Schwinn Sales West
I live for the CABE
I do not need any of your semi pneumatic tires. I'm looking for some tricycle air tires.
As a kid working in my family Schwinn store, I have mounted hundreds of semi pneumatic tires over the years. Here's some "learned the hard way" mounting advice from an old guy.
Obviously the larger the diameter size, the easier it is to mount. The 8" and 10" are tough, also the 1.75 are tougher than the 1 5/8 and 1.50 widths. You want the tire to be a warm as possible (almost too hot to touch) when mounting. We put the tires out on the asphalt during a Arizona summer day for a hour or more. These tires are extruded, think like a hose. They have two ends glued/vulcanized together. If you look closely you will find the seam. That seam has to go on the rim first, you CANNOT PRY AGAINST THAT SEAM, it will crack. If you look closely, there is usually one vent hole about 1/8" in the tread of the tire. That vent hole is 180 degrees across from the seam. So the seam goes on first and you work the tire on towards the vent hole. You want to use some makeshift tire levers. Never a screwdriver, especially a Craftsman with the square shank. The best tire levers to use for mounting the semi pneumatic tires was the old New Departure and Bendix cone wrenches. They were tool steel, thin, and had rounded (no sharp) edges. Never pry the tire onto the rim, you will poke a hole in it like the one in the picture. Instead, pry against the rim and slide the tire over the rim. The best lubricant I have found is Honda Motorcycle spray polish. The Schwinn spray polish worked good also. The polish will not dry out when your half way done. It will not hurt the painted rim, and can be washed off when your done. One the small sizes, I would buy one extra tire just in case. Remember, these are old stock, likely harder than they were 40 years ago. One of the most amazing things I have seen is my dad (60 years ago) mount an 8 x 1.75 semi pneumatic tire without any tools, just his hands using the above method. Get that tire hot and pliable and pay close attention to the seam location, work away from that seam.
1Motime, sorry to screw up your post, hopefully this will help you sell these tires to someone that needs them.
John
As a kid working in my family Schwinn store, I have mounted hundreds of semi pneumatic tires over the years. Here's some "learned the hard way" mounting advice from an old guy.
Obviously the larger the diameter size, the easier it is to mount. The 8" and 10" are tough, also the 1.75 are tougher than the 1 5/8 and 1.50 widths. You want the tire to be a warm as possible (almost too hot to touch) when mounting. We put the tires out on the asphalt during a Arizona summer day for a hour or more. These tires are extruded, think like a hose. They have two ends glued/vulcanized together. If you look closely you will find the seam. That seam has to go on the rim first, you CANNOT PRY AGAINST THAT SEAM, it will crack. If you look closely, there is usually one vent hole about 1/8" in the tread of the tire. That vent hole is 180 degrees across from the seam. So the seam goes on first and you work the tire on towards the vent hole. You want to use some makeshift tire levers. Never a screwdriver, especially a Craftsman with the square shank. The best tire levers to use for mounting the semi pneumatic tires was the old New Departure and Bendix cone wrenches. They were tool steel, thin, and had rounded (no sharp) edges. Never pry the tire onto the rim, you will poke a hole in it like the one in the picture. Instead, pry against the rim and slide the tire over the rim. The best lubricant I have found is Honda Motorcycle spray polish. The Schwinn spray polish worked good also. The polish will not dry out when your half way done. It will not hurt the painted rim, and can be washed off when your done. One the small sizes, I would buy one extra tire just in case. Remember, these are old stock, likely harder than they were 40 years ago. One of the most amazing things I have seen is my dad (60 years ago) mount an 8 x 1.75 semi pneumatic tire without any tools, just his hands using the above method. Get that tire hot and pliable and pay close attention to the seam location, work away from that seam.
1Motime, sorry to screw up your post, hopefully this will help you sell these tires to someone that needs them.
John
