Tires

Can anyone tell me what the widest tires front and rear that will fit on my stock 1977 kz-1000a wheels.

I am not looking to get crazy fat tires, just wider than stock?

Thanks, Dave

Dave, I personally found that when trying wider tires on my standard Z1R rims got me worse handling and basically because of the rim size the 130 I had on the rear looked as wide as the 120 but the 120 handled better. I never tried a different tire size on the front, the Z1R has a 110/90 x 18 whereas the Kz1000 had 100/90 x 19 (I think).

Personally I think the only way to increase the tire size (without stuffing the ride quality) on the Z is to have a wider rim than the current bicycle rims they currently have.

Good luck

The KZ1000-A1 came with the same size tire as my KZ650-C1. On my bike I ran 130/90-18 rear tires for years. They work ok but are quite difficult to mount on the narrow rim. BUT, I now use 120/90-18 on the rear and have found they work as well (if not better) than the 130. The reason is that the 130 tire is too wide for the rim, so when the 130 is on the rim the tire is pinched in so tight at the bead that the cross section of the tire is deformed. This deformation reduces the contact patch with the road to the same or less than that of the 120 tire. My advice is to go with a 120/90-18 rear tire and replace the front tire at the same time with the same brand. Use high quality tires and tubes for maximum traction and safety. I currently use Pirelli Sport Demons with Metzeler tubes and have been very pleased with their performance. Ed

I'm with Ed, quote;
My advice is to go with a 120/90-18 rear tire and replace the front tire at the same time with the same brand. Use high quality tires and tubes for maximum traction and safety. I currently use Pirelli Sport Demons with Metzeler tubes and have been very pleased with their performance. Ed

On his recommendation I bought the set of Sport Demons that he is talking about for my 78 kz 1000 and for 7000+ miles they have served me well.

I will have to replace the back tire after another 3 K due to the fact that I am running at max weight most the time, but the front tire still looks real good and hopefully will last another long season.

The back tire is wider than stock and looks beefy enough for me .

You may find that this wide a tire will rub on the plastic chain guard a little but there is room to trim it for clearance and it is still plenty strong , this is a mod.that I did many years ago and have had no problems .

I'll add a picture later today.

JD

Here's a shot of the tire.