[gzsound]

I was at my local Honda dealer yesterday and they had a rack of tires on sale. I bought a brand new 150/70 14 Kenda for $20 just because I could.

I presume it will fit, but wondered if anyone has stepped outside the standard 160/60 tire size.

Thanks..

 

[Buffalo]

Lots of people have put none standard size tires on their 650s. The darksiders do it all the time. I would expect the 150/70-14 will fit just fine. It will be slightly narrower and slightly taller than the OEM tire.

What you do need to do is look at the weight rating on the tire and make sure it will handle the weight of the 650. You might also want to look at it's speed rating.

 

[Buffalo]

I went to Kenda's web page. Only found one 150/70-14 tire. It was in their K433/K434 series. It's a bias ply tire where the OEM tire is radial but that is not a big deal. It is weight rated a "66" where the OEM is rated a "65" so it actually carries slightly more weight. It is speed rated a "S" where as the OEM is a "H". A little lower but should suffice. "S" rating is up to 112 mph and "H" is 135 mph.

 

[Dave_J]

I ran a 150/70 SB 14 Michelin Gold Standard Bias ply for 18,000 miles. It was one of the best tires (motorcycle tire) I had run before going to the Darkside. I called it Shadesided. We had a member on here that swore that it would not work but it did quite well. It is just a bit shorter than a 165/65 SR 14 Bridgestone Potenza Car tire, so YES it will fit.

Do not be too surprised if your gas mileage goes down just a bit. You will be traveling less reported miles due to the tires diameter being larger. I went from 258 miles to 250 miles on the exact same roads when I went from the 160/60 14 to the 150/70 14. Yeah lost 8 miles but used the same amount of gas, 4.8 Gallons. So I was getting 54 MPG with the 160/60 and then 52 MPG with the 150/70 using the same 4.8 gal's.

Now the warning. Changing tires, any tire be it motorcycle or Car, that is different than the OEM may cause the bike to handle differently. You must decide if you want to make that change and none of us on BurgmanUSA have talked you into doing so. You are the brake bias front and rear using your finger grip. You should go to a low volumn parking lot and practice braking, cornering and both at various speed and conditions like accident avoidance.

 

[gzsound]

Thanks for the advice. I have had non conventional tires at one time or another on every motorcycle I have ever owned. I figured the Kenda would fit and also figured the speedo would be off, but I think it's off a bit anyway with the stock tire.

I have used radial and bias ply tires over the years with very little difference in the handling of the bikes. However, normally I would run bias or radial on both ends at the same time.

I am mounting a Shinko rear tire next week in preparation for a 3500 mile ten day trip and when that wears out I'll install the Kenda and see what the difference is.

Again, thanks for the advice.

 

[Dave_J]

The speedo is about 10% off and the 150/70 will get it closer to true but still about 3% off. But the Odometer will be very close to true.

I am running a Shinko front Bias Ply with a 185/60 HR 14 Radial on the rear. Handles very well.