Rear Tire on Front

[X Ring]

No one makes a rear tire in 150/80-17 that's why you have to use one that close.  I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one in 160/70-17.  It is about .6 inch shorter.  According to the tire converter it will have a 2 mph lag at 80 mph.

http://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_tire/tire.php

Marty

[Fla. Jim]

http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/terminalvalkocity/reversetire.html

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,975.msg13576.html#msg13576

[Ricky-D]

No one makes a rear tire in 150/80-17 that's why you have to use one that close.  I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one in 160/70-17.  It is about .6 inch shorter.  According to the tire converter it will have a 2 mph lag at 80 mph.

http://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_tire/tire.php

Marty

I agree with you Marty!  That size (150-80-17) is a front tire size only. Honda does that purposely.

I'll be interested in hearing what tire you use, and how it fits.

My speedo runs fast to begin with so a smaller front will jump it even more.

***

[X Ring]

Mine runs 3-5 mph fast so I'm not concerned about another 2. The tire is just over 1/2 shorter than speced for the Valks.  I just need to find out the width of our front wheel so I can compare it to the tire specs.  The tire I'm looking at is the Metzler 880 speced for the rear of the BMW K1200LT.  Since the Beemer is a sport tourer with hardbags, trunk and more horsies than the Valk, I think it will be able to handle front end duties on the Fat Lady.

Marty

[Larry]

Did it ever occurr to anyone at Honda that if they could consistantly make speedo's that read about 8% high, they could make speedo's that read 8% less and dad-gum if they would not be dead on....not that hard especially with the i/s....and not that difficult even with the mechanical one.

  Off topic 
I thought the Valk speedos, the IS at least, read a bit high? There have been some past postings about this.

[X Ring]

When I got my first bike 5 years ago, a friend who had been riding for 20-30 years told me all m/c speedos are optimistic.  I've checked mine against radar trailers and my gps.  They've all run fast.

Marty

[MarkT]

I bought the Dunlop Elite - II, AKA K-491, from http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/ on 6-13-08 size & SKU #:  MT90HB-17 SKU# 51593 . Note the size is nomenclature for bias ply tires, as I said.  It actually corrected my speedo error from about 5 high to about 2 high at 60mph per my GPS.   No handling problems at all from the bias front and radial rear.  That sku number isn't found right now at that site.  I didn't look on the Dunlop site to see if the tire is still listed, or look for it on other sites.  I understand the 404 is the closest thing Dunlop has to the Elite-II, if it's been discontinued.  The K491 has a bit more tread depth than the 404.

[daytona]

Just installed A stinko 130/90-17 rear up front/with (Venom rear) Only got a few miles on it but so far what's not to like! From these folks it ships free over $75.00 so had to buy some cleaner to get it. Mounted it backazzwards. I can't say a bad thing about it soo far. I've used this tire B 4 with the same rave!   tread depth just over 10/32's
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/6188/ITEM/Shinko-230-Tour-Master-Rear-Tire.aspx


 

[Rio Wil]

Any idea of the thread depth....9/32?

[Ricky-D]

Hey Marty, I went out yesterday and looked at my front tire and I think there is a possible conflict with that 160 tire you're going to try.

Like I said, I am really interested in what you end up with.

I see where a 160 tire is like a half inch wider than a 150 tire, and on my IS it looks like there will be very little clearance at the front with the fender.  You may have to spread that part of the fender.

Be sure to let us know what's the final result!

***

[X Ring]

I'm not that far down the road yet.  I don't need a front tire right now so I'm still in the research phase.  One thing I don't know is the width of the front wheel.  I don't want to install a tire that is designed for a wider wheel because the sides will bulge even more than normal.  I checked out the tire MarkT recommended and I like the specs; however, I don't like the white letters. 

Marty

[MarkT]

I checked out the tire MarkT recommended and I like the specs; however, I don't like the white letters. 

Marty

Mine doesn't have white letters.  Did they change that?

[X Ring]

This is what I found.  http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/402/6030/ITEM/Dunlop-491-Elite-II-Touring-White-Letter-Rear-Tire.aspx

Marty

[John U.]

This is what I found.  http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/402/6030/ITEM/Dunlop-491-Elite-II-Touring-White-Letter-Rear-Tire.aspx

Marty

I couldn't find a 17" tire at that link.

[John U.]

This link is for the blackwall D404 rear tires: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/9955/ITEM/Dunlop-D404-Metric-Cruiser-Rear-Tire.aspx

[X Ring]

This is what I found.  http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/402/6030/ITEM/Dunlop-491-Elite-II-Touring-White-Letter-Rear-Tire.aspx

Marty

I couldn't find a 17" tire at that link.

Try the online catalog.  That must be a typo on Motorcycle Superstore's website.  http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_category.asp?id=8 

Marty

[John U.]

This is what I found.  http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/402/6030/ITEM/Dunlop-491-Elite-II-Touring-White-Letter-Rear-Tire.aspx

Marty

I couldn't find a 17" tire at that link.

Try the online catalog.  That must be a typo on Motorcycle Superstore's website.  http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_category.asp?id=8 

Marty

Thanks Marty, I see it now. The white letters are a bit unfortunate. I wonder if they can be sanded down past the white layer? Or I could paint them to match the bike.

[X Ring]

I'm not a fan of Dunlop tires, especially their OEM tires like the 404.  I converted the inch width of the K491 to metric, 132mm.  2 mm wider than the tire daytona chose.  Using the size he picked I found the following tires in that size on M/C Super Store's site:  Avon AM26 Stormrider, Pirelli Sport Demon, Shinko 230 Tour Master and 712, Bridgestone Battlax BT45V and S11 Spitfire, Metzler Lasertec and ME 88, Kenda K657 Challenger, IRC RS310 Durotour and Continental Conti Tour.  Most of these are sport touring and touring tires and other than the size, I haven't checked their specs.

Marty 

[MarkT]

I'm running a Battlax BT-45 on the front of my wing.  I don't think it's available in a good size for the Valk but I haven't looked lately.  I've had no problems with the K491.  It used to be 11/32 tread depth I see they list it now as 10.  Next time I need a front I would be happy to get another - if it has white letters I could remove them with a sander in a few minutes.  But we'll see - by that time there may be another rear bias tire that's even better. I don't go through as many tires now that my riding is spread among bikes, and I haven't been on road trips frequently like I used to.   BTW, my experience - and what I've read - indicates that bias ply tires are actually better suited for cruisers than radials - just the opposite of the story for cars.  Better ride, better grip, more aggressive tread patterns, longer life, I don't know what else.

[X Ring]

MarkT, this got me thinking and I did a search for alpha numeric to metric motorcycle tire conversion charts.  I found this one on Kenda's website.  http://www.kendausa.com/_includes/Conversion.html  It shows the MT90 is a 130/90 sized tire.  I'm definitely keeping an open mind about this.  With the advantages of running a rear tire on the front plus the ones you've stated for bias plys and the lower cost, I'll be trying it.  I'm just going to do some more research to narrow my choices and see if I can find one with similar specs to the stock Valk size. 

Marty