TIRES

[flightdoc]

Now that I have a place to ask ALL my questions, here's another.
I replaced my tires in April with another set of OEMS' I wanted to replace with them with a white wall but haven't found any for the 1600. Anyone seen/heard of white walls for the 1600 Nomad? I also was considering having my wheels chromed. I think the bike is a little boring from the wheels down. I felt having some added "bling" would liven it up. Any thoughts??

thanks

[socwkbiker]

I've seen white walls and hadn't thought of it, but I think it would look cool. As for chroming the wheels, were you planning on doing both or just the front wheel since it's hard to see the rear?

[flightdoc]

I would do both. I think our bikes are beautiful machines from the fenders up! They need something to bring them to life below the fender. I think.

I'm using a Maxxis MT90-16 on the front of my '99 1500, but they make a Front 150/80/16 WW !!

http://www.motoxoutlet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=360

[socwkbiker]

Now those would look cool. As for the chrome I personally won't just because of worrying about rocks etc.

[flightdoc]

Nico, isn't it odd that they make a front ww but not a rear? I've never seen a 1600 with WW's. I don't see that many Nads around here anyways.

[flightdoc]

I know what you mean about rocks, but I'd be willing to give it a try though. My wheels now don't have any scratches....yet.

[socwkbiker]

Flightdoc, I went back to the website and they do make the rear but its bigger, as is normal. I didn't see it the first time I looked but if you look to the right of the tire size it says rear.

[flightdoc]

thanks. I'll check it out

[jeffm]

The service guy at our dealer put the www maxxis on his 900 & he never got good milage from. I think he said at 5xxx they where looking bad . Said he wont go with them again. The only www for the that i found are the 150/80. The aspect ratio is higher so i'm guessing it may not effect the speedo much. I went back stones on rear this time but am going to try www' next time.

This is where a buddy of mine bought tires for his M109R. He said he could almost buy two tires from here for what he paid for one at the stealer. (I like that term Nico) www.americanmototire.com (http://www.americanmototire.com)

[blowndodge]

Kawagirl, your just going to make him worse!! Please don't stoke the fire within his "world" LOL

Leave her alone....... let her stoke in peace.... :)

[hangon702]

I ride with WWW Metzelers they look sweet but are a pain to keep clean. And as far as wheels go, I got mine polishied some goes for my fork and disks. really makes it stand out from the rest of the cookie cutters
sorry I didnt get with ya sooner I had a bit of a prob registering.

[Todd]

:-/ :-/ :-/

[flightdoc]

Hi Hangon702,

I appreciate your reply. Can you speak a bit more of how you had them polished. Did you do it your self? If not what type of company should I look for to get it done? Do they polish the paint off the wheel??

thanks

vin

Just noticed the Vulcan 2000 comes with a 150/80 16 Radial on the front.......

This Vulcan motorcycle rides on bright, cast aluminum 16-inch wheels with a 150/80 front radial tire and a huge, 200/60 rear radial tire –the biggest stock rear tire on a mass production V-twin cruiser.

[blowndodge]

The Suzuki Boulevard comes with a 240 rear tire. I think some Victory have a wider tire too.

lol I was thinking about the front radial tire... would just have to mix brands to fit front and rear in radials...

[socwkbiker]

That would make for a bad ass look.

http://www.motorcycle-karttires.com/glamourindex.aspx?productID=2

[socwkbiker]

Hmmm, wonder how much bigger my butt would be with a tire like that on my Nomad?

It'll never rival V V's !! :)


I'm in trouble now..... Ponch on my bad side is one thing....... but Judi? oh no.........

[socwkbiker]

I like big butts and I cannot lie...

<marquee> http://s2.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif</marquee>

[vulcanvixen]

It'll never rival V V's !! :)


I'm in trouble now..... Ponch on my bad side is one thing....... but Judi? oh no.........

Now that thar's funny.......considering we all know where your head is!!! :-*

<marquee>FAT BOTTOM GIRLS WE MAKE THE ROCKIN' WORLD GO ROUND!!</marquee>

[socwkbiker]

Up his.....?

Check it out....... went for a 320 mile ride this afternoon up I 15N to I 215 ACROSS 60w back to I 15 N to Victorville... and back....hit 100 mph couple times... cruised at 85-90... nice ride...

