i had a 96 katana 750 that i ran a 160 on..it wore kinda funny..not that funny but.. lasted at least 3-5k and no problems w/ mountin or dismountin/vibrations etc..!! as long as u aint nicky hadenin it you'd prolly b ok!!!

 

Cool I think I am going to go 160 then

it was a 160/60/17?

 

If it is a 4.5 inch wheel you can run a 160, but no larger. With a 3.5 you would be pushing it stick to a 140.

 

I measured it just now and its 4.5 inches

 

Stock rear wheel on a 88-97 GSXF is 3,5 inches and the 150/70 tire he recommended will be fine.

 

i personally would stick with the stock size which is probably only made in a bias ply construction. But so what? The avon AM26 roadrider is a great tire in my opinion, so are the pirelli sport demons. Metzler makes them in that size too and im sure there are others. ANd no these are not dual sport tires. They are not pure sportbike tires either, but they still kick ass for pretty much any public road out there. They are considered sport touring tires. Radial tires i think were not introduced to motorcycles till the mid 80's so if you look at pictures of the guys racing in the 70's, they're running bias ply! (<-- correct me if im wrong) Bias ply is popular with offroad vehicles for their rigid durability and weight carrying abilities, so i think that is where the guy gave you the impression that they are for off roading vehicles.

Why stick with stock? Because that is what the motorcycle was designed to operate with. Im sure going one step up in width wont be a problem, but just in general from a builder/modifyer standpoint, you just cant go wrong sticking to stock! The more you modify and deviate from stock, the more possible things can go wrong. Look at all the unfinished projects out there, cars, bikes whatever. The mistake all of them made is that they were too addicted to modifiation which overly complicates the machine, and makes it much harder to diagnose a problem.

Im not saying dont go up in tire size, just that there is nothing wrong with keeping it stock. A simple change can affect every other area of the motorcycle. For better or for worse depends on your experience. And from a builders standpoint, any deviation from stock should be thoroughly assessed, especially if you are new to motorcycles.

 

My sister once had a '96 (I think) GSX-F and it did indeed have a 3.5" rear wheel - instead of measuring, find where the dimensions are cast into one of the spokes on the right side - unless a previous owner changed the wheel it's 17x3.5".

When she needed a new tire we put on a 160/60 that I had laying around anyway - the handling was terrible!!! On a rim that is too narrow, the tire will be pinched in and the profile of it all screwed up. The effect was that initial lean-in was heavy and then it'd literally fall down once it got past a certain angle, being very unstable in turns.

I do understand what you mean about not being able to find modern tires - you can do what we did, put on a late-90s 600 Bandit wheel - which is 4.5" wide and thus designed to use a 160/60 tire. That fixed the handling right up :thumbup

 

...oh, that's what I told you the other day :lmao

 

lol @ svs

but thank you everyone that cleared everything up