Wider tyres than standard..whose got them?

[ozigoo]

Yea, the PR4's only have one 18" size for the rear 160, I too prefer to have matching...I bit the bullet and ordered the 120 front and 160 rear in the Angel Gt's from my local supplier. Tyres are sooooo expensive here... over AU $500 for the pair fitted....they should be in next week sometime...

[Cormanus]

My bad, Ferret, I thought was the the non GT.

[the Ferret]

These 18" tires are difficult to source

[Crazyirv_imp]

I talked about my bad experience at length on another recent thread.. all I can say is I have christened my bike "The Wobbler" since changing the rear tire to a 160. Going back to 140 soon and will have a very slightly used Angel GT 160 width tire for sale cheap.

[Henrik_imp]

I can't provide any feedback as to wider tires on the CB, but if you wish to stay with the original dimensions then you should also be able to get the Metzeler Roadtec Z8 in Australia. I personally always prefer to stick with the tire dimension a bike was designed for, and am now happily on my second set of Z8s. The first one lasted some 13'000 km, and probably could have gone a bit further if it wasn't for a nail in the rear.

One thing though, it seems these are not ideal if you do a lot of straight road touring, but if your riding includes regular turns I think they are great. Certainly much better than the originals the bike came with.

[misterprofessionality]

I use wider-than-standard tires as well, only i opted for Avon Spirit STII. 120/70 front and 160/60 rear. before that I used the same size in Michelin PR3 tires like a lot of forum members. I feel a good deal more cornering confidence compared to back when i had the stock bridgestone tires.

I'm actually really curious about Crazyirv's experience. it seems so opposite. what is your theory about the cause of this wobble you mentioned?

[Crazyirv_imp]

I use wider-than-standard tires as well, only i opted for Avon Spirit STII. 120/70 front and 160/60 rear. before that I used the same size in Michelin PR3 tires like a lot of forum members. I feel a good deal more cornering confidence compared to back when i had the stock bridgestone tires.

I'm actually really curious about Crazyirv's experience. it seems so opposite. what is your theory about the cause of this wobble you mentioned?

There's a lot of info on the web that backs up the fact that putting wider tires on rims meant for narrower ones is a bad idea. You are literally pinching the tire from the bottom and distorting the shape of it. Instead of a larger contact patch you are instead, ironically because of the wider tire, actually getting a smaller one, and the handling of your bike can be affected. In my case, my bike starts wobbling fairly bad at about 75MPH. It feels like I'm on ice almost. I took my hands (briefly, you better believe!) off the bars at that speed and and the handlebars did not shake, so I believe it is the back tire. The poor guys who installed the tires removed them after I complained, rechecked the balance, and found nothing wrong. I believe them. They have a stack of about 150 changed tires in their shop and people come there with all makes and obviously are ok. My front is only 10MM more than stock....back is 20. I believe the back is the problem. What is confusing is that no one here seems to have the this problem with wider tires and many have switched to them. I'm not sure why I'm so lucky but one thing is I weigh about 330 lbs so that might have something to do with it. Others have told me that there have been a couple of posts about loose swingarms here. As soon as the heat wave here is over (been over 105 for about a week now) I'm going to see what happens when I deflate the rear wheel some to flatten it out a little. I am definately returning to stock size probably sooner than later.

[misterprofessionality]

That sounds shocking and dangerous. I can definitely back up the fact that nobody here seems to have that issue. in fact, switching to a 160/60 rear here is something of a fad, ever since the michelin PR3 was discovered. I myself just rode 760 miles over the last weekend, doing 85 almost the entire way with absolute stability, in turns and on the long highway miles. I think there's something else going on here that either has nothing to do with the tire width or is a problem by itself that's exacerbated by the wider tire.

as for why it became a fad to switch to them with our bike, I always took the advantage to be that if you switch to the 160/60 size you have access to much higher quality tires that can pull much longer miles with much more advanced tread and traction, not so much about increased contact patch, though i'm sure some were hunting a better contact patch in corners.

[17-CB-002]

Does your 2017 have spokes ? I replaced my 2017 tires with the OEM Dunlop's as I did like them.(USA model 2017 has spokes )

Yes, my 2017 also came with spokes & tubes, however, I converted to tubeless easier to fix a flat on road trip.

I prefer wider tires rather than skinny ones and Michelin, it's just personal liking.
Hope that when it is time for replacement I am fully aware of availability & potential issues and will be able to make a wise decision.

Regards
Alain

[Gone in 60]

Man, Crazyirv, still very curious about your predicament. The 160 Angel on my '13 has been smooth as glass for the few hundred miles I've put on it so far. Traffic was unusually light this morning, so I was cruising at 80 to keep up, and had to hit 90 for a few seconds to cross from the car pool lane to my exit lane, no problemo.