yeah i agree that you'll know what to expect from the profile, but on what size rim. It will make a difference, am i wrong? so if thats true and rim size does matter, it makes that graph pretty much useless if you dont have all of the information.

 

eh, i dont see it mattering a great deal, cause the sidewall will stretch a little for a slightly larger rim...but i do agree, if the sidewall is pulled out too much for too large of a rim, it could be dangerous while in a turn because your losing some of that support.



you can see bike tires are not like conventional car tires, with a straight perpendicular sidewall. bikes sidewalls are meant to be perpendicular while leaned over. thats where stretching the tire to the rim comes into play. i feel there is a wide enough selection out there that you can find something that meets your specific, or relatively specific needs, and you wont have to compromise safety by using odd tire/rim combo's.



and yes, the graph is decieving, the 180 is 10mm less wide apex to apex than the 190's and that is illustrated, but your right, they dont say what size rim it would be used for.

 

good post.

 

Rim - Optimum tire size

4.5" - 160\60
5" - 170\60
5.5" - 180\55
6" - 190\50,55

In the very least, these are the tire choices made by the engineers from each manufacturer when deciding the rim size. Now I know that a 170/60 fits on a 5.5" rim & a 180/55 fits a 6" rim, but I never seen them come that way from the manufacturer.

 

one thing i would like to figure out, cause i keep trying to imagine it in my head, is if you put a 190-50 on the 5.5" rim, if the profile would become more agressive and i would think the contact patch at full lean would be increased aswell. or the lean angle would increase. personally i would rather the contact patch increase rather than the lean angle.

 

I tried a 170/60 in a 4.5" rim in the past. It pulled the tire in too much, and I had a portion of the tire I couldn't use no matter what I tried. In the long run after it was time to change it, the tire did not maintain its composure at speed & was causing a nasty tank slapper when approaching 120mph...

I can tell you I will never again try that mess.

I personally don't think anyone here has to worry about running out of tire on the street or track with any of these tires... you'll drag hard parts 1st (pegs, stand, midpipe, etc...)

 

eh, in my more "spirited" riding i've worn D206's and pilot powers right to the very very edge. i started to pick up knee dragging and worrying much less about "chicken strips" shortly after an incident where i assume i ran out of tire during a lean. luckily i didn't go down, if it had been the back tire i figure it'd have kicked out on me and probably hi side me, but it was the front, and it literally didn't even push, just slid about 10 feet from the looks of the marks on the road.

 

One benefit of doing track days is that for the most part the track is maintained.

The streets are not, so your assumption may be correct, but I would be more inclined to base any hypothesis on the matter on poor road conditions when riding at the limit on the streets than running out of tire.

 

I believe this happened in the clovers and afterwards he went back and checked to find no sand or anything on the road that wouldn't be on a track.


but its may have been a different time... Kenny will let me know if I'm wrong lol.


it is very possible to run out of lean angle on street tires, while street riding. when doing steady state cornering, like clovers, where you work your speed up and even can over heat a tire. Vince chucked the shit out of a qualifier front out there once. dogbone posted a long time ago, what angle each tire is rated for. track tires being way more then street tires.



p.s i hate those damn clovers. i have always rode them like a puss and didn't even want to show matt and his friends that night, but we were bored. i was worried they would crash while out there... lucky none of them ever did.

 

clovers? Interstate ramps???