KZ550 Tires

Hey everyone
I got some new tires back in March from my local Kawasaki dealer to replace the Dunlop Qualifiers that came stock. I wanted to order more Qualifiers but the parts guy kept insisting that they never put Qualifier tires on a KZ. I settled for IRC GS-11 tires. www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19086/i/ir...ll-weather-rear-tire
I finally got around to opening the package today and found out they are tube tires instead of the tubeless that the bike needs. I called the dealer and they're making me pay 30% restocking fee to return the tires that their salesman mistakenly ordered But anyway can someone link me to some fairly inexpensive tires that will fit on an 81 KZ550

I believe these are the stock size equivalents for the 1980 KZ550 LTD. Just check first to be positive. Ed

FRONT
www.denniskirk.com/pirelli/front-sport-d...42017.prd/542017.sku

REAR
www.denniskirk.com/pirelli/rear-sport-de...42018.prd/542018.sku

Thanks Ed. Those Pirellis are a thousand times better than the IRC's and 3/4 the price of what I paid for them.

Be sure to use new tubes. Metzeler makes good, natural rubber tubes in the correct sizes. Ed

The rims and old qualifier tires on the 550 say tubeless. Is it a different kind of tube you're talking about?

nickleo373 wrote: The rims and old qualifier tires on the 550 say tubeless. Is it a different kind of tube you're talking about?

Oooops! If your bike's rims are marked tubeless they don't need tubes. My mistake; I'm not used to these new-fangled inventions. :laugh: The Pirelli tires are meant to run without tubes or with them, so they will work fine. Ed

Sport Demon's are great tires, no doubt. Designed for grip at the expense of durability. Unless you are going to be scraping pegs on a regular basis though, there are better choices for the money.

I put more than 7,000 miles on my last Pirelli Sport demon rear tire and it still had a fair amount of tread left when I replaced it (I never let tires wear down too far). There may be longer wearing tires out there, but for me that is far more mileage than I have gotten out of other tires (Michelins and Dunlops), and the Pirelli tires do work very well too. Ed

Thanks for the replies. I got the Kawasaki dealer to take the tires back with a $20 restocking fee which wasn't as bad as I thought. I'll order the pirellis and give them a try

nickleo373 wrote: Hey everyone
I got some new tires back in March from my local Kawasaki dealer to replace the Dunlop Qualifiers that came stock. I wanted to order more Qualifiers but the parts guy kept insisting that they never put Qualifier tires on a KZ. I settled for IRC GS-11 tires. www.motorcycle-superstore.com/19086/i/ir...ll-weather-rear-tire
I finally got around to opening the package today and found out they are tube tires instead of the tubeless that the bike needs. I called the dealer and they're making me pay 30% restocking fee to return the tires that their salesman mistakenly ordered But anyway can someone link me to some fairly inexpensive tires that will fit on an 81 KZ550

Similar thing happened to me at a Kawi dealer..... I just called the credit card company and they refunded me the rest of the money that the dealer ripped me off for "restocking". If it's their mistake, THEY PAY not you. If it is a changed your mind return, you pay.

I tried to get it back from Capital one. Unfortunately they were "unable to help" :pinch:

nickleo373 wrote: I tried to get it back from Capital one. Unfortunately they were "unable to help" :pinch:

That's why I bought the paper shredder with the oversized motor... it also shreds credit cards. :laugh: