Tire Tech

[NoFiddyPilot]

Ok, stock rear is 100/110-18. What are the costs and benefits of:

Wider/lower profile?

Wider/taller profile?

Narrower/lower profile?

Narrower/taller profile?

?

[Eric_in_WA]

A few things to consider:

Changing the height of the tire affects gearing and steering geometry. A 1" diametral change for one tire equates to about a 0.5 degree change in steering angle if everything else is left the same.

Narrower tires tend to wear more quickly.

Eric in WA

[Darren_Santilli]

the uk bikes come with 130/90 18's on...is this better or worse do you think?

[NoFiddyPilot]

So, a taller tire steepens the rake of the forks, hence the bike will turn more quickly?

[Hick]

Originally posted by Bryan Bosch:

So, a taller tire steepens the rake of the forks, hence the bike will turn more quickly?

I never thought about that. I guess it is the same as raising the fork tubes in clamps.

I’ve always run a 120/90-19 on my YZ, this works well off-road but I’ve heard that guys use them on tracks as well.

At any rate going from a 110/100 to a 120/100 would result in .8 inch taller tire and the same amount wider (due to 100% aspect ratio). Taller sidewalls will soak up bumps better, wider tread should give better traction.

I could be wrong about the .8 inch but I don’t think so, if not that amounts to a bit more gearing than one rear tooth (50 to a 49).