| Author | Message | ||
     Sinatra |
Is it possible to go with a wider rear tire than the 180 without modifying the swingarm? If so what size is useable? | ||
| Djkaplan |
You can go pretty wide on the stock arm.   http://www.bitz4buells.co.uk/products/240%20conversion.htm But,why? | ||
| Tpoppa |
Of course, you will seriously limit your cornering ability. | ||
| Surveyor |
Not true, I'm running a 190 Pirelli Diablo Super Corsa Pro and it fits, is excellent to ride, and there is no noticeable deterioration of cornering on road or track. | ||
| Tpoppa |
A wider tire WILL result in slower, less responsive steering. Also a wider tire will have a more shallow profile, meaning you will get to the edge of the tire with less lean angle. You also risk losing traction with less lean angle. From a 180 to a 190 the difference will be relatively small. From a 180 to a 240 the difference will be huge. Look at the picture, just sitting on the kick stand the bike is almost on the edge of the tire. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
We fitted a 195 Dunlop racing slick on my nephews XB9R. It was not a good experience, and we subsequently replaced it with a 180. The handling was adversely effected: a wobble when accelerating around 100 mph, due, perhaps to a decrease in fork angle. We dropped the front fork in the clamps as far as they would go. This improved handling, but still not satisfactory. It also overgeared the bike, although this might be able to be compensated for to some extent by altering the primary drive ratio. The tire was rubbing on something, we were too busy to figure out what exactly before we took it of the bike. I think it may have been the swing arm or the hugger. Actually, I wonder if anyone has used a 170. Probably will make the bike handle a bit better, turn easier and provide enough traction for all but the expert racer. Anyone tried it? | ||
| Cmm213 |
Tpoppa is right,also the rim width was not designed for a 190. You flaten out the tire when you put the 190 on- then you get less lean angle, and we all know why everyone one bought there xb's right. For the great handling, as the pic shows I guess its possible- but why would ya | ||
| Ronlv |
240 looks cool | ||
| Gjmcmanus |
Looks good for a show bike (trailer queen)! If you wanted something that looks like that then buy one of the thousands "custom choppers" builder bikes. | ||
| Js_buell |
Yep and if you look at the rice rocket some of them came with 190 before(ex. gsxr 750) and they went back to 180 for handling and less rotating weight. | ||
| Bbstacker |
One thing I learned from racing D/H mountain bikes is you don't have as much tire clearance as your measurements say you do. Tires heat and expand. The rims flex during cornering, albeit almost undetectably on a motorcycle. The tires are a different story. They will flex quite a bit and while they don't touch while static they will when heated and have cornering stresses applied.  | ||
| Cereal |
Hey Gentleman_jon, my neighbor had a 170 on his xb9s before his current 180 and said that there wasn't any noticeable difference in handling. | ||
| Surveyor |
I have found no difference at all in the handling on track wearing a 190 though the tyre itself is a big improvement as it is a soft compound. I find the XB steering is slow anyway and it doesn't seem any worse. I have also dropped the front end but this caused stability problems and I reverted to the standard front ride height. I take the point about a 240....I don't know how you could even get it to clear the belt my 190 is a tight fit. | ||
| BadS1 |
Surveyor they make them fit by putting a spacer on the front pulley so it will line up with the rear pulley. | ||
| Norrisperformance |
Some racers are using 160s now. | ||
| Ronlv |
how the 240 fits they offset the rim left and they offset the pullys right and they space out the right rearset and they take off the rear mud guard then it fits like a glove | ||
| Surveyor |
Doesn't that mean the front and rear wheels are out of alignments? | ||
| No_rice |
Talked to the owner of bitz about the 240 kit awhile ago, is an 11 millimeter offset up front and u just counter sink the bolts on the stock pully and the wider rim will fit. was talking to jason weld awhile ago and the are working on some rims to fit the xb brakes, hope to get a set to tryout when the get some prototypes done. then i can have matching front and back instead an oddball back rim when i put the 240 on. | ||
| Stoobr2 |
HBM now do a modified OE rim that is cut and widened to 9" to accept a 240/40/18 tyre. Fully TUV approved. The righthand rider footpeg hanger has to be offset by 11mm so it clears the OE drive-belt. So far I know of 1 UK bike with the 240 conversion + HBM's 1430cc Turbo XB9 called the Hellbender. A rear view inc the short attack seat unit with the speed tail insert.  This is the pulley side,the are pulleys designed to incease the torque of the XB9 but sacrifices some top end speed.  * The marks you see on the wheel rim are from the aluminium bike ramp Jens uses to load his bikes into his van, the 9" rim and tyre was a snug fit, they are not from wheel rubbing! Both 240 kits do away with the belt guards & OE short hugger for clearance purposes. Both retain the standard drive-pulleys, although the front one has to be off-set. The advantages of fitting a 9" rear rim & 240 section tyre ? Well in truth their isn't any, but it's different, and gets noticed, and looks aswome with a sortened seat unit or aftermarket tail section. I'm sure the purists will flame the kit... (Message edited by Stoobr2 on June 18, 2005) | ||
| Stou |
More pictures of this bike on HBM website http://www.hillbilly-motors.com/html/hellbender_4.html (Message edited by stou on June 18, 2005) | ||
| Surveyor |
I'm not a "purist" and I'm not flaming anyone... but to my mind form follows function. | ||
| Stoobr2 |
Your proberly right Surveyor, anything other than OE is going to have an effect on possibly the Fuelframes best feature (it's handling). The 8.5" Billet 2-piece wheel got flammed by the UK Buell enthusiasts. Most of the critics of the kit are tube-frame owners. The kit was even flammed on badweb when it first appeared back in the Summer of 2003. Like I said, I know of only 2 bikes (worldwide) that use a 240/40/18 tyre on a XB series. Popular modification ??? | ||
| Ronlv |
stu soon to know 3 if i can ever get my wheel  | ||
| Blake |
"a wider tire will have a more shallow profile, meaning you will get to the edge of the tire with less lean angle" "You flaten out the tire when you put the 190 on- then you get less lean angle..." Actually the opposite is true. When squeezing a 190 onto a rim that is not wide enough for a 190 tire, the tire gets pinched causing the edges to have a steeper lean angle. Result, besides possibly poor handling, is that your rear tire will exhibit huge chicken strips as you will never be able to lean far enough over to get anywhere close to using the edge of the tread. However, if you mount a 170/60 or 160/60 series tire on your 5.5" wide rim, then you will see the tire profile flatten out significantly, no chicken strips. Please don't be silly. Run a 180/55 rear tire. Save the make it wider crap for your chopper or drag bike. |
