i need new tires, and have a chance to get a 120 65 17 front tire for cheap. its a good tire, just a not stock size. How will this affect my bike?

 

Stick to the 70, sir. You'll affect the geometry of the bike if you change your tire rating. 120/70 in the front and 180/55 in the rear. =]

 

what he said

 

I agree. If you did do the new tire, you would need a speedohealer since your mileage will be off. Dont do it. Stick to stock.

 

but how will it affect my bike? thanks

 

badly, good chance it will also cause uneven wearing of your other tire.

 

+1. just stick with stock. That is what they come with, that is what you should use. plain and simple.

 

dude you guys are all crazy. absolute BS. You can totally run a 65 profile up front. How it will affect your ride: slower turn in speed, less lean capacity, better wear characteristics over a long period of time. very minor change to your front ride height, could easily be overcome by adjusting the fork positions a little lower in the triples.

I know people who have only ever ridden a stock bike will say "stick with OEM, just to be safe" but bottom line is, if the tire fits (e.g. no rubbing), you can ride on it.

Is the speedo pickup really in the front hub? I'm new to the F4i, but I didn't notice any wires coming from the front hub area. Therefore, changing the front tire size should not affect your speedo reading.

I'm assuming the 120 65 is a race take-off? typically the inbetween sizes are for track tires. if the price is right, try it out, tell us how it feels!

don't listen to these other guys who are afraid of trying something different. My last bike was an SV650 running with a GSXR front wheel and and F3 rear wheel. It rode amazing, far superior to stock. If the tire fits, you can run it. Seriously.

the blonde weasel

 

To continue on this topic, actually, you can look at it this way:

Take a look at your rear tire. Got chicken strips? Yeah, me too. Because riding on the street doesn't distribute wear evenly over the tire surface (unless you're dragging knee on the way to grab groceries).

On my old SV, for instance. The stock rim is 4.5", and running a 160 width rear leaves you with some pretty standard chicken strips for street riding. When I bought my F3 rear (5" width), I put the same 160 width tire on, and since the rim was wider, the tire becomes less "pinched". I was running that same 160 tire and started to wear the tires all the way out to the edge. I was getting more "bang for my buck" because I was distributing wear more evenly over the surface of the tire during normal street riding. Yes,I theoretically lost some lean angle, but I wasn't dragging knee around town.

Same principle applies to lower profile tires. compared to a 120 / 70 front, a 120 / 65 will ever so slightly be less "pinched" on the front rim. This means you lose just a slight amount of lean angle. Very slight. but you'll probably notice you're able to wear the tire (again, ever so slightly) a little further out towards the edge.

The major difference is turn-in aggression of the bike. The bike will want you to "push" it a little more into the turns. With a 120/70, the bike will want to "fall" into the turn.

On my SV, again as an example, I could run either a 120 / 70 or 120 / 60 up front. and I did. These were the differences I noticed. My explanation here is to some extent a generalization the bottom line is it will affect different bikes differently depending on the bike's specific steering geometry.

You'll never know unless you try.

the blonde weasel

 

i have very very small chicken strips on the front tire, i tend to lean the bike all the way over. i'm still gonna get it because the price is right, and its not a takeoff. its a 200mile street tire.