1982 KZ750H Dual Sport tires

Hi,

I'm currently looking to get something more like a dual sport tire for my bike. I'm having a hard time finding any that seem to fit but to be totally honest i'm a little confused by the sizing. Anyone have any good recommendations for tires? I've gone through all the ones in the part selector for J&P cycles but haven't quite found what I am looking for.

Just curious - why dual sport on a KZ750? Seems like a rather big, heavy bike for that type of tire; how do you plan to use the bike? Ed

check this thread out:
kzrider.com/forum/17-ride-reports/609727-gpz-750-adv#794988

For the tire sizes try the Dunlop motorcycle tire site >> it has a tire lookup by model. Or find the tire in the diagrams at Partzilla for your motorcycle & do an internet search for motorcycle tire conversion chart or something like that.

Your tires are probably the same size as my 81 KZ650-CSR >> I go with a 100/90-19 Fr & 130/90-16 Rr.
I'm currently running Bridgestone Battlax BT45s.

650ed wrote: Just curious - why dual sport on a KZ750? Seems like a rather big, heavy bike for that type of tire; how do you plan to use the bike? Ed

Oh would it? I'm rather new to this as it is my first bike and to be totally honest I just really like the looks of them.

No offense intended, but buying tires based on looks rather than grip is a mistake if you plan to ride the bike. Keep in mind that a bike has only 2 tires, so the amount of grip they provide is really important in keeping the rider out of trouble. My advice is to buy the tires you can afford that provide the most grip and not to worry about the looks. Besides, high quality tires actually look best to folks who know bikes. Ed

Reiterating what 650ed said, get tires with good grip. I go for tires that're supposed to be good on wet roads, so the grip will be great when it's dry. You don't want to crash for lack of a proper or decent tire. I don't even think about how they look. Some tires have raised white lettering which looks good on some vintage motorcycles, such as a KZ1000-Ltd. Whitewalls on the other hand are about as goofy as it gets IMHO. :laugh:

not mine. and no offense.

On the other hand, there is a whole class of large-bore dual sport bikes in the market today that weigh considerably more than a KZ750-4. Triumph Tiger 1200, V-Strom 1000, and the big ones from BMW. That being said, I do not choose to own any of them. If I was going to build a classic, large bore scrambler (dual sport), I would pick a 750 twin.

I think this kinda boils down the bobber customization argument. Stock bike with correct tires perform (typically, I don't know everything) the best. Putting struts on the back (decreasing useable performance) for looks (cooler tires in this case) results in a rideable bike, but its no longer a canyon carver due to lack of suspension. I hope that analogy makes sense.

What kind of tires were you thinking though?