How Fat can I go with tires

[EricEder141]

Just wondering what is the fattest tire I can go with on an 82 GS650e. I want to beef up the look of the bike tired of these tiny bicycle tires way to much room in the rear.

Thank you for any input

[tkent02]

You can go really fat if you don't care if it's safe to ride.
If you want to ride it, stick with stock sizes or at most one size wider.

If you use wider wheels you can use wider tires.

[Steve]

How fat can you go? How wide is the wheel?

As tkent was hinting, simply putting a fatter tire on the stock wheel will pinch the sidewalls together more than the manufacturer designed, which will actually give you LESS rubber on the road. For size of actual contact patch, stick with stock sizes. If you MUST have that "fat tire look", get a bike that has one.

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[SVSooke]

How fat can you go? How wide is the wheel?

As tkent was hinting, simply putting a fatter tire on the stock wheel will pinch the sidewalls together more than the manufacturer designed, which will actually give you LESS rubber on the road. For size of actual contact patch, stick with stock sizes. If you MUST have that "fat tire look", get a bike that has one.

.

What he said^^^.You can do stuff but it woul likely cost more than it's worth to do.

[Wizard]

Be very careful about the tire cross-sectional profile.
As seen from behind, the round curve over the top from left to right is critical to handling.
Racing tires have a V shape, gives more road contact on big leans and also has the effect of slowing the bike down as you lean over (the radius of the tire actually shrinks).
Modern Sport Bikes have a wide profile that looks like a Mushroom Cap.
Most of these I see are worn flat in the middle. Then leaning over means the tire radius actually increases and there can be a lot of "handlebar pushback". If you're not ready for it, you can get into a wobble, even tank slapper.
With fresh tires a modern sport bike with fat tires handles great, its geometry is engineered for it.
In the old days most tires just had a clean Round profile.
If you're not going to do big fast sweepers, just boulevarde trolling, do what ya wants.
My bike has a factory tire spec of 140/80-17. When I bought it used, the previous guy had a 160/60-17 on it. It was terrible.
After many tires I now use a 130/90-17. Its a slightly smaller contact patch, but the handling is terrific, very neutral. Besides, modern tires are pretty sticky now.
So, do ya want looks, or handling?

[DannyMotor]

Stick with the stock size... go for high-performance sport/touring rubber.

Michellin Pilot Road 3
Continental Road Attack 2

Even Avon Road Riders, or Bridgestone Battleax are all great.

Stay away from DURO, IRC, KENDA, and SHINKO tires. Please.

[meanmechanic]

Ah, a Shinko hater. Any reason why?

[ndaugbjerg]

Eric,
I'm at 260. If I get any fatter I'll go up one tire size.
Niels

[ndaugbjerg]

Danny,
Correct me if I'm wrong; but I believe Shinko bought all the Yokohama? technology, rubber compounds etc. I think they are now the biggest motorcycle tire manufacturer in the world. I have not used them and I don't think they are going to be GP tires but for the average rider, IMO, they should be good tires and a lot of bang for the buck
Niels

[AJ]

I have Shinko tires on my GS1100E and even had them on my Hayabusa for several thousand miles. I think they are an excellent budget tire, and Shinko makes many tires in "old school" sizes appropriate for our antique GS-series bikes. Maybe they are not leading edge sport tires, but the current line of Shinkos is far better than anything these old GS-bikes came wearing from the factory.

[tkent02]

Stick with the stock size... go for high-performance sport/touring rubber.

Michellin Pilot Road 3
Continental Road Attack 2

Even Avon Road Riders, or Bridgestone Battleax are all great.

Stay away from DURO, IRC, KENDA, and SHINKO tires. Please.

Putting SHINKO in with DURO, IRC, KENDA is just wrong.
Shinko, like Yokohama makes some good tires.

Pilot Roads and Road Attack do not come close to the correct sizes for any GS.

[DannyMotor]

Road attacks do... check americanmototire.com

Shinko = death and destruction. I had a set on my gs500 cant remember the model... but after a proper break in at about 500miles the bike got squirley in corners to the point where i could break traction in a corner on the rear tire. Checked the pressure... that was fine... inspected the tire and the inner belts had shifted causing 2 massive bubbles in the tread.

Its the only tire i ever ran that had a defect. I promptly returned the tire and went with avon roadriders.

[tkent02]

Road attacks do... check americanmototire.com

Shinko = death and destruction. I had a set on my gs500 cant remember the model... but after a proper break in at about 500miles the bike got squirley in corners to the point where i could break traction in a corner on the rear tire. Checked the pressure... that was fine... inspected the tire and the inner belts had shifted causing 2 massive bubbles in the tread.

Its the only tire i ever ran that had a defect. I promptly returned the tire and went with avon roadriders.

Road attacks do... check americanmototire.com

No, the Road Attacks actually don't come in our sizes. No 19 inch front tires at all, the 17 and 18 rears are 120/70 not 120/90. Too bad, they are great tires.

By your reasoning, I should never buy a Micheline, as I have had a few come apart. BF Goodrich, too, and Dunlop, Goodyear, Pirelli and Avon.
If a tire failing slowly causes death and destruction, you're not doing something right.

[AJ]

Shinkos are squirrely on a GS500? Must be the massive torque.

[tkent02]

Shinkos are squirrely on a GS500? Must be the massive torque.

Or the warp speeds.