190 rear, what do you guys think?
 

guess i should talk about this here. was talkin tires with a buddy with a zx10 (track junkie, whos tried different combos) and he said that he liked the 190 set up. he initially had a 190/50 i believe but the profile wasn't allowing for more grip, lower profile, squarer tire i guess? anyway, he then tried a 190/60 (correction, 55) rear and it felt much better, more contact surface and better grip on the turns, and it raised his back end a little (sat on it, and i was on my toes). was thinking of tryin that maybe on my next tire. currently have sportec M1's in stock sizes and i love em! small issue with scrappin my toes on turns and was thinking that raising the back end up a tad would (w/o compromising handling too much, and i'm not on the track yet, just spirited street riding) help with my toe touching situation (assuming i've found the best most correct lean position and my toes are still scrapping). watchu guys think? or could this potentially change my steering trail/rake (??) ever so slightly therefor causing a +'ve or -'ve change in handling? . . . just slowly learning more about suspension, bike geometry, and how it affects riding here . . . .

i know theres more that could be done to my stock suspension (i also have a stock 929 front end on the VTR)

If you are scraping toes, then you should be 1) riding with the tip of your toes on the footpeg and/or 2) hanging off the bike more.

Superhawks don't need the wider rear tire.

you do not need or want the 190 on the rear of our bike. you're squishing it on in the first place. We also don't have the power to really make a large tire necessary, and you'll lose your handling capabilities as well. aka don't do it. stick to 180/55. plus I think your buddy is full of shit cause I haven't found a single 190/60 yet. they're almost all 190/50 and there's a few 190/55

ha ha! thanks fellas, but correction, my bad here, it's from 50 to a 55, not 60.

good points, the bigger tire will just slow it down, and the zx10 has way more power and it can get away with it. lean more it is then! kay, i'll shadap now.

Actually they DO make a 190/60 but it's a slick sooo, like it's been said don't do it you know what I said already.

I have a 190/60-17 Dunlop rear D208GPa in my garage. Did one track day on it with the 1000RR and HATED it, not to mention it grew in diameter so much on the front straight that it wore a hole in my hugger 4" long. That was after shimming the hugger with washers an extra 3/8". Maybe it was my suspension setup, but the tire made the bike feel like it wanted to constantly tuck the front end. Different bike, but still, YMMV.

Running a 190 on a 5.5" rim (VTR) is different than on a 6" rim (ZX-10R). The rim will change the shape of the tire. Unless you plan to increase the width of the rim you cannot duplicate the same profile as the ZX-10R. Besides why switch to a 190? Race bikes use 180's. 190's are mostly for looks and sales.

not true. superbikes run 190 cause they really do need the extra grip. smaller supersports don't need it though.

I put a 190 on my VTR because I had a brand new one sitting in the garage left over from my TLS.

The TLS comes stock with a 190. But handles way better with a 180.

I switched my TLS to a 180 and couldn't believe how well it turned compared to the 190.

Then I put a 190 on again and felt the same thing. It handled like a truck.


When I put the left over 190 on the VTR it handled a lot harder too.
I hated every ride on the damn thing.

rob

190 rear......NOT
 

The suspension is designed for a 180, plain and simple.

It will handle worse. I have a 190 on my VTR since I had a half dozen left over from my Hayabusa (went through them like tic-tacs). It will slow the steering and require a little more effort to get a turn going. I commute with mine so it didn't bother me much, and after putting the CBR front end on it turns in scary quick with the 190 so I'll be using my others when this one wears out.