very nice

 

Before you consider going to anything over 240mm for a rear tire you should study the physics of that move -- what the trade-off are. Fatter tires mean more weight on the wheel and that requires more engine power to turn so can reduce the performance of your motorcycle in rate of acceleration with very small benefit in improved contact patch. Also fatter tires require a harder lean angle in curves -- a fact of physics that many people don't realize. This increases your riding risk and reduces the speed in which you can take a certain curve. In short the performance tradeoffs are: 1) Decreased acceleration; 2) Increased 60-0 stopping distance (increased road patch vs more intertia); 3) Increased lean angle required for a curve with increased risk; 4) Slower performance on a given curve (when you have maxed out your lean angle); 5) Increased liklihood of rear wheel hydro-planning (on wet road surface) leading to high-ending. I wouldn't make any upgrade for looks alone... but that is just me.

 

I agree totally with Capt America... these machines weren't designed by the OCC folks as theme bikes to be looked at... they are computer engineered performance machines and so the wheels, swingarm, etc. all parts that work optimumly together and you don't want to go in there and make a change without knowing how it impacts other interdependent components.

I have OEM stock 240 on the back (VRSCDXA 2008) and also went to the Pirelli Night Dragon... why? Those German designers know what the hell they are doing and test their tires in real life MotoGP races and they know what tire profiles and compounds work best! The Night Dragon has a dual radiused design that provides about 10% more contact patch so you are already getting the traction benefit that switching to 280 would provide but without any of the downside performance robbing "features" of it! The Night Dragon also is a multi-compound tire designed for longevity on the center and a sticker compound on the sides to promote adhesion in the curves (when you need it most!).

Note on Balancing: Hey... just a note... when balancing these tires. There are two red dots on the sidewall then that is the lightest point of the tire. You first put your wheel (with rotors, bearings, etc. installed) on the static balancer and find the heavy point of the wheel (no tire installed yet) then when you put the tire on the wheel just match up the red dots to the heavy point on the wheel and you have countered some imbalance (you can use less wheel weights). Then for the front tire (at least) I would recommend finding a place that can dynamic balance (spin balance) so that you don't have a dual-plane counter-imblance (won't show on a static balancer) that can admit "death wobble" if you have some kind of bearing failure or something. Wheels that are dynamically balanced on dual-planes naturally resist wobble even if some other condition promotes it. Some automobile balancing machines have the capability of also doing motorcycle wheels if they have the hub/adapter. When dynamically balancing the wheel weights are place as far out on the wheel as possible (close to the tire rubber).

Also a good balancing tip if you are limited to static balancing is to split the balance weight and put them as close to the center plane of the wheel equally on both sides (helps to prevent a dual-plane counter-imbalance which heavy weighting during static balancing (generally put on one side of the wheel) can promote. So if you need 10 grams then put a 5 gram weight on both sides of the hub across from each other to make up 10 grams. This is a good practice -- few people don't know to follow. I guess the rule of the day is "good nuff" -- not me! I want "superb" when I can get it.