140 on rear?

Looking at new tires,Shinko 777's. 16 inch cast, from a 77 LTD 1000. Have always used a 130 on my wire wheels. Can I go 140 on this wheel? Thanks
Wayne

I'm not a tire specialist but I believe the the 140 will cause a dis-formed tire shape and will not be beneficial to you.

kaw-a-holic wrote: I'm not a tire specialist but I believe the the 130 will cause a dis-formed tire shape and will not be beneficial to you.

While this is certainly true for the normal 18 inch rear wheels the LTD has 16 inch wheels that are a little wider. They came stock with 510-18 MT90 size tires. These are equivalent to 130/90 tires. Having said that, I wouldn't put 140 size tires on it for the reason kaw-a-holic mentioned. Putting too wide a tire on a narrow rim will deform the tire's profile which in general negates any benefit of the wider tire. Below is the diagram from Kawasaki.com showing the 1977 KZ1000-B1 (LTD) rear tire size, and below that is a tire chart that shows the metric/inch comparisons. Ed

You should have at least a 2.75" wide wheel if you want to run a 140, and preferably a 3.00. You might want to look at the wheel, the size is typically cast into one of the spokes.

I ca't get the table to load here but it says that a 140 tire should have a 2.75...3.00...3.50 rim. I always thought those 16" rims were 3.00 wide but best to look to be sure which would be in the range suggested for a 140 tire.

650 and up - 3.00 x 16
440 and down 2.15 x 16
550 ?

Thanks for the info. Cannot find any marks on rim other than Kawasaki. Outside of bead area is 3.75 inches. I am concerned with chain clearance though. Current tire is a MT90 which is equal to 130/90 i believe. With that tire I have 1/4 to 5/16" clearance. Stock size chain. I suppose I could gain a little by going to the smaller chain.
Wayne

Unfortunately, you won't gain clearance by going to a smaller chain. The plane of the inboard face of the sprockets will remain the same, so the inboard link plates will be the same distance from the tire. Ed

i run a 140 on my 750R1

650ed wrote: Unfortunately, you won't gain clearance by going to a smaller chain. The plane of the inboard face of the sprockets will remain the same, so the inboard link plates will be the same distance from the tire. Ed

Thank you sir,had not thought of that.
Wayne