I had a 140/90-16 rear tire put on right before I left to go along with the MT90-16 front I recently put on....... trippy... it's a good inch taller than the 150/80 Dunlap I had on there...... changed everything..... rpm's lower.... whole gear ratio seems different.... Nomad doesn't want 4th gear till at least 60 mph........5th...80....... I thinks I likes it! Cornering is a blast!


<marquee>smite me</marquee>

Orderd my new Metzelers today....... :)

Marathons

Front 150/80-16M/CTL 71H ME880F $180

Rear 160/80B16M/CTL 75H ME880 $130

(using the excuse of blaming part of my mishap on tire size and brand selection) http://s2.images.proboards.com/lipsrsealed.gif


<marquee>smite please</marquee>

With the ME880's other Nomaders have gone with 180/70/16 on the rear with good success. Thats what I plan to change to.

[Todd]

I think the 180/70 is for the 1600's not the 1500's

Good point. I didn't think of that.

That works great on the 1600's..... I have a 1500 ("99) which comes stock with 150/80/16 front and back....... I'm going with a stage 1 upgrade: 160/80/16 rear....... I'd love to go 170, but it's lower profile & calls for a wider rim.

http://www.motorcycleproshop.com/tires/metzeler/me880.asp

[blowndodge]

I think you should look for a sand tire?

<marquee>http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u272/DrNickDC/sandtires.jpg</marquee>

[blowndodge]

Better than those cheapo Schwinn 10 speed tires you recently put on !!

[dogdoc]

Thats if you ride a 1600cc, Nico's is a 250cc.

Doc, joke bud.

I actually loved my 1987 Honda Rebel 250 CMX Limited Edition !!!! :)

[blowndodge]

You should have never got a bigger bike!!!!! that Rebel was even pushing the limit with your skills :-)

I was 2.

[vulcanvixen]

BD and Nico......too funny!!!!!!!!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL

[andre]

I read someone had placed Metzeler ME 880’s (radial tires) Front (150/80H/16) and had increased the rear tire size to 180/70HR/16. Says the bike never cornered better. Is it even possible to place 180/70HR/16 in the rear. Any coments on this. CHEERS!

Lots of Nomad riders use the 180 radial in the rear...... I have a 1500 which won't take bigger than a 160.... I just bought new Metzeler bias.... one of our Kawa Ultimates (Trip.... I liked Gods...) will help you out shortly I'm sure!!

Nico

I read someone had placed Metzeler ME 880’s (radial tires) Front (150/80H/16) and had increased the rear tire size to 180/70HR/16. Says the bike never cornered better. Is it even possible to place 180/70HR/16 in the rear. Any coments on this. CHEERS!


http://www.kawanow.org/faq.htm#A1.10

Question: Many have asked about tire replacement for the 2005 and 2006 Kawasaki Nomad. It seems that the stock Bridgestone tires don't last very long and it's difficult to get other brands of tires in the right size. Just recently, I replaced both the front and back tires on Ruby Earl with Metzeler ME880's. For the record, I have installed a Metzeler ME880 size 150/80X16 for the front and a Metzeler ME880 size 180/70X16 for the rear. The performance is phenomenal. And, since the 180/70X16 is an inch taller, it corrects the speedo, which has always been inaccurate. Below is an email I received from Randy Nelson in Atlanta. He replaced his Bridgestones with Metzeler ME880's also.

Answer: Hello Trip,
Randy from Atlanta here. After installing the 180/70 ME880 on my '05 I would like to pass this info around for futures sake. For one, the tire is taller by nearly an inch and my speedo is now accurate. The speedo is engine driven so at any given RPM the speedo is doing what it always does but the bike is now traveling farther per minute (or any time interval, of course).

And two, this particular ME880 is made 'specifically' for Honda VTX or Valkyrie, and is a steel belted radial. I never thought about the difference this might make. I now make NO course corrections when navigating curves in the twisties. With the stock tire I found myself pushing the bars left or right to correct my line through the curve. I constantly berated myself for poor piloting skills. And after 35 years of riding I really thought my skills should be better.

Apparently the ME is stiffer and doesn't flex and/or changing lean angles don't affect the radial design. I had much more fun two-up for 200 miles through the Smokies yesterday.

