A Slightly Different Tire Thread

[SpeedRacerOnline]

- So, it's deep into autumn in Michigan, I'm still riding, and planning to go year-round from now on. I only have a 2.5 mile commute, so though it will be really cold some days, my gear is good enough for 5 minutes of cold. Of course, weather still matters. Generally, if it's raining when I go to work, I don't ride, but everything else is okay. I don't care if I get wet on the way home; just gonna change my clothes anyway, but I don't want to be wet all day at work. In the winter, I wouldn't ride if there was a lot of snow and ice on the roads, but once that is cleared, pavement is pavement.

- What I am concerned with is tires. I've sworn by Michelin's for awhile now, and I still feel great about them. Ruby came with Metzler's on her, and they were very jumpy; not unsafely unstable, just to reactive to every imperfection in the road. I switched back to Michelin's, and she tracked smooth and straight again. A couple months ago, I swapped to a FZR rear wheel that came with a practically brand new Shinko Podium 006 on it, and I haven't been too pleased so far. I'm not sure if it's the Shinko itself, or just that it doesn't mix well with the Michelin that's still on the front, but Ruby has been very unpredictable ever since the switch. It's not like the Metzler's, jumping around with imperfections. This is just general instability. I like aggressive cornering, but I've been pretty nervous about it since the switch. With the matched Michelin's, I always knew exactly how Ruby was going to respond to my input. Now, I can't tell where the right lean and throttle points are. In corners, it honestly feels like the front and rear tires have such a different lean curve that when one is happy, the other isn't. Even during straight driving, it's all so jumpy that even just the hand movements involved in shifting gears cause the whole bike to shimmy a bit. That didn't happen with the matched Michelin's. I've checked my alignment twice since then hoping that it was just that, but that wasn't it. I really think these two tires just don't get along.

- That said, I have to do something different with the tires no matter what. I want to enjoy every bit of riding, not most of it with a little fear. Furthermore, if I'm going to ride through the winter, I want to be sure I have tires I can feel confident on in all conditions. I don't want to be stranded if the roads are clear when I go to work, and we get some flurries during the day.

- I've been doing a LOT of Googling tire reviews and such. So far, I think the best article I found was a nicely done private tire test, Whitham's five best winter tyres. They did a good test on a wet city track in 9C/48F weather to see which sport touring tire actually felt the best. When I got to the end, there was a very clear winner; the Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart. As I read his review about that tire, it wasn't just better than second place, it was far better. Each tire was a little better than the previous, but this one sounded much better.

- As I did some more looking, I found more of the same; lots of great reviews, and most of them specifically mention the great performance and grip in dry, wet, and even slippery conditions. At one site, of all the customer reviews they had, they were all 3-stars or higher; not even one obnoxiously picky hater with a 1-star rating for some ridiculous reason. That's the confidence I'm looking for.

- Plus, there were multiple reviews from riders that got 10k-15k miles out of them. That's 3-4 years for me. At about $250 for a set, 3-4 years of that kind of riding confidence is enough for me; I'm sold! I want a set now.

- The catch: the sizes. The front is no big deal: 120/70ZR17 (0.32" smaller diameter). The rear, however, is a tight fit. The only 18 they make is a 160/60ZR18. I don't care about the height, but that's a wide tire for my little XJ. I know somebody here once said they were running a 160 with no issues, but I'm still a little leery about it. Does anybody else have any actual experience fitting a 160 on an XJ?

- The two things I'm concerned with are clearance, and fitment on the wheel. Dunlop recommends a 4.5" wheel for this tire (5.0" max). The FZR wheel is only 3.5". That seems like a lot. The FZR came with a 140/60-18 on it stock. Running a 150 on it is pretty common. I did find quite a few people on FZR forums who said they were running a 160 on the stock rim with no problems, so I guess maybe it will be okay.

- Really clearance is my biggest fear. I guess I just don't know; does the chain generally move much laterally? If I only have 1/16th of an inch as some people said, am I going to have occasions where the chain rubs the tire, or will it be fine as long as I keep my pressure up?

- Well, as usual, I've severely over-thought and over-worded an otherwise simple question. Can anybody give me any real advice on running a 160 on a FZR wheel on my XJ?