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this is the bike i bought, comes with street tires. they will do for basic off road though right? will drive mostly on road. can someone explain it in basic language - things like what size rims are best for on road vs off road. is there a good middle of the road tire, good for both on and off road or mainly one or the other? also, i see they sell whole tire and rim sets - is it a simple thing to swap wheels back and forth?!
Your bike by the look of it comes with 17 inch wheels. 17 inch or sometimes 18 inch are ideal for on road use. You possibly can fit bigger wheels, but there isn't much point unless you really intend to do lots of off-road riding.
17 inch wheels are usually OK off road on hard pack or lightly loose over, much more than that and you are asking for trouble. Your bike has suspension travel and ground clearance to be able to handle itself reasonably well off road. For it to be able to do that you'd need more knobbly tires which will then damage on road performance. Think about this carefully if you intend to do 50/50 on off road go with road trail tires, 70/30 then maybe a more aggressive road tread, less than 10% off road then just leave street tires. Over 90% off road, then use nearly full knobbies (max road legal) and think about fitting larger wheels if you can.
Personally I just stick with road tires and go with a good brand, such as Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop etc Then ride according to the terrain if I need to go off road, ut you need to be careful as the front can easilt wash out and tyhe rear can easily spin up.
What are your percentages?
most likely 90 percent on road. but the knobby tires look better! is it a pain to change wheels back and forth if i buy a set of off road?
I posted on another of your numerous posts that I have had great on-road experience with my 17/17 setup. However, my bike is pretty much only used for commuting (33 miles a day, round trip) on pavement. Changing wheels in general is straightforward, but not my favorite thing to do. I would not take my bike with the 17/17 street setup on any off-road terrain, but that would be for pretty much any bike due to the crappy desert sand terrain we have all around Yuma--four wheelers paradise, but even difficult for high-end 2 wheelers unless they have sand paddles. As ZMC888 stated--hard packed trails should be ok which I assume you would have in Wisconsin.Quote:
Originally Posted by footer
I'd be really surprised if you manage to find 17-inch knobbies!
Enduro/offroad/motocross tires come in size 21, 18, and 19 inch. 21-inch are front, 18-inch are rear for enduro/offroad bikes, and 19-inch are rear for pure motocross bikes.
Hence, if you really want to put on knob tires, you'd have to get an extra set of rims/wheels too. Swapping wheels is much, much easier than swapping tires!
17 inch knobbies aren't hard to find in China, sure they aren't very good and of course you want bigger wheels.
I think buying tires for their appearance rather than their performance is a terrible idea. Still, loads of people do it.
thanks everyone, guess i'll stay with the stock road tires. then if i get into more off road eventually, i can buy another set of rims n wheels.
Hi
I run CST dual sport tyres (C7204R)
Front .... 3.00-18
back....90.90-18
Very good on road and gives you good
Off-road , but compound is soft so back
Will only last 5000 km with the fronts
10.000 km check them out ...
www.csttires.com
ok, i got a call today from the place where i am getting the bike. apparently they don't sell the street addition, just the dirt bike type. so ill be getting it with a 21 in front rim (will look like the pic, but in black), and a 18 in rear. the tires look very knobby in the pic, so I'm thinking ill have to buy a better tire since ill be mostly on street. been looking around, and have some questions. my specs say 3.0/21 (4.1/18 rear)- which i don't see a whole lot of choices for. there are a lot more variety that say 90/90x21 or 100/90x21 etc - wondering if that works too, or if the 3.0 vs 90/90 means rim size? thinking of a 70 on road 30 off road tire. also, what is the difference between 90/90 100/90 100/80 etc. And would i be better off buying an 18 in rim for the front instead of the 21? what advantages etc.. oh, and another thing, the tires also have (59Q) (58S) (56T) (56S) (51L) etc after tires sizes. what does that mean? last thing, tube or tubeless? do i have to wait and see what my bike has? first time bike owner so sorry if my questions are bush league. just trying to learn as much as i can. Attachment 15505
The number is the load index and the letterQuote:
Originally Posted by footer
Is the speed rateing
See link
http://www.bobjane.com.au/info/load-index-speed-symbol/
The problem with Chinese bikes, based on the photos of them, are that oftentimes they are photographed in their 'natural habitat'--the photo you have is one the owner of Excalibur took at the TMEC factory when he was overseeing his 'batch' of bikes being made. By the time they are assembled and boxed up, the tires they used could be far different than what the photo shows. However, to discredit my theory, the photo of the black one with the 17" street tire setup looks almost identical to my bike.
I ride my bike 12 months a year including the one or two days of rain we get here in the desert, and only commute on it on paved roads. The street tires are god-awful on anything we call dirt (but is really powdered beach sand-like) around here, but in those tires' defense, I would not expect any better out of the 21"/18" knobbies, either, around here.
Since your riding season will be cut short due to weather, my suggestion is to ride the stock wheel/tire setup until that happens. Once you start getting used to the bike in general, then for next season next year, you would probably want to consider having an extra set of the street-tire setup. Also, coming back to the here and now, I am guessing you have quite a few trails to explore in Wisconsin on real, honest-to-goodness tight-packed dirt roads and trails. I am of the belief that even those would not be an enjoyable experience on the street tires. It would be akin to someone riding a sport-bike occasionally on trails. Probably not the best of fun. But the perfect habitat for street/dirt 21"/18" tires.
Don't get ahead of yourself as far as the wheels/tires go is ultimately what I am saying. I am by no means an expert on anything with motorcycles, but I do have enough experience, now, to not get ahead of myself, and feel confident to at least give you the advice to get used to your bike as is. You will see what I mean within days of you getting the bike assembled and ridden, how good these are as beginner bikes. You will definitely grow to like riding and then love it--however, you might want to 'move up' in bike choices next year, meaning it wouldn't be in your best interest to get all kinds of extras only to end up selling the bike.
For instance, one member on Chinariders.net had one of the '09 models (they were still new into 2011 through some dealers and Excalibur) and had a long thread about all the things he did and changed out. However, on a whim, one day he went to his local Honda dealer, one thing led to another, and next thing he knew, he had qualified for a loan on a new CBR 250, so was announcing on his thread of his intention to sell his TMEC. His asking price was about 1/2 of what he paid if I remember (a dealer out of California--not Excalibur--was selling those '09 bikes fully assembled and shipped for $1500 and he asked us on his thread if we thought $800 was a fair price to ask).