Tire sizes, I'm so confused

[rickyboy]

Hi to all of you and thanks for taking the time to read this thread.

There are so many threads on site that deal with tires. Make, model, size....."the dark side" and car tires? {no thanks but thanks anyways macmac}... I'm at a point where there is just too much information. Kind of like looking at a Denny's menu and then trying to decide just what you might want for breakfast, and then after making the choice of eggs, how the heck you want them cooked,.... scrambled, omelet, over easy, sunny side up......ahhhh! You get my drift. I have read that a lot of you have gone with the Metzler's 880's. Some have gone with the Elite lll's.
I think because because I like the height of the bike and how it sits, I'd like to keep to the stock size for the '06 1600,
[frt 150/80-16}
[rear 170/70-16]
I want to try something other than the Bridgestones, and maybe get a few more miles out of my tires. I believe I've decided to go with Dunlop for a "make". I'm looking at the D206 for the rear. and the D404 for the frt. I'm finding though that some on-line places like Bike Bandit, Dollar Rider confuse matters and one will say that the D206 is a rear tire where the other will call it a frt. tire. ??? So in hopes that this doesn't confuse me any more, are there any suggestions/comments? Do I just trust in one and "roll the dice"? Also .....I've always thought that when talking about a tire, the code relates to
width {profile} / height - diameter of the tire ex. 170/70-16
I've had people {not here} tell me it is height/width/dia. Can you make that clear?

Oh! and by the way I don't care what you want for breakfast, and if it is eggs,.... how you want them. For that matter I don't care where you go for breakfast either. so spare me please. ;)
Thanks again
ride hard but ride safe

[dank]

I think they are recommending the mix of D202 and D404 because the D202 doesn't come with a front size that fits the Nomad and the D404 isn't made in a size that fits the rear on the Nomad, but does have the correct size for the front. My understanding is that the numbers are: width/profile- rim diameter. I have been using Metzler 880's. I've gone through 2 rears and one front. 22,000 miles on the front tires, 13,000 on the rear. I think they corner very well and are good in the rain. They make some noise in corners. Increased diameter over stock tires raises the bike by 1/2 inch and corrects the speedometer, or at least nearly so. I am now switching to a Dunlop Elite III on the rear simply because I need a tire and can't get a new Metzler. They are an back order form the distributor my dealer uses. So I can't report on it. (I like my bikes rubber side down, not over easy.)

[blowndodge]

a 170/70/16 tire means:

170 means 170mm wide

70 means the height of the tread from bead to highest point on tire is 70% of the width. Mulitplying that out you get 119mm high. 170 X .70

16 is the rim diameter or bead to bead.

[rewindgy]

If you likie the Dunflops just go with the Elite 3's
150/80-16 front
160/80-16 rear
By the time you have them on the bike you won't notice any difference other than
you got new tires and man the bike handles good! That 1/4" height will be only noticeable because your old tire was worn out! If you put the new 170/70-16 it would seem higher also!

[Yellow Jacket]

Here's a handy dandy site where you can plug in the tire size numbers and it will give you tire diameter, section width, circumference, etc.
You can even compare two sizes at the same time.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...foTireMath.jsp

[coldfingers]

Hey bob, thanks for the website. That clears up a lot of confusion when you can just type a size in an compare!!

[macmac]

Bob, That link just made life easy... Thanks...

BD has the 'aspect ratio' down. The tire height varries when the same number is used in the middle of the code. So a 160/60 will not be the same height as a 140/60. In this case the 140 would be taller from tread to bead.. And so taller over all. If you ask me a pain to figure.

More over there are arrows to point in rotation, and odds and ends of brands which had odd patterns. I think it was un-wind in Tn that bought tires several times to get it right.. I think she had a rear on the ft backwards, then turned it for the arrow which made the tire really be backwards, and then got another wrong tire yet, before her mess was fixed..

So I can understand the confusion, with similar names on tires, so in bias, some in radial, and some for both ft and rr mt, while others made for a rear mt are used on the front..

It seems as if there is always a easy way, and some guy comes along to make it all much harder because he can..

You can add to that now because German metz and South American metz are seemingly 2 different tires.. To make matters ever worse because it's fun, metz owns Pirelli tires..

This is just a whole fur ball of fun about now eh? this is one reason i went with a CT, and will get a dunlop III up front.. I have real head aches and don't need anymore.

[rickyboy]

I just found this site that will help some of us that aren't as well versed in tires. Thanks for everyones help.I still haven't decided on what to buy.

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadrid...resc/tires.asp

[rlfaubion]

Be sure to read the "Born on Date" before its installed. I once bought a new tire that was very old.