Replacing the Rear Tire... (150/70/18??)

njp1993 · Post by **njp1993** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:40 am

Hey guys, I'm a new member to the forum and I recently bought my first fzr, a 1994 fzr 600.
Anyway, I know that finding a rear tire in our stock size is a b*tch. I've heard we can run 150/60/18's just fine, but the tires I'm looking at (bt-016's) are only available in 150/70/18. Has anyone ran these tires or sizes before? I'm afraid both widening the tire and increasing the height might wreck the handling. I really don't want to do the 17 inch wheel swap if I don't have too.

_Will_ · Post by **_Will_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:54 am

That's the tire and size I'm running with no issues, the handling is a bit slower compared to a stock size but worth it for the tire tech in my opinion and certainly still fun. I've gone with the stock 110 up front which is offered in the bt016 and it makes a noticeable difference in turn in for the better compared to the 120.

njp1993 · Post by **njp1993** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:59 am

Great, thank you! So you don't have any issues when cornering hard (i.e. really leaned over)?

Post by **ragedigital** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:31 pm

njp1993 wrote:Great, thank you! So you don't have any issues when cornering hard (i.e. really leaned over)?

If you know how to lean properly, then its not an issue. Leaning your body comes first to keep the bike as upright as possible.

Are you riding this at Track Days? If its just street riding, then you have no worries.

old_school · Post by **old_school** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:21 pm

Hey NJP,

More info is available in the Wikki (search for tire size) but a bridgestone bt45 rear in the following sizes will work 130/70/18, 140/70/18 or 150/60/18). I'm assuming others manufactures will also. More below.. You can admit that you want to change that skinny bitch tire on your bike..

Most of us have

Bridgestone
Bridgestone BT014 (front 110/70/17; rear 150/60/18)
US Bridgestone BT014 (front 110/70/17 or 120/70/17; rear 150/60/18)
Bridgestone BT012SS (front 120/70/17; rear 150/70/18)
Bridgestone BT090 (front 110/70/17; rear 150/60/18)
Bridgestone BT92 (front 110/70/17; rear 150/60/18)
Bridgestone BT45 (front 110/70/17 or 120/70/17; rear 130/70/18, 140/70/18 or 150/60/18)
US Bridgestone BT45 (front 110/70/17 or 120/70/17; rear 130/70/18, 140/70/18 or 150/70/18)
Dunlop
GPR Alpha-10 (front 110/70/17 or 120/70/17; rear 140/60/18 or 150/60/18)
Avon
Storm ST Front and Rear
Storm ST Front and Rear
Continental
TKV 11/12 Front and Rear
Pirelli
Shinko
US Podium (front 110/70-17, rear 140/60-18 or 150/60-18)

cntryboy85 · Post by **cntryboy85** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:32 pm

i picked up a set of battleaxes for my 95 fzr600 from www.denniskirk.com. i went with the 150/60/18 rear and 120/70/17 on the front. i love the way it handles. being a little wider makes it better in the rain. and as far as leaning i dont have any chicken stripe left. but the issue you are goin to find is that the 150 will slightly rub the rear brake stabilizer. it isnt hard to remove it and put a dent in it to stop the rub.

SouthendChris · Post by **SouthendChris** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:13 am

Also make sure you fit the correct speed rated tyre aswell. In the UK tyres rated upto 130mph are 'H' rated, upto 150mph and they are 'V' rated. The FZR600 needs at least V rated officially. Although not many of us spend that much time over 130

if you have an accident that could be seen as tyre related the police might get funny and certainly the insurance co. When the insurance assessor came to check my wreck/bike the first thing he looked at was condition of tyres, luckily I also had receipts to prove when they were bought/fitted.

I managed to get a Bridgestone BT50 140/60 ZR18 rear from germany through these guys. Still listing it.

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?d ... =110&m_s=1

BT014 150/60 ZR18

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?d ... =110&m_s=1

Chris

Nick Howe · Post by **Nick Howe** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:10 pm

Hijacking this real quick: How would a 120/60/17 do on the front?
Im thinking:
Cons - screwed up speedo, harsher ride?
Pros - quicker steering, less tire flex while leaned over

Any feedback would be great, Im running a 180/55/17 on an srad gixxer swinger so I'm thinking 110 up front wouldnt be a good fit.

cntryboy85 · Post by **cntryboy85** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:01 pm

i have a 120 on the front of my 95 fzr 600 up from the stock 110 and i love it. it took a little getting used dropping into the corner but it stick like glue. my speedo isnt off from what i can tell. granted it is hard to hold a gps and watch the road at the same time. and i have noticed a better ride from the dulops that were on it when i got it. but then again they were aobut gone when i got ahold of it. i put another 600 miles on it and needed new tires.

pefrey · Post by **pefrey** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:51 pm

Nick Howe wrote:Hijacking this real quick: How would a 120/60/17 do on the front?
Im thinking:
Cons - screwed up speedo, harsher ride?
Pros - quicker steering, less tire flex while leaned over

I answered this one on the archives and I'll answer it her for posterity. The 120/60 front tends to provide less front end feel / feedback than the 120/70. That's why racers use 120/70.

Quicker steering? I dunno. Less tire flex? Yeah but that does not translate to a better choice of tire in this application.

Nick Howe · Post by **Nick Howe** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:57 am

Gooooot ittttt thanks! I went with the 120/70 and 150/70 on shinko podium 6's

cntryboy85 · Post by **cntryboy85** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:42 am

careful with shinkos. i haven't seen a good one yet. i would go ahead and get ready to look for new tires again. they will last for a few thousand miles then you are going to want to burn them. my buddy had a set on his bike and 4000 into them they werent gripping at all and then 5000 into he was showing cord.

Post by **ragedigital** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 1:13 pm

cntryboy85 wrote:...my buddy had a set on his bike and 4000 into them they werent gripping at all and then 5000 into he was showing cord.

FWIW, the most I ever put on motorcycle tires was 2000 miles and I felt that was pushing it. That was with the BT-014 tire and it was already squaring off.

If you want longevity in a tire, for street riding, I do believe that the Avon's may be the best choice. The Bridgestone BT-016 with the dual compound should be decent as well.

darrin

Nick Howe · Post by **Nick Howe** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 2:23 pm

Well they have about a mile on them so I'll let u know when/if the bike ever gets on the road

cntryboy85 · Post by **cntryboy85** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:58 am

i have about 3,000 or so miles on my 150/60/18 bt-016 on the rear 150/70/17 bt-45 on the front. the rear is just starting to get the flat spot but the front is still in just about perfect shape. i love them. i think it had the dunlop sportmax on it when i got it back in july last year and by the end of september i got rid of them the guy i bought it from said that they hadnt been on long and they were already about gone. after i bought my new tires and took the dunlops off i found somthing that scared me to death. those tires had no support in them. most of the tires i have seen have had a steel belt but the dunlops didnt and when i was able to afford new tires i was starting to get what looked like the cord showwing through but that was the rubber getting paper thin and about to seperate. would have been horible. not to mention that they were about 4 years outside of good use life.

FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive