I'm in the middle of a major gear/tire/brake upgrade. I'm going from 8.00 tires and little dinky go kart mechanical brakes to a 2" taller gear leg, full Matco Hydro brakes, and 21" tires.

These tires are Nanco 21X12X8. They are slick ATV tires designed to be ran at about 5psi. I paid $33 a piece for them. They are mounted on 8" ATV Douglas wheels that are less than $50 a piece. Kitfox originally sold these wheels and disc set up with their kits for years. Anyways I know 21's are pretty tiny to most of you but on a plane the size and weight of mine they probably about the same as having 31's on a Supercub. I'm going to have to learn how to land the thing again. I'm still waiting on parts to finish up the project but it should be done soon. Here's some teaser shots of the tire package.

Awesome!

I think you will like them. One thing: they have almost no sidewall stiffness and can give a little 'strange' feeling to the two-point attitude! If I'm on pavement mostly I run them up to ~10 psi and have tubes in them. On gravel/grass/pasture I've run them down to 4 psi. Though I've not landed in real rough spots, I sure punished them while learning the whole tailwheel thing . fwiw

k

Thanks Highlander. I have a feeling I'm going to have to learn how to taxi and land again with this tire set up. Having brakes that actually work is going to be a new concept too My field where I'm hangared has virtually no grass...something tells me these tires are really not going to like pavement

Those prices sure look good to someone who's used to buying McCreary 800 & 850 Airtracs- let alone anyone who's bought bushwheels.

I have those tires on my fox. I run them around 8lbs. I have no tubes and have no plans to put in tubes. I thought of going to aircraft wheels but because of the tubes, I decided not to persue. I do wheel landings all the time on asphalt and do wheelies, that's one wheel runs, switchng between wheels on one run. I guess that's why I don't want tubes, if the tire slips, things will go hairy in a hury. No thanks.

I slipped a tire on my rim with tubes on the Carlisle's I'm running now. Snapped the valve stem right off the tube. I'm not running tubes in these either unless I have to. Do you have the original single puck calipers from Matco? How do your brakes work with these tires?

You're going to love those. Much better than the Carlisle. Great on about any surface (except open water) and can plow through at least 6" of snow. I didn't run the inner tube on my Kitfox but I did keep a bicycle inner tube repair kit in the traveling tool box. If you keep them on grass or snow then they will last a really long time. They wear on the pavement, but at about the same rate any tire would that has no tread.

Thanks Ivan. I figured they would wear on pavement but for less than a $100 shipped for the pair I can live with that.

AvidFlyer wrote:I slipped a tire on my rim with tubes on the Carlisle's I'm running now. Snapped the valve stem right off the tube. I'm not running tubes in these either unless I have to. Do you have the original single puck calipers from Matco? How do your brakes work with these tires?

just fine, just make sure all the parts are kept clean, no grease.

Hi would you tell me where you bught the wheels
Thanks Dario

Hey Joey. It sounds great and I can't wait to see the new setup.

BTW, do you want me to come out and video you getting familiar with the new configuration taxi, take off & landings.

R

Laughably, hilariously, incredibly inexpensive, you sure you didn't misplace a decimal point? How could you go wrong at those prices I had similar, maybe the same, on my Kitfox 1, I remember them being huge, for the day.

rfinkle wrote:Hey Joey. It sounds great and I can't wait to see the new setup.

BTW, do you want me to come out and video you getting familiar with the new configuration taxi, take off & landings.

R

You’re about nine and a half years late Rich!