I'm looking to get the stickest tire I can for my bike, but the stock tire size sucks for tire availability. My first question is what sizes are other people running on the 87-89 cbrs? The stock size is 110/80/17 front and 130/80/17. I'm planning on running a 140 in the rear, but wasn't sure if changing the profile to a lower one would be ok. I have heard conflicting things. I understand how to read a tire size, but what I'm wonder is if it would be a bad idea to run some thing like a 140/70/17 in the rear and a 110 or 120/70/17 in the front. I have been told that changing the profile on a bike tire will change shape of the tire and isn't a good idea. I don't know if I buy that. It seems to me that all running a lower profile will really do is lower the ride height of the bike and reduce sidewall flex. Is there some thing I'm missing? Thanks for the help!

 

you can get a metzeler MEZ2 rear in 130/80/17 and a front MEZ4 in 110/80/17. both are radial.

actually, metzeler's application chart suggests:
Front 110/80-17 (57V) TL ME330 - 2.50 BAR
Rear 140/80 17 (69V) TL ME550 - 2.90 BAR

not sure which ones are better, both are classified as sport touring. i would think the MEZ range is considered better.

if cycle gear doesnt have a 130 Z2 left, chaparral-racing.com has it in stock.


Modified by Tyson at 10:00 PM 6/7/2004

 

looks like azmotosports has some M1 Sportecs still in stock, like i said, theyre the azenis of motorcycle tires, but are discontinued. damn cheap prices too. check the Z4 and ME330/550 availability too.

http://store.azmusa.com/tires1.html

this would be an interesting sportec combo...
110/70/17
120/65/17

looks like youre better off going with the ME330/550 with stock sizes anyway.

 

I have a 89 cbr 600 and i have 140/70 rear tire on it and it seems to ride good to me......just thought I'd let ya know