Anyway, even if I gain no additional mileage, I'll buy it again next time.

Keeping the shiny side up,
Randy



Trip says a 180/70X-16 I believe the X means bias or bias belted....

Randy speaks of the Radial version...... 180/70R-16....?

Am I reading this right?

I don't think Metzeler makes a bias ME 880

http://www.us.metzelermoto.com/en_85/tires/template_categorie.jhtml?catid=85SPCC&productid=16143&product_list=catid%3D85SPCC%26productid%3D16143

At least the ME 880 Marathon XXL are advertised as radials. I don't see an X in their rear tire options on that link.

Metzelers recommended tire sizes for all metric cruisers

http://www.us.metzelermoto.com/media/2006_metric_upgrades.pdf

I just bought a Metzeler ME 880 150/80-16 Bias Front
& a 160/80-16 Bias Rear (GL-1500) Goldwing tire

Front 150/80-16M/CTL 71H ME880F & Rear 160/80B16M/CTL 75H ME880

I don't know which is better. I'm just going with the ME 880 because everyone says its better. Lots of people on cruiser customizing like the Avons and Metzelers. I'm curious why they suggest a 130/90/16 for the 1600 and a 150/80/16 for the 1500. I imagine you could go with the 150/80/16 just fine on the 1600 isn't that what comes stock?

Thats a mistake on Metzeler's site .... it's 150/80-16 Front 3.50 rim They talked about it on the Delphi forum.... The Classic has a 3.00 rim and calls for a 130/90-16.. not the Nomad (Classic Tourer)

thanks. Ignore my ignorant comment above about the bias. I guess if the front tire doesn't have an "R" after the series number its bias?

Yeh.... but in my case... they don't make a radial in the 160.... so I went with the bias 160 goldwing.. heavy load rated. The 180 is a radial 180/70R16M/CTL 77H ME880

I guess thats what all the discussion was about in the other tire thread about mixing bias and radial that I just skimmed over.

The following is law. (in England)

..........Legal................................... ............... Illegal.................
Crossply front, crossply rear.............. Radial front, crossply rear
Radial front, radial rear..................... Bias belt front, crossply rear
Bias belt front, bias belt rear............. Radial front, bias belt rear
Crossply front, radial rear .
Bias belt front, radial rear .

From this webpage:


http://www.bikesafe.co.uk/Bikesafe/ATS/selecting.html

[dogdoc]

Well now were as clear as Dago Mud, good thing I don't need tires soon or I would just buy stock stoners again. This met 880 thing is WAY too confusing. 1600 takes a 130/90-16 and the rear is a 180/70R 16 correct(if your into mixing bias/radial) like Trip said was OK.

Doc

There are 3 types of tires.

1) Bias (regular), "crossply", X-ply

2) Bias belted, "Belted"

3) Radial, (radial belted), steel belted


Front is supposed to be 150/80-16......... If you put a Radial on the rear, you can put any type up front. If you put a bias belted in the rear, you can put a bias belted or regular bias up front. If you put a regualr bias(X-Ply) on the rear you can only put a regular bias up front.


150/80-16 Bias

150/80B-16 Belted

150/80R-16 Radial


Hope that helps. Nico

[andre]

Wow, that's great tire discussion. One more, The radial 180/70R16M/CTL 77H ME880 does not fit the 2004 Kaw Nomad and the 160/80/16 is as big as I can go?

Thanks
Andre

Wow, that's great tire discussion. One more, The radial 180/70R16M/CTL 77H ME880 does not fit the 2004 Kaw Nomad and the 160/80/16 is as big as I can go?

Thanks
Andre


Correct... if you have a 2004 or older Nomad 1500, it came stock with 150/80-16's Front & Back. You can go up to a 60/80-16 on the back. The 2005 & newer 1600's came with a 170/70-16 Rear.

Okay, I have an 02, which is a 1500FI and need a rear tire. The front is stock. Can I put the ME880 150/80/16 or 160/80/16 with that front tire?

yes & yes lol

Thanks! :)

[dan]

WHATTTT??????????????????????????http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd154/dkre9179/DSCF0004.jpg Whitewall Front, Black Rear, Both Round, Works Great. Front Tire Bridgestone Rear is Bridgestone. I cannot find a wide white for the rear but can hardly see it anyway and would be a bear to clean.