TIRES...Tires...tires.... BIG-Medium-small

Currently I have AkBushwheel Airstreak 29" tires on my plane.

I previously had the same type but in 26" and of course before that I had the 6.00-6 stock sized tires. I sold the 26" AirStreaks and actually wish I had kept them as they were a perfect match for the size of these small planes. I noticed a slight decrease in speed and extended take off distance going from the stock up to the 26's and an even more reduction with the 29's. Like most guys getting these big bushwheels, bigger always seem to be the thing to do. Personally the 29's seem to be little 'toobig' for the stock type gear.

The stock size would/will do 90% of what I need presently, since my usual trips end up at someone's place with a grass/private strip that doesn't need anything more that 8.00's/8.50's. Also,my flying has been drastically reduced this past year. I will keep the 29's since I know my flying will increase again once my house project is finished. I just don't see the need to be wearing them out sooner than necessary, especially since I land on pavement occassionally.

Since the 26" were close to perfect, I am thinking of getting something close to that size again. I have several thoughts on this....the new Desser 8.50 smoothies or the 27" smoothies. I already have a spare set of the 8" wheels required for the 27" but am thinking the weight reduction and less profile of the 8.50's might be nice. I wouldn't lose much in regards to weight with the 27's. Going to the 8.50's I am guesstimating I will gain 25-30lbs. +/- in useful load, quite a decent gain.

I have read that the 8.50's are 22" high and seem to be standing up well to use on pavement also. The price is drastically lower than another set of Bushwheels!

Has anyone tried these new tires? Any speed gains? I don't remember what speeds I was getting on the stock tires since it was several years ago. If I remember correctly, the lose was not much going from stock to the 26" but moreso when I installed the 29's. Comments?
Thanks!

I have the 8.50 smooth and love them. Of course all my flying if off of grass. Maybe in the spring when I take my skis off I'll finally fly up to your place to see your zipper and you can check them out.

MJH

Come on up on skis! I have nearly 1800' of the white stuff covering my runway. I won't be flying all winter since I didn't have time to rig the skis. Besides, to many other projects to work on. The other issue...no heat in my hangar and it is supposed to get VERY cold starting this weekend. Welcome to sunny warm Minnesota! ;)

I just had a conversation with one of my Highlander friends that lives in Canada, and he now has about 75 hours on his new Desser 27 inch bush tires on the 8 inch wheels, and he absolutely loves them.

He had standard 8.00's on originally, then spent the big bucks and put on a set of 29 inch ABW's, which he also really liked. But he said he lost a lot of cruise speed with those, and hated knowing what it was costing him whenever he had to operate on pavement. He said it was strange, but the Desser 27's are only about 3 mph slower than his old 8.00's in cruise, whereas the 29 ABW's were more than double that (I personally think that is because not only is the ABW 29 much taller, but more of a factor is that it is much wider than the Desser 27). Interestingly, he said the Desser feels nearly as soft as the ABW, but wears more like a standard tire on pavement. And of course, they are a lot less $$.

Hopefully this info might help your decision if you decide you still want to use a larger tire.

Hi everybody here.
Can you help me please with numbers about Desser tires?
You are speaking about Desser 8.50 but I found only http://www.desser.com/Aircraft-Tires...00-8-2-PLY.asp there and I don't understand the numbers 21/1200-8 exactly.
Even I am not the Kitfox owner just similar plane, I've found number of very good information here so I hope you can teach me again.

Btw. my original tires are 15 x 6.0-6 only but I need definitely bigger for short and unprepared fields.
Thank you in advance.

Have just installed these tires from Desser on my Kitfox IV. I have the grand sum total of two takeoffs and landings, one on grass, one on asphalt, so not enough data to comment really, but so far so good. Chose to make them tubeless; really had to work to clean the beads on the wheels.


And here's the video of the two takeoffs and landings....

I enjoyed the video Jeremy. Scenic country you get to fly over.
Love the little airstrips especially the grass ones. Didn't know I'd miss those grass strips that much after leaving southern Minnesota in '93'.
Great looking and performing Speedster.
Hope those Desser's work great for you.
Many happy Kitfoxers running Desser tires including yours truley.:)

Desert Fox, thanks for the kind comments. Will be posting some more video as it happens; looking to head into Vashon, which is nearby and grass, and Wax Orchards, which is also grass and nearby. Glad to hear I'm not the only guy using these Nanco tires.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WWhunter

Currently I have AkBushwheel Airstreak 29" tires on my plane.

I previously had the same type but in 26" and of course before that I had the 6.00-6 stock sized tires. I sold the 26" AirStreaks and actually wish I had kept them as they were a perfect match for the size of these small planes.....

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I have a set of 26" Airstreaks that I would be happy to trade you for the 29s :D

Sorry, Trent....but I want to keep the 29's for future flying as I mentioned in the post. The tires are still like new with only a touch and go on pavement and maybe a dozen landings on grass. For what they cost with shipping I'd never get my money back in a trade.

I still have them on the plane and have only been able to fly it a couple time so far this year. Haven't ordered the 8.50 smoothies yet since I haven't needed to go any distance this year. I was planning on flying to the SW with it later this year so I may buy a set at Oshkosh.
I also have a 172 that I have been flying since the wife really doesn't care to ride in the 'little' plane. :(