87 vfr700 - rear wheel rim width 3.50 ?

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by chuntera, May 21, 2009.

  1. chuntera

    chuntera New Member

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    Rear wheel on my 700f2 is stamped 3.50. The stock tire is 130/80V18.

    Why does the Continental catalog say a 130/80 goes on a 3.00 rim ?

    Maybe I don't have the stock wheel size ?

    For reference, the front wheel is stamped 2.50.
     
  2. deepdish

    deepdish Banned

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    yes 3.5 inches can go up to 150 width.....oh try changing your tire while sitting on bike..
     
  3. Ghost

    Ghost New Member

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    DO NOT!

    Stock rear wheel and tire is 130/80v-18 If you put a 150 on that rim, you have increased your risk to crash by 15% right off the bat. That would be incredibly stupid. I appologize for sounding so harsh, but I cant allow mis-information to pass when your safety is not being considered.

    Physically you could put the wide tire on there, it will barely fit. If you are completely insistant on a wide tire, go with a 150/90v-18, (you still run the risk of loosing the tire from the rim in a curve... or better yet, go buy a Rear wheel from a 92 CBR600 and do the mod install to have a wider tire.
     
  4. 02 VFR Rider

    02 VFR Rider New Member

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    I'm backing Ghost on this one
    NARROW VS WIDE: Although wide tires are all the rage now, narrower tires handle better under most real world conditions.

    TIRE GROWTH: All tires will expand to some degree over time once they are mounted, both due to the pressure on them, and due to heating-cooling cycles. Street tires normally expand 3 to 8%, while race tires can expand up to 22%. Be cautious in mounting a tire that will barely fit your clearances; the tire may easily grow to exceed the available space once it gets up to temp.

    your rim is 3.5 but that is over all 3" is width in between bead to bead. some but not all tire companys will list inside dim of rim NOT over all.

    I would highly recomend you stick to stock size tire for your bike, you will get better proformace from it.

    Going to a 150 will cause you to crash nearing full lean.
    I've been there done that and CRASHED because of it.
     
  5. chuntera

    chuntera New Member

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    So the 3.50 is the stock rear rim ?

    The sizing charts are confusing. Just to make sure I understand, that number is the overall width, but the bead-to-bead width is less, 3.00 in this case ?
     
  6. Ghost

    Ghost New Member

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    yes, and yes.

    130 = the width of the tire overall, NOT the bead dimension.

    80 = is the height of the tire from tread to inside bead. Not the overall height of the Diameter of the tire, the tire cord itself.

    18 = your rim inside diameter at the bead.

    your RIM is 3.5 from outside bead to outside bead. That doesnt tell you much for your tire size. The inside for that rim is 3.00"

    I.e. 3.5x25.4 (conversion to mm)=88.9mm plus 10% each side for good 1:75 aspect ration of tire height, and you get 106.68. Add 20mm of tread thickness for a new tire, and you get 126...aka 130 stock size tire.
     
  7. TOE CUTTER

    TOE CUTTER Mullet Man

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    size matters

    Ghost is gonna get backing from all on this, dont go overboard on tire size as nothing but poor performance can be gained.
     
  8. 02 VFR Rider

    02 VFR Rider New Member

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    The Biggest-is-Best Tire Myth Clarified

    Now it would seem the latest rage is to shoe-horn the widest tire possible onto the bike, because this is what is happening on the R6/R1/GSXR600/GSXR1k/etc. The fact of the matter is that these bike's handling is designed around this fact (or in-spite of it, with extremely aggressive headstock angles to compensate). They would still handle better with narrower tires, but then the motorcycle manufacturers would open themselves up to a ton of lawsuits from street riders who lost the rear-end traction by getting on the gas while coming out of a dry corner. Thus, it's a trade off between sharper handling and the ability to sucessfully transmit power to the ground without loosing the traction in the rear excessively.

    On a bike like the typical Kat 600 or 750, there simply isn't the horsepower or torque levels to overwhelm the stock tire sizes coming out of the corner with a good compound on there (this may well change you've changed gearing radically, or dropped in a bigger engine like a Bandit 1200 motor, or used a wise-co over-bore kit).

    When you look at race bikes, they use the narrowest tire they can readily get away with, because narrower tires handle better -- they weigh less (so they brake easier, accelerate faster, and change direction quicker), and their arc shapes are sharper (making it easier to drop the bike into the turn). MotoGP bikes almost all use 16.5" front wheels at this point for just this reason...

    Thus, wider tires are strictly BLING on a Kat, and actually have serious draw-backs in handle prowess for the bike.
    Thus, wider tires are strictly BLING on any bike, and actually have serious draw-backs in handle prowess for the bike.
     
  9. Tedric

    Tedric New Member

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    Agree with all replies to the initial post.
    But can some one explain why on a Honda VFR 750 FJ (1988) & FK (1989) both have 17 inch rear wheels that have exactly the same rim width as the 1986 FG, a 140/70 is recommended ??
     
  10. 199q

    199q New Member

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    as I was reading this thread and Agreeing with Ghost and 02VFR I realized that my dirtbike rear is the same width as my 86 VFR 700 rear. Just for laughs I guess, but yeah I agree totally here, but I know for a fact (and personal stupid experience) that your turn-in will suffer horribly.

    Good Luck buying tires for your bike, I have the same problem. I bought the Dunlop GT-501's not a bad tire, but that hard rubber compound will last for ages that's for sure!
     
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