The other day I realized that one of the bikes I'd bought, the 1988 from England, had a Pirelli on the front and a Dunlop on the rear. I have no philosophical objection to this but then I also read quite a bit about NOT putting a 160 on the rear of these bikes, because it was far to big compared the original 130. Theory was that it was a) too big for the rim and b) too big for the design of the bike. Could cause handling issues. Since I've never enjoyed riding the '88 as much as the '90, I thought maybe this was a thing.

I did a bit of digging and decided to replace the tire with a Pirelli, in order to match the front and to allow me to drop down in size. I put on a 140 Pirelli. Evaluation? I haven't ridden it that much but it didn't really seem to make much difference. I do, however, feel better about having a 140 tire on that 130 rim.

 

im running the same setup on mine, 110 front and 140 rear both perrellis, now I was able to get a 150 on the rim without any contact anywhere however before I got to try it the tire was faulty and would not hold air and I put a 140 on.

 

All the reading I did while I thought about that Dunlop Supermax 160 said you could go up two sizes on a rim. That's in line with what I remember (Harley mechanic for many years) although with Harleys you generally only have room under the fender to go up one size, so it rarely becomes a question.

 

the 160 is just too big without doing some suspension modifications