Dual Sport Tires for TT-R125LE

[BadlandZ]

My wife has a 2004 Yamaha TT-R125LE that she really enjoys riding. She wants to ride more, up to the store, to the post office, short trips in our small rural village/town.

So, I installed a complete Baja Designs dual-sport kit, she has electric start, turn signals, all the things to make a nice dual sport. However, the tires suck on the street, and are proving to be a problem getting street plates.

So, I need a very street oriented dual sport tire, or, if not a full street tire would even be ok. But we still do trail riding, mostly down dirt roads, not really aggressive at all.

The problem is, I can't seem to find ANYTHING in for a 70/100-19 front and 90/100-16 rear other than full dirt, soft, big knobby, non-DOT tires. Can anyone point me to ANY source of tires for those sizes?

[sponge]

the kenda k760 trackmaster II is listed to come in those sizes (i'll probably try to order them myself in the new winter). you could also try bridgestone trailwings which are slightly larger than the sizes you've listed, but i've heard that they do work on the ttr125le. both are dot rated tires. the kenda's are knobbies