Front tire use on rear

Any experience with using a front tire on the rear? For my KZ550 build I want to keep the stock 19" front and 18" rear rims. I'm making spoke rims and I want to put a 110-19 tire up front and a 120 or 130-18 tire in rear. Problem is, it's incredibly hard to find that rear tire size with the 110-19 front tire to match.
But, I can find certain tires, e.g., Battlax T31, that have 110-19 front and 120-18 front.

Wondering if I can use that 120-18 front tire in the rear. Thanks,

Front tires used on rear not recommended by any tire manufacturer.
Look up Bridgstone S11 Spitfire. They have 110/90-19 front and 120/90-18 rear.

Egads! Why would you want to put a 110/19 tire on the front?

The stock front tire is 3.25 width, but the 110 tire is 4.00 or 4.25 depending on the specific tire brand (see link below). Consequently, the 110 tire is too wide for the stock front rim of a KZ550. If you somehow manage to squeeze that wide tire onto that narrow rim you will change the profile of the tire so it will not perform properly. Putting that wide tire up front is going to affect handling - but not in a good way.

So why not use the stock size front tire since it not only will fit but it also will allow the bike to handle well? Ed

www.denniskirk.com/learn/tire-sizes-explained

My Avon Roadrider 3.25-19 tire is universal and has arrows for front and rear use
The back tire 4.00-18 is for rear use only.
www.avontyres.com/en-gb/tyre-details/59/.../?cartype=motorcycle
They fit my rims perfectly and work really well.

That said, would I put a front tire on a back rim? No

To be fair, he is not saying he wants to put a 110 onto a stock rim. He is making custom wheels, so the rim he chooses may be fine with a 110 on the front.

So maybe the real question is why put a wider rim on the front? Since he is going with a spoke wheel, maybe he is concerned with unsprung weight which might indicate he wants to use the bike in some sort of semi-off-road racing or maybe some heavy duty touring, in which case he may want beefier tires.

Either way, I don't think I'd use a rear-specific tire on the front.

Yeah, sorry guys, more facts: I'm using a '98 ZX-6R fork. I had a custom spoked hub made (Cognito) to fit the ZX-6R fork and use its twin disks. The hub is spoked to a 2.75"x19" Sun rim.

My idea on the 110-19 is to go slightly wider than stock and "fit" better inside the bigger forks, while retaining essentially stock trail and frame geometry by doing something similar on the rear - using a 120 or 130-18 (I'm using a ZR550 Zephyr swingarm, which uses a 140-17 stock tire, and KZ1000 spoked disc hub).

I've not been able to find a set of tires that provide the 110-19 front and the 120-18 rear, but I'll look at the S11 Spitfire - thanks!

I'm ready to buy the rear Sun rim, so I want to find the tire first so I know what width rim to buy.

smcmillen66 wrote: Yeah, sorry guys, more facts: I'm using a '98 ZX-6R fork. I had a custom spoked hub made (Cognito) to fit the ZX-6R fork and use its twin disks. The hub is spoked to a 2.75"x19" Sun rim.

Is the 2.75" rim wider than a 3.25 rim? That seems odd. You are putting a wider tire onto a narrower rim?

3.25 650ed refers to is the old-style tire size for stock tire, not the rim width.
2.75" rim width accommodates various width tires, about 100 to 120, depending on aspect ratio. So, that rim size is perfect for a 110-80/19.

Ahh. Thank you.

Looked at the Spitfires and I think I'll go with them. Thanks! I guess I overlooked them .