Comments on: Motorcycle Tire Size 400 Wide

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:29:32 +0000

6k for a paint job. Yeah! I know a lot of guys who spent a a few grand for a paint job just for the first time effect. There are thousands of custom paint jobs and all of them are old now.lol The best custom paint is stock paint in my book.

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:21:35 +0000

Ridiculous comments, the whole concept of the tire is to look friggin cool. And it does. All this talk about cornering and traction. If practicality was the real topic, I wouldn’t have spent 6k painting my bike.

By: Chris Edmonds

Chris Edmonds — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:06:00 +0000

I am from North Carolina and I have seen a growing intrest in the big tire market out there. I was interest in putting a kit on my 2001 Hayabusa untill I saw the after effects on another bike. The wider tire is more of a parking lot show upgrade than performance. I saw a bike at a show with a 240 kit and the chain was rubbing the rear tire. If you go wider than 240 you must use 2 sprokets and 2 chains or jackshaft as they call it. I took a few mechanical classes in my day an that calls for loss of power through transmission and strain on components. I also noticed when the rider with the wide tire kit made turns and corners he had to go wide and slow. This cuts down your reaction time as well. If you get into a situation where you have to make a quick move. You might not be able to. The bottom line is if you are going to ride everyday and like curves it’s not for you. If you ride slow and like to show go get it.

By: scott

scott — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:43:14 +0000

aaron is dead on. all you other people are idiots. Even a slightly bigger rear sprocket has a huge impact on the rear wheel gyro… imagine how much larger the increase in the I value has with that huge tire. redic. Im sure moto gp riders have close to the ideal set up considering they pound out almost 300 horse power on a bike that has a smaller motor then your neighbors R1. And i dont see them using any wider tire then i have on my bike.

By: kk

kk — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:55:55 +0000

The contact patch does matter, however in your physics classes they taught you that it doesn’t. The surface area of the contact patch cancels out of all relevant friction equations (go check your physics book, since the normal force is divided by the surface area there is less force per unit area. The equation for static friction has nothing to do with the contact area) So in ideal conditions it wouldn’t matter if the tire was a mile or an inch wide, the friction is the same. However, this is the real world so we have to consider heat dissipation, deformation of the tire, and other things that are affected by the tire shape/ size. More contact area is better for reasons that go beyond the physics classroom and into graduate level research labs. The reason why racers run less air is because it increases tire deformation (not contact area), and more heat goes into the tire. (Ideal tire temps are usually around 170 degrees.) Also surface conditions can greatly influence the friction forces on a tire. Wider tires display a more consistent co-efficient of friction then do narrow ones. Anyway my point being wider is not always better…. Its not a simple equation you might have picked up in 5th grade.