Tyre choice for adventure riding? (Mixing road and off-road)

[cooneyr]

Interesting discussion on the merits of skinnier tyres, I spent 15 years belonging to varios 4wd clubs around the country and was also involved in competitions, there were a lot of off road scenarios where the narrow/aggressive tyres worked better in the mud for exactly the same reason that was mentioned, they dug through the soft crap on top and found traction underneath where the fatter tyres tended to float on top more, if the soft, top layer was deeper then the fatter tyres had an advantge because they kept the diffs out of the mud better so it can vary on the situation.

I also worked with John Deere tractors for few years an got into things like ballasting for maximum traction efficiency. Most modern tractors now have wheel slip indicators, which compares the speed over the ground using a ground speed radar against what the tractor should be doing in any respective gear . If the ground speed dropped below what it should be doing then obviously the wheels were starting to slip. Tractors fitted with 2 skinny duals at the back (and sometimes in the front) generally achieved less sliipage than ones fitted with big fat singles for the same reasons, they tended to get the lugs further into the ground and in some situations, its been proven that the same setup could out perform tractors fitted with rubber tracks.

Like the old saying goes, horsepower is only as effective as to how well you can convert it to traction.

I use to play with 4wd's too. Big fan of skinny tyres for SI conditions.

Interesting about the tractors - things have obviously moved on since I was driving them as a 13 year old! So Duals are not always what they are cracked up to be either?

Opps OT.

[Waipukbiker]

Just re checked what I wrote, I mentioned that duals generally achieved less slippage than big singles. Sometimes better floatation is an advantage but for most paddock situations the duals won out.

[brp]

Would a 110/100-18 rear tractionator be to narrow for an xr650r ?

Says in manual recommended tyre size is

Front 3.00 - 21 51P
Rear 4.50 - 18 70P

(Think 120 rear is the standard tyre)

Want the H/T tractionators but supplier can only supply 110/100-18 or 130/90-18’s

Past 130's rub on the muffler when the shock compressed

This site http://www.steelthundercc.com/tiresizes.html reckons 110/90 and 120/90 work out to be both 4.50/4.75 - miffed how that works ???

This one http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcyc.../tire-data.htm 110/90 is 4.00/4.75 - does that mean still be ok as falls with in the band - but then the supplied tyre is 110/100 - 18 (is the 100 - mean the profile/height is same height as the width)


Cheers

[Transalper]

Ha ha and just to worry you more did you know that different makes/models of tyre do the measurements differently so a 110/100R18 in one tyre is not necessarily the same as in another tyre.
Yes the second number is normally a height ratio one... but does that include the knobs or is it just the carcass? I don't know.

[brp]

forget what I learned last time - each time by tyres - hopefully in memory bank this time ....

Yep it is the profile height

Lot of conjecture with online charts - some for road bike tyres

Found easiest way is just chuck the imperial measurement into google and ask what equivalent millimeter's is

In my case 4.5 is 114mm so closer to a 110 than a 120 - looks to be a narrow tyre meant togo in the rear


Miffed why the rear profiles sit higher than the front on motorbikes - is it to help weight the front wheel better ?

[cynna]

think they are 2 different measurements - have a look at google

a 110/100-18 is equivalent to a 130/80-18

found a chart on google but now lost it. will post it if i get back online or just google 110/100-18 eqivalent

[brp]

Cheers

Pretty sure they all just metric way of rating "110/100-18 is equivalent to a 130/80-18"

110 mm wide and the height will be 110 mm also cause the 100 is 100% of the width

130 mm wide - 80% of 130 mm would give a height of 104 mm

[topo]

Cheers

Pretty sure they all just metric way of rating "110/100-18 is equivalent to a 130/80-18"

110 mm wide and the height will be 110 mm also cause the 100 is 100% of the width

130 mm wide - 80% of 130 mm would give a height of 104 mm

I ran a tractionator HT desert on my drz400 last year for the dusty it comes in 140 wide and suited the smaller drz very well! i certainly wouldn't go any smaller on the XR.

[cooneyr]

Cheers

Pretty sure they all just metric way of rating "110/100-18 is equivalent to a 130/80-18"

110 mm wide and the height will be 110 mm also cause the 100 is 100% of the width

130 mm wide - 80% of 130 mm would give a height of 104 mm

Gets more complicated than this. The 130/80 includes the tread in the width measurement and the 110/100 generally doesnt i.e. is just carcus width.

Warewolf to the bat phone, warewolf . . (knows his stuff - I forget at the moment but I know there is pages on line with this info).

Gets even screwier when Michelin gets involved as their 120/90 is about he same as a 140/80.

Just get a KTM, then you can simply buy the biggest 18 inch tyre you can and not have to worry about things like this

Cheers R

[dino3310]

if its black round with square looking things and it dont fall of the rim then i put it on the Xri get lost with the tire sizing... untill warewolf explains it all again.... then i forget and he explains it yet again... its a never ending circle on this thread
there for i am thanking you in advance for the wisdom of tire knowledge you are once again going to explain to us Colin

[brp]

Muffler gets in the way topo on the XR

Yeah my 130 Michelin T63 looks same width as the 120 Dunlop have on the KX - michman all over the place ...


Think the bart man in this thread onto it - "Wide tyres for Show - Narrow for Go"

The 110/100 18 is the factory tyre for the XR - so the sets on its way ....

http://www.motorera.com/honda/h0650/xr650r.htm


Here's a handy site that explains it all http://www.techsweb.us/ref.html


Cherz all

[pete376403]

I've got a 110/90x17 Pirelli MT60 on the back of the KLR - works fine on sealed and gravel roads. Probably sucks on wet grass. It's not wearing any more appreciably that the 130 kenda that was on there before

[brp]

Cheers Pete

Yeah think it balances out the wear with the wider tyre skimming round on the surface all the time.

[Buddha#81:Me]

I ran Tractionator 130/80-18 last year on my 650. Fantastic tyre for under $100. It was pretty much stuffed by the end but i gave it assholes and didnt really care if it was shagged at the end. The front will be doing the next Dusty but it doesnt seem to be on the ground that much

I have a Pro Curcuit T4 muffler so dont have the clearance issue.

[brp]

Nice, yeah you good at popping that front wheel up - you had your money's worth out of that bike of yours

Had a 140 e07 first time round - current T63 130 leaving very fine mark when rear loaded
so not real tight but didn't want to take the risk with the tractionator having side knobs.
Think what Honda recommends should be the biz too. T63 just about shagged at 1500 km,
"Big Boys Toy" aka Tyre Eater