shine after sanding :wink:

 

[boogieman]

cool!

 

[ozzmonaut]

I wonder how thick the previously treaded area will be compared to the thickness of original slicks?

 

[user 135]

Great idea. Adding to the How To Manual.

 

[OneHorsePower]

I wonder how thick the previously treaded area will be compared to the thickness of original slicks?

Making them yourself , they will end up a tiny bit thinner than original slicks , but you will still got a resonnable amount of material left if not the same in some cases

 

[OneHorsePower]

Great idea. Adding to the How To Manual.

Thanks!

 

[oleskool]

defo doing that today!!!!!

 

[OneHorsePower]

defo doing that today!!!!!

dont forget to check you sander tempature every few min , if it get to hot , the belt glue will , well.... "unglue" and you will end up with a almost new belt , but unusable on your sander
...that is unless you can glue it back together
Be safe! and show us the results here

 

[oleskool]

actually im going out today but i will get round 2 it this weekend! and will post some piccies up here!

 

[Wingman]

This is how we use to make sand tires for the front of the buggies. same thing except we used a body grinder with a 36 soft stone(Sandpaper Disc) on it. Makes a BIG lol mess
.
Front tires would not throw as much sand in your face with this done to them

You dont mind if we use your wheel idea do you ??? I have some upgrade Ideas on the pull rivits ....

 

[OneHorsePower]

This is how we use to make sand tires for the front of the buggies. same thing except we used a body grinder with a 36 soft stone(Sandpaper Disc) on it. Makes a BIG lol mess
.
Front tires would not throw as much sand in your face with this done to them

You dont mind if we use your wheel idea do you ??? I have some upgrade Ideas on the pull rivits ....

(upgrade Ideas on the pull rivits ) ?? it has been posted for anyone to use/reproduce/upgrade or what ever :wink:
post you idea in the the "how to make wide tires" if it is related , to help others and offer other ideas

 

[dougfisk]

Has anyone else tried this? Does anyone have any other tips or pointers?

 

[OneHorsePower]

mine is still in fonction ...
be sure the tire is well sit on the rim and inflated properly to be sure the sand it without creating flat spots :wink:

 

[Sinner4]

Has anyone else tried this? Does anyone have any other tips or pointers?

Looks good to me, better than using a 4 inch grinder with a flap disk. I gave up after 30 second after I realized it wasn't going to work.

 

[krate-mayhem]

Thanks for all the cool info

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Today I went and checked prices for 20" racer tires or slicks and was quoted between $50-$80 each!
I am all for supporting local bike shops but I can order them online for $44 a pair delivered to my door!

Decided $44 was about $50 more than I wanted to spend anyway, so decided to finally try 1HP's DIY Slick trick, however I did it slightly differently for two reasons:
Point 1, I am lazy.
Point 2, I am cheap!

So here is my method and some theory's regarding the best tires to use for making slicks.

Instead of using a belt sander (I don't have one and did not want to buy one. (see point 2.)) I used an old 5" angle grinder fitted with a flexible plastic sanding pad and 100grit sanding disc.

Instead of using a fork clamped in a vice, I just flipped a bike upside down and used it as the stand. (See point 1.)

First tire up was a slightly used and left in the sun for a year cheap semi slick, here it is half done:

Result was good, nice and fairly smooth, however it ended up very light, so I am not sure there is much rubber left over the canvas. Here is a before and after shot:

Next up was the second cheap semi slick in the photo above, however this one was barely used but had been sitting in the sun for about 4 years, found it easier to sand, and it ended up smoother than the first one, pretty sure I left more rubber on too.

The third tire was another identical semi slick however this one was brand new, never been fitted to a bike and never been outside, result was rubbish, the rubber flexed sideways when sanding ending up with lumps and bumps and even sand through to the canvas in places, stopped after doing one side:

Starting to see a pattern here, I looked for the oldest, hardest tire I had that was not cracked, I found a Kenda comp BMX style tire that looks to have been sitting in the sun for the last 10 years, hard rubber, heavy tire. Here it is halfway done:

I also discovered a better method for using the angle grinder/sanding pad combination, I would hold the wheel to stop it turning with one hand and sand each knob most of the way down, once they were all evenly down most of the way I would then used the angle/spin method 1HP uses. Here is the finished tire:

Result on this tire was the best, very smooth and even, still plenty of weight in the tire leading me to believe there is plenty of rubber left.

Here is the two tires that I have in mind for my MiniVelo Racer, the 2nd semislick for the front and the Kenda for the rear:

Here is what I looked like after sanding them down:

Here is what the forks and rim looked like:

As bad as that looks, it hoses off easily and leaves little to no residue, the clothing is a different story, I recommend a long plastic raincoat for future attempts...

FINDINGS:

My reason for picking the two tires I did is that turned out the best and seemed to retain the most weight, they also happen to be the oldest and hardest of the tires I did, I don't think that is a coincidence, I think the rubber knobs flex less as they are sanded and allow you to achieve a better result.

I also recommend finding the heaviest tires you have in your stock, these are most likely to have a thicker rubber layer left when you are finished.

Thanks for the "How To" @OneHorsePower , very thankful you shared it with us!

Luke.

 

[B607]

I did that to a pair of Vibram sole boots I have. They brought in too much mud. Now I bust my but on wet concrete so don't wear them much anymore. Gary

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Yeah, I would not ride on wet concrete on these!

Did some white ones today, they look very cool, but mark up really easily.

Luke.