FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

I have a 1st generation '89 FZR with the original skinny rear wheel, and I need a new tyre for the circuit - the tyre companies all appear to recommend 150/70/18 as the tyre size of choice (even for my model) but I have found a 150/60/18 Bridgestone BT090 - anyone have experience of this tyre in this size on the early thinner wheel?

That's pushing it for the 3.5" rear rim. It's a great tire though so if you had the 4" rim I'd say buy it immediatly. If finding 18" rear tires is getting as difficult where you are as it is in the US, you might want to take the step of doing the YZF swing arm and wheel swap.

Does that 1/2" really make all the difference to the overall profile, or is there another reason it's not really recommended (such as bead seating)? As far as I can see 18" tyres are actually getting a little easier to find here in Europe, though not in the most popular models... the choice I have right now is the BT090 pair with the 150/70/18 rear, or a pair of BT45s with 130 or 140 rear section

Yes it does. When a tire gets pinched onto a rim that is too narrow it revises the profile and makes less contact with the road surface. The contact patch area decreases as lean angle increases.

I'd get the BT45's.

Im havin real trouble to source one in canada

In the end I opted for the bt45s, going with a 140 rear as my local shop had one in stock (obviously he's had it a while, the sticker was really faded and it was even covered in cobwebs! God knows how hard the rubber has become...)
The catalogue on the desk gave these tyres 1 out of 5 stars for racing, and 2 out of 5 for track 'leisure'... I'll just have to take it easy, most of my track time has been with very modern rubber on much newer machines, so it's going to be a learning curve going back in time - but isn't that what classic stuff is all about!!

Check the date of manufacture on the tire. There should be a stamped (embossed) 4 digit code. The first two digits are the year of manufacture, the second two are the week. So for instance, a code of 0822 would mean the tire was manufactured in the 22nd week of 2008.

As far as I know this is not just a U.S. thing.

I have a 1st generation '89 FZR with the original skinny rear wheel, and I need a new tyre for the circuit - the tyre companies all appear to recommend 150/70/18 as the tyre size of choice (even for my model) but I have found a 150/60/18 Bridgestone BT090 - anyone have experience of this tyre in this size on the early thinner wheel?

same here in Austria.the tire companies giving for fzr 500/600 89-90 : 130/70/18 and 150/60/18
abd ror fzr 500/600 91-93 : 160/60/18. but no 140