81 gs550 project ...first post

[Guest]

Hey all, brand new here and wanted to get some thoughts on my project. I just picked up an 81 gs550. Previous owner started to make a cafe racer out of it. So rear loop and seat are done. I am going to use it for cruising country gravel roads and fire roads. So more of a scrambler style build for now and see how it does. If all goes well I'll add some panniers and rear rack for kind of a vintage adventure bike.
With that being said, I'm going to put some aggressive dual sport tires on it. The rear already has a 130 on it, which I believe is wider than stock, so my question is how wide could I go for tires front and rear? 100 front and 140 rear? Not going to be carving out twisties or anything. Also I may need some added ground clearance. What would be the best way of going about that? Longer rear shocks in rear? Front end? I've lowered some bikes in the rear but never tried to raise one.
Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you all. I'll post some pics as it goes.

[dorkburger]

Welcome. No expert here, but tire width is not only determined by what fits between the swing arm. Rim width has much to do with how wide of a tire can be safely used. Narrow rim, narrow tire, etc. tire manufacturers should have charts...

[DukeTamalco]

I'm just sticking with a size bigger than stock for tire size. I ordered the Shinko big block tires. I also went with an inch longer piggy back shock for a little extra clearance.
Can't wait to start getting stuff on and get the build going!