Fudging a tire size -- need advice

[jsonder]

I'm seriously looking at putting road tires on an 89 Honda NX250 because the OEM tires are becoming impossible to find.

I can get a street version of the rear tire (120/90-16) but the front tire (90/100-19) is only available from Bridgestone if they are still producing Trail Wing 39F tires.

My question is, if I have the width to mount a 100/90-19, would that be better than a 90/90-19?

The wider tire gives more air volume for bumps, curbs, etc. The proper width tire (with the 90% height) gives the right tire width but has a reduced air volume compared with the original tire.

Presumably the proper tire width would give better handling/steering characteristics, but I don't know enough about this to trust my intuition.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[GearJammer]

Did a search on www.google.com for "motorcycle tire 90/90-19" and drew plenty of hits........If this link works, you'll see that the comparable specs for 90/90-19 vs. 100/90-19 are pretty dang close. I'm not an off-roader, so I honestly don't know how safety/handling would be affected with either/or of these applications.....

http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_tire.asp?id=6

[GearJammer]

John, Do you still use that discount m/c tire shop in Tucson ? (Just woke up here, can't remember the name of it).......You could probably pick their brains for some info as well. In the link I posted last night, the rim widths for 100/90-19 and 90/90-19 are the same, but I'm not sure what the rim width for your original stock 90/100-19 is......

Edit: Another good source to ask would be Kathy at Sparks Cycle. She & her kids do a lot of dirt-bike riding and it wouldn't surprise me if she'd know real quick for ya......

[jsonder]

Gearjammer:

The front is a 90/100-19; dirt tires are wider than road tires , etc. The 110/90-19 matched the rim and original best in a road tire.

But, SWmototires.com will order in stuff that they don't list on their website.

They were able to get me the rear tire (that I'd been trying to get elsewhere because it wasn't listed on their web site).

I called Thursday and they had a new rear for me by noon on Friday.

The fact that the rear axle nut was seized and took a bit more than a day to get loose kept me from getting the new rear mounted until next week.

[GearJammer]

Great, John, sounds like you've gotten it managed.....I keep hearing nothing but good things about that SouthWest Moto Tire place. Sent my bud there last winter & they saved him about $50 compared to other places that he'd called for pricing.

I realize that Arizona Honda is closer to you, but these places come highly recommended (for anyone in the Tucson area):

Sparks Cycle on Grant Road
Musselman's Honda, Grant & Stone
Star Cycle - Machine Work (right by Musselman's)

Ride Safe.....

[jsonder]

Gearjammer:

I've been to Arizona Honda to get carb parts; they had none of them, not even the standard 14mm length carb screws or the o-ring gasket that goes between the carb and the engine.

The only stuff that they've had in stock for a Rebel were plugs. This has driven me to Bike Bandit and discount Honda parts.

I called Musselman's about the rear tire and was told that they would call back, but I never heard back from them. I'm not sure what the story is on that, but when they didn't call back I finally called SW moto to gripe that they didn't carry that Bridgestone Trail Wing. However, if I need to see a dealer, I'll be glad to go there. The place close to me is such an antithesis of the 2-man bike shops (one guy liked Indians, the other Harleys) of my youth that I just see yuppies with $$$ in their eyes at Arizona Honda.

[GearJammer]

Understood, John......I found the folks at Arizona Honda nice enough, but they lost me before the move when I ordered a carb rebuild kit for the 250 that consisted of 1 float bowl gasket, 3 small O-rings......$30!!! LMAO! I don't know if Musselman's would or could do better or if Honda itself sets those prices, but Musselman's is one of the oldest family-owned dealerships in the state & probably about as good as it's gonna get in this day & age. They being a dealership & Star Cycle being an indie shop within walking distance from each other, there's a strong mutual respect between the two places. Mick at Star Cycle used to regularly sell & wrench on used bikes, but again, started specializing in machine work a few years ago & maybe puts one bike at a time up for sale now & then. He'll also do tires, as would Sparks Cycle, but it's also cool to support someone like SouthWest Moto Tire.

For anyone with welding needs ? Without question, Jim at Star Cycle. His welding is like stitch-work ;).........the top 3 in the indie loop for Tucson were Star Cycle, Sparks Cycle & Shortz on 22nd, but Shortz closed shop maybe 5 yrs. ? ago........

For British ? AMR, tho' they've closed shop & work strictly off the Internet now. For H-D ? Sparks Cycle specializes in Japanese, but they've got a very good wrench who owns & knows Harley.

These would be my positive referrals......;)