[RedRocket]

hi folks

Current order:
Front wheel - Rim (SM Pro) - 19" x 1.85 32 - Gold (100/90-19 57H Michelin Anakee 3 tire fitted) REPLACING stock 21" x 1.85 32 (90/90 - 21 Mitas offroad tire)

I have the option of replacing the REAR wheel with stock 17" x 2.5 (130/90-17 Michelin Anakee 3 tire fitted) OR get a slightly wider rear rim to take a slightly wider rear tire.

What are your suggestions and would a wider tire fit well with regards to road/occasional dirt track handling etc?

Has anyone else fitted a wider rim/tire? Please share your advice and experiences. I don't really go in for the "wider the better because it looks cash" idea. I am concerned with usability and if
I am going to fork out the same money for a new rim, may as well get a better one.

Thanks

 

[Bobn]

Don't, it'll spoil the handling. You'll feel the back end not wanting to tip into the corners and you'll run the risk running out of grip on the front before you run out of grip on the back.
By fitting the smaller diameter (but same width) front you've steepened the head angle and sharpened the steering, but the contact patches will be more or less unchanged from stock so the handling will feel quicker but should still be stable and true.

 

[RedRocket]

Don't, it'll spoil the handling. You'll feel the back end not wanting to tip into the corners and you'll run the risk running out of grip on the front before you run out of grip on the back.
By fitting the smaller diameter (but same width) front you've steepened the head angle and sharpened the steering, but the contact patches will be more or less unchanged from stock so the handling will feel quicker but should still be stable and true.

Okay thanks. I will be fitting a 130 width rear tire though. Stock 120 as you know. Ends up both tires will be 10mm wider than the stock.

Thanks Bobn. Sound advice once again :thumbright:

 

[RedRocket]

I found this page Rim to Tyre Application Chart

Lists Permitted tire sizes for different size rims

Interesting snippet for our bikes:

17in Tyres Permitted Rim

100/70*17 2.50/2.75/3.00
110/80*17
120/90*17

130/80*17 2.50/2.75/3.00/3.50
130/90*17

So if I am getting a new rim anyway, I could get a 3.00 and still be on the balanced end of the 130 x 80 Anakee 3 that is going on it. I would rather keep the stock 2.50 on there, but if it is badly corroded it iwll have to be replaced

 

[scouseviking]

Why are you trying to change TYRE size and mess up the handling on this great bike.
Mr Honda got it pretty much sussed out when he designed the bike so unless you know better ,leave it alone.
The only change I made in handling to my bike is a smaller front wheel because I am a short arsed scouse git.
Everything else is so straight forward.
If you over think things it just stresses you out.
Feel free to tell me to xxxx off and mind my own beezwax but you are getting way ahead of yourself.
Are you American by any chance because you keep typing "TIRES"?

 

[RedRocket]

Hi Scouseviking.
I have no trouble thinking about things. The old adage is measure 9 times cut once right?
I am sure Mr Honda got it right. Though I am sure at the age of 80~81, Soichiro Honda would have had little to do with the engineering and design of the NX 650.

On the question of "why", this has been discussed previously in another thread. Not ahead of ourselves at all... indeed, the rest of us are well past the topic

It's basically as you've said.
21" is much better off road, 17" superb on the road - that's why I like bikes with 19" wheels as it's 1/2 and 1/2!

I really don't like the feeling of a 21" on the tarmac, it feels like you're waving the front around in a vague fashion and hoping the bike will follow!

17" gives super quick turn in and the reduction of centrifugal force is quite noticeable in how quick the bars can be flicked about.
However, 17" is really horrible off road. Don't get me wrong you can do it - I used to regularly take my Hornet 600 with 16" front greenlaning and you can do it but the little wheel finds every bump, rut and rock!

Bear in mind trye choice, 21" tyres are all geared to proper off road riding and compromised on the tarmac. 17" tyres are mostly designed for tarmac (OK there are a few so-called trail tyres but they're a bit crap). 19" tyres are available as super knobblies right through to sticky road.

Also for me a "dualsport" is the ultimate motorcycle, it can do anything, go anywhere and I hate with a passion when people supermoto a dualsport, you're basically hobbling the bike - OK it'll corner that bit quicker but you've lost the true go anywhere ability of the machine.

Go with 19" - I'm never one to sit on the fence:toothy10:

I agree with everything said about 19inch v 21 inch front wheel

I have been searching for an eternity for a 19 inch slr 650 front wheel(complete front end) but have been unlucky so far
unless you know of one for sale/swap

Or get your hub rebuilt with a 19" rim. I did this with a 17" but it was expensive at £250.

 

[RedRocket]

Besides that. The main point of taking on the task of customizing a motorcycle is to make it your own right?
I believe I pay homage to the Honda engineers by putting as much planning into the revision of one of their machine as I may, to suite my own personal application. I owe it to them to do the best I can.

As of now, I won't need to "chop" the frame to do that. When I started the design process, 2" needed to come off the back (fender mounts). But I didn't want to butcher it so I just
thought about it and made a few sketches etc. That may change but I would prefer to make this dual purpose machine into a tri-purpose even. That is the beauty of clear thought. One can overcome distasteful compromises and build a solution.
It may take awhile but I am in no hurry to blast down the road looking cool. I ain't no hipster.

These motorcycles were made to go offroad with a simple change out of the front mudguard and take on the Camel Trophy held at various locations around the world in the 1980s.
My application will be for tarmac use but as I live in semi-rural Dorset, I want to be riding down the road and have the option of taking a dive into the forest, tearing down greenlanes if the mood strikes me. Hence the 19" front wheel. Balance. Compromise.

Savvy?

 

[scouseviking]

Sorry ,you lost me at "besides that". :thumbup:

 

[RedRocket]

Sorry ,you lost me at "besides that". :thumbup:

I would imagine that happens quite often

 

[catteeclan]

Got a FMX rear wheel on mine with a 160/60/17 fitted. Had to remove the chain guard but works well with the FMX front end and 120/60/17 tyre fitted.