Tire Question?

I have the 19" front and 3.00x16" rear wheels on my KZ1000. Just wondering where the best place is to find decent tires at a good price. I want to go as wide as possible on the rear. Right now it has a 140 on it and there is room.

Dennis Kirk isn't too bad but there are lots of places on the net selling tires. I buy at my local bike shop because they throw in mount and balance for free. Many local shops have decent prices now to compete with the net and the free mount/balance actually ends up being cheaper because you will typically pay $25 for that and you also have to pay shipping on a tire. Shipping is getting expensive these days.

A 140 and you still have room? Are you running an aftermarket swingarm? I think the widest you can go without getting into chain clearance issues is a 150 but your looking at changing your swingarm to fit a 150. You will need to run a wider rear wheel also as you can't get into a larger rear tire with say a 150 70 18 or a 160 60 18 with a stock wheel. I don't know what tires are out there as far as 16" wheels though.

I take it your running stock LTD type mags?

Its a lot of work & $ getting a big tire on the back of one of these bikes, but can be done, just a pain in the rear.

Another area that is often overlooked when upgrading the swingarm is your rear brake linkage where it connects to the pedal for swingarm clearances.

Cheers, Doug

Right now there is a Kenda Challenger 140/90-16 and I don't see any wear on the side where the chain would have hit it. Stock swingarm and rim. Also I notice that both front and rear have normal tubless type stems and the rims do not say tubeless on them. That could explain why the front tire is flat and off of the bead. When I can get a closer look I will take a picture of the inside of the front rim and post.

Hmmm, maybe you can fit a 150 in there. You could measure your 140 between the sidewall and chain... the 150 sidewall shd. be 5mm closer to the chain (installed, inflated, & aligned). Plus you will need a few mm extra for your chain tire clearance.

As far as the bead on your rims I remember a thread not long ago regarding radial tires and the factory Kawasaki Enki 7 spoke LTD rims, maybe try a search on here. I can't remember the final outcome of the thread.

Your bike sounds pretty cool by your signature, any pics? Later, Doug

Thanks Zedzone. I should have some pics. in the next week or so as I am really starting to get back into the project hopefully ready for summer time.