Small Parts and Accessories

Small parts and accessories for wheel and tire

What else do you need to keep your wheels and tires running smoothly? An air pump for the WLA military machine perhaps, or valve caps in pineapple look, snow chains or balance weights? Just take a look at the range of accessories for Harleys.

Change tires yourself

This works great with compact tire changers from CMS or Cruz Tools. For the Harley, whether Sportster, WLA or Softail, you do not need huge long irons. You'd rather use them for the truck. What you need are rim protectors. The little plastic things prevent scratches from the mounting iron on the rim. If the tire is then mounted and sits tightly on the rim, you still need balancing weights. Some people claim that balancing is overrated. And at first glance, 20 g or 3/4 oz really don't seem to matter in terms of weight. Because such a spoke wheel with complete with tube and Bates Baja tires weighs well and gladly 16 kg. The effect multiplies itself however by the wheel circumference and the speed, so that an unbalance of 20 g with a Harley-moderate 5.00-16 and 50 km/h with the force of a mass of 2,75 kg affects the wheel and with 100 km/h with over 10 kg! Even if the Harley rider hardly notices anything, because the tires with their self-damping swallow much, the wheel bearings do not like one-sided load and will thank careful balancing of the wheel with longer life. So one makes the effort to balance, with spoke weights from Barnett or adhesive weights on cast and forged aluminum wheels.

Air pumps

The wheelman in the field, of course, didn't have a 24/7 gas station nearby where he could quickly check the air pressure. Instead, the good old mechanical air pump and a bit of arm grease did the trick. The exact air pressure was not so important, in the off-road one drives also rather low pressure because of the traction. Samwel offers the air pumps and holders in matching field olive.

Valve caps

Simple part, big effect. The first and obvious job of a valve cap is to prevent dirt from getting into the valve. If such a particle accidentally gets stuck on the seal, you'll lose air insidiously. Second, rather unnoticed job: already at highway speed it can happen that the centrifugal force opens the valve very slightly against the air pressure. That is then already enough that the tire (tube) no longer holds the air. The screwed-on sealing cap with sealing ring inside does not change anything about the centrifugal force, but prevents the pressure loss. Metal valve caps are here clearly in advantage over the plastic caps that are supplied with the tubes. And quite clear and undisputed is also: a Mooneyes valve cap, a Roach clip or a cap of Strange Bird can decorate the rim immensely. Possibly one should rebalance however (see above). Another tip: the professional secures the valve cap with the nut on the valve thread.

Snow chains

When most motorcyclists still held out through the winter and road salt was not an issue, there was the tip to wrap a few meters of clothesline (the good one with the wire core) crosswise around the tire and rim for better traction. That helped, at least in Central European flatlands. Snow chains, which come from an alpine republic, are possibly the better choice. And if now who thinks, there is no more snow in winter: you could still equip a Bates Baja tire with chains ... anti-skid for forestale extreme tours with the Harley.