Rear tyre width

[TomB]

Hi folks

I have a swing arm and rear wheel for a Special in my Rat project and want to fit a 150/80V16 tyre (tire )

Do they fit in the swing arm? or do they fit with a small amount of swing arm alignment adjustment.

Tom

[John]

The widest tire that can be squeezed in is a 140 BLACK side wall. Raised white letters on a 140 will rub on the swingarm.

[TopCatGr58]

Tom,

John's right, I've put a 140/90-16 on my special, but it has/HAD RWL's, but they got partially rubbed off, and also, I got some other side wall rub when I was riding 2 up in NY last year, due to stress and tire/sidewall flex.

You could possibly weld some extra support to the top and bottom portion of the swingarm near where it indents for the tire, and then cut out that portion. There's not much room between the inside edge of the SA and the driveshaft. I've seen some mods where the driveshaft is exposed....some hard tail mods. You might be able to weld some thinner plate over the resultant hole that will still keep it dust/mud free but still allow room for the wider tire. There's lots of room on the right side of the SA, it's the left driveshaft side that's the problem.

I do remember someone posting about shimming the wheel away from the final drive unit to provide more room on the driveshaft side, but I don't like that idea?
T.C.

[Crazcnuk]

Does this go for the standards as well? I am looking at new tires this spring, and was also wondering what the largest/widest tires I can install would be, front and back.

[TopCatGr58]

I can't comment on the Standard, mine is in pieces, and won't be together for quite some time. But I think you may be more limited by the availability of tires of any extra width in the 17" size you need!?
T.C.

[Crazcnuk]

I've noticed that in researching them.

I like the fact that I have the 17", but the 120/90 is really narrow, for me.

But, if that's what it takes!

The 110/90-19 on the front is very common for bikes inthe late 70's early 80's. I don't have a problem with that one, but a little wider one in the rear would be nice.

[Brian_D]

From the pn's listed on the Yamaha web site, it appears that all years/models of XS1100's and the XJ1100 use the same swingarm - the only difference being the "finish".

[TomB]

Thanks Lads

I do remember someone posting about shimming the wheel away from the final drive unit to provide more room on the driveshaft side, but I don't like that idea?

Thats what I had in mind then moving the whole plot back to centre on the swingarm adjustment, I was thinking I could space the splined spider away from the wheel to make sure I keep the splines fully engaged, (all just theory )
I've got a 130 on the Special wheel at the moment and about a 10mm gap (3/8") so I guessed a 150 might fit leaving no clearance and then do a bit of shimming to get back some clearance.

I also own a Standard E with a 130 fitted with no problems, I've owned it for 23 years and had lots of different brand tires fitted with no problems.