Choosing a Motorcycle Tire

Choosing the right tire

Choosing the right tire is important for the overall performance of the motorbike. Unfortunately, choosing the right tire is a minefield of overly complicated terminology and marketing jargon.
This article is going to provide the absolute basics to choosing a tire, without getting too technical. 

To simplify things, this is the basics of what we are looking for.

1. Get a tire that actually fits (rim size)

2. Get a tire that is suitable for the motorbike (width/height)

3. Choose your riding style (Dual sport, Off-road, Adventure, Supermoto, Cruiser, Sport)

4. Choose the compound (high performance + low durability or low performance and high durability)

Talk about sizing and the numbers on the tire

Generally, it is a bad idea to stray away from the OEM tire that came with the motorbike. Look in the service manual and find the sizing of the tire that should be on your motorbike. This is the quickest and easiest way to narrow down your choices.

What do the numbers mean!

As an example, let's look at the Metzeler Karoo Street Front Tire [110/80R-19 TL]

The first number (110) - This is the width of the tire.
Width affects the performance and handling of the motorbike. It is possible to go both wider and thinner than the stock OEM tire. However, it is recommended to follow the service manual.

The second number (80) - This, in simple terms, is the height of the tire. Going both taller and shorter is possible, but motorbikes change a supprising amount with small adjustments and it is worth the following stock if possible.

The letter R - This is a method of manufacturing, and for the purposes of Vietnam and everything we see in this country, then (R) is the only choice.

The third number (19) - This is the rim size and this needs to exactly match your wheel. 

The final letters (TL) - This means a tubeless tire. A wheel suited to inner-tubes can have both tube and tubeless tires. A wheel suited for tubeless tires, can not have tubed tires. 

Why is venturing away from stock recommendations a bad idea?

In theory, having a wider tire should increase the service area of contact between the tire and the road. However, a thick tire on a thin wheel will be squeezed into an unnatural shape. Instead of increasing the service area of contact to the road, you are changing the physical shape of the tire away from what it was designed for.

Raising the height will speed up how quickly the motorbike leans into corners. It will also create a wobble at high speeds. Finally, a high tire might hit the rear mudguard of the motorbike.

Playing around with sizes is certainly possible, but everything has a pro and con.

How to know if a tire is old 

On the sidewall of the tire is a triangle symbol. This arrow marks the placement of rubber within the tread patterns that can be used to determine condition. If these added pieces of rubber are flat to the rest of the tire, then it is old. 

Common motorbike tires in Vietnam

Honda Wave tire size / Semi-Automatic

The two tires we want are the Swallow Samurai SB-128 80/90-17 on the front and the Swallow Samurai SB-128 90/80-17 on the back tire.

Automatic big wheels (Airblade tire size)

On the front and back, we want the Swallow X-Blade Tire Set For Honda Airblade. Choose the 90/90 for the back and the 80/90 for the front.

What does this mean - The back is a little bit wider than the front. They are both the same height, and they have the same rim size.

Yamaha Exciter and Honda Winner tire size

On the back, we want the Dunlop D102 130/70-17 and on the front, we want the Dunlop D102 70/90-17

What does this mean - The back tire is much wider than the front tire. They are both the same height, and they have the same rim size.

Honda XR 150 tire size

On the back, we want the Vee Rubber VRM 307 110/90-17" and on the front, we want the Vee Rubber VRM 163 90/100-19.

 What does this mean - The back tire is wider and shorter than the front tire. The back wheel is smaller at 17 inches than the front wheel at 19 inches.

The Honda XR 150 has "weird" wheel sizes, in that nearly no other motorbike model has the same sizes. This means the choice of tire is limited. Unfortunately all off-road specific tires on the XR 150 we deem as dangerous Chinese scrap. 

For serious offroading, we recommend not using the Honda XR 150 due to this tire limitation.

The good news is that the VEE Rubber Dual sport tires are amazing value for money!

Dual Sport motorbikes (Honda CRF and more)

Here we need to choose the style of riding that we are doing.

Dual-Sport (on-road and offroad) -Then on the back we want the Dunlop Trailmax D605 and on the front, we want the Dunlop Trailmax D605 Front 3.00-21.

Full Offroad - Then on the back and front we want the Dunlop Geomax MX. Choose the 18" for the back and the 21" for the front.

What does this mean - The back tire is both wider and shorter than the front tire. The rim size of the back tire is smaller than the rim size of the front tire.

The combination of 18" and 21" wheels for off-road oriented motorbikes is common, so there is plenty of choices and driving styles to be had!

Have a look at the Dunlop TrailMax D605 for a common dual sport tire.

ADV Motorbikes (Honda CB 500x, BMW GS 1200 and more)

In the world of ADV it's a good idea to check the service manual as the tire sizes are going to fluctuate between models and even the year. A Honda CB 500x 2018 has a different wheel size to a Honda CB 500x 2019 for example.

We also have a wide variety depending on the style of driving that we want to do. As a great compromise of around 70% road and 30% offroad we recommend the Metzeler Karoo Street tire. It is quiet to run at speeds and handles the dirt well enough for most ADV riders.

On the back, we want the 17" and on the front, we want the 19".

What does this mean - The back tire is wider and shorter than the front tire.

Currently we are loving the Metzeler Karoo Street Tire.

Cruiser tires such as Harley Davidson 

Cruisers come in all different styles shapes and sizes. Finding the correct size in the service manual is important, however, if you want to beef up the look of the motorbike when selecting a wider profile will help.
Keep in mind though, this will affect the handling and performance of the motorbike (make it worse).

We recommend the Dunlop D404 Cruiser Tire which is a tire that suits the road and comes in an incredible range of sizes.

Choosing a motorcycle tire brand

Tires in Vietnam range from around $12 (Chinese tire for a Honda Wave) right up to the hundreds of dollars for sports motorbikes and ADV motorbikes. Most people do not drive enough to realistically make comments on the shelf life of a particular tire brand. At TigitMotorbikes.com we 400+ motorbikes on the road traveling Vietnam, we are able to run some tests to find the best value for money tires. However, even our testing is limited and needs improving. The tires on this website are the current brands that we feel are the best value for money in the country.

Generally speaking, cheap tires tend to have a shorter life, less grip and are more vulnerable to flats. It is worth buying branded tires, the hard part is determining which brand has the best value for money! Just because a local mechanic shop is selling a $12 Honda Wave tire, doesn't mean that it is the best value for money tire.

Conclusion 

The world of motorcycle tires is confusing and complicated. However, it can be made much easier by:

  1. Understanding what your driving style is
  2. Looking up the OEM tire size for your motorbike

In reality, there is not much choice in Vietnam. Unless you know what you are doing then you shouldn't be venturing away from stock sizes. With stock size accounted for and the limited variety of brands available, the choice is fairly simple.