I wanna' fatter rear tire

[JAYD]

ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK MY BIKE LOOKS GREAT UNTIL THEY SEE THE " BICYCLE " REAR TIRE ON MY 1982 GS 750 EZ. WHY SUCH A SMALL TIRE? THEY ALL ASK. I TELL THEM ITS STOCK, DUH! IT'S STILL FASTER THAN YOUR NEW HONDA CIVIC DUDE! MY QUESTION: WHATS THE LARGEST SIZE TIRE I CAN PUT ON MY STOCK RIM? AND, WHERE AND HOW CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE EXTENDED REAR SWINGARMS? TANKS IN ADVANCE....PEACE.

[bwringer]

This... this will not be pretty.

[Raven457]

oh dear...

[bwringer]

I'm so scared...

[Dogma]

I'd advise you to not care too much what other people think. Just ride it and love it. A fat tire and long swinger will just make it handle funny. Like you said, the old school tire is plenty enough to leave 'em behind anyway.

[teet]

ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK MY BIKE LOOKS GREAT UNTIL THEY SEE THE " BICYCLE " REAR TIRE ON MY 1982 GS 750 EZ. WHY SUCH A SMALL TIRE? THEY ALL ASK. I TELL THEM ITS STOCK, DUH! IT'S STILL FASTER THAN YOUR NEW HONDA CIVIC DUDE! MY QUESTION: WHATS THE LARGEST SIZE TIRE I CAN PUT ON MY STOCK RIM? AND, WHERE AND HOW CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE EXTENDED REAR SWINGARMS? TANKS IN ADVANCE....PEACE.

Haven't I seen this question before...hmmm

[KiwiGS]

Mate if I were you I would have whispered that question...

If it were me I would not try and put a wider tyre on.
The bike will handle like crap and if you are lucky it will only scare you and not kill you.
You could put GSXR/bandit rims on and run radials, but that is a whole nother thread mate.
Cheers

[TheCafeKid]

130/90 18 is the widest/largest tire you can put on that bike safely. Extended swingarms are for drag racers, which your bike is not, or posers who dont know how to ride except in a straight line. They are made to keep the bike from pulling the front end up under hard acceleration, which your bike is in no danger of doing, unless you're dumping the clutch, in which case, on THAT motor, you wont need to worry about for long..

[BassCliff]

The horror! The horror!




I think the 750 handles best with a 120 on the rear.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[posplayr]

Is it ground hog day????

http://tinyurl.com/ymlsa2

[Steve]

Actually, it's quite simple. You want a fatter tire? Get a bike that was designed for one.

While you are looking for that bike, please also find the CAPS LOCK key on your keyboard.

Thank you.

.

[DMorris]

I think what the folks here are trying to tell you is that this is a commonly asked question by people new to motorcycles or at least new to doing modifications to bikes.

So, before anyone else tells you (with attitude) I will say that you should 1) do some searching on this site (search tool) for posts on the topic.
2) spend some time tinkering with the suspension adjustments on your bike and ride until you can feel the differences. ( I'm not being a smartass here, it takes time in the saddle and focused attention to really start to sort out the differences between the bike's behavior and your riding ability)
3) Go to the bookstore and pick up a book on motorcycle tuning. I would recommend Kevin Cameron's book on sport bike tuning.

Re-engineering a motorcycle is not impossible, as you can easily see from some of the amazing modifications you will see here and on other sites, but it is very easy to induce VERY bad behavior from your bike with the wrong mods.

Slap badly oversized wheels and tires on a car and it will handle poorly. Do the same thing on a motor cycle and it may throw you on the ground.

Something as simple as the preload on the steering head bearings can turn your bike into a beast with a dangerous attitude.

Learn the basics first and then if you really want to modify your bike you will have a foundation to build on.

PEACE...

[posplayr]

I think what the folks here are trying to tell you is that this is a commonly asked question by people new to motorcycles or at least new to doing modifications to bikes.

So, before anyone else tells you (with attitude) I will say that you should 1) do some searching on this site (search tool) for posts on the topic.
2) spend some time tinkering with the suspension adjustments on your bike and ride until you can feel the differences. ( I'm not being a smartass here, it takes time in the saddle and focused attention to really start to sort out the differences between the bike's behavior and your riding ability)
3) Go to the bookstore and pick up a book on motorcycle tuning. I would recommend Kevin Cameron's book on sport bike tuning.

Re-engineering a motorcycle is not impossible, as you can easily see from some of the amazing modifications you will see here and on other sites, but it is very easy to induce VERY bad behavior from your bike with the wrong mods.

Slap badly oversized wheels and tires on a car and it will handle poorly. Do the same thing on a motor cycle and it may throw you on the ground.

Something as simple as the preload on the steering head bearings can turn your bike into a beast with a dangerous attitude.

Learn the basics first and then if you really want to modify your bike you will have a foundation to build on.

PEACE...

Actually more specifically: go here

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=147084

[Zooks]

Great thread. LMAO.

Welcome aboard Jayd. The guys are having a bit of fun obviously but mean no harm (most of them). This is probably the most often asked question on this forum and always gets a funny response.

Basically your bike was designed 'back in the day' when motorcycles had thinner tyres than now. They've got progressively fatter over the years as the bikes have developed. Putting a fatter tyre on your bike will not necessarily make it handle any better. Learning to ride it well and maintaining it in good condition will do you a lot better for a lot longer.

Unless you REALLY know what you are doing you shouldn't mess with it. As mentioned, you could turn it into a (more) dangerous piece of equipment.


PEACE!!!

[old_chopper]

JAYD,
First off turn around and laugh at everyone who makes fun of your tire and tell them they just got smoked by an OLD bike with a skinny ass tire! Oh the shame!
I debated the same dilemma with my H-D (VRod). It handled pretty good, and looked good, but I wanted a fat rear tire. I finally made the decision to change to a 240 rear and love the looks and the handling is still good. It does take a little more to get it into a corner due to the larger mass of tire and wheel.
Unfortunately there isn't much room between the chain and tire on your GS so adding a wider tire will be a lot more involved. It would probably involve offset sprockets and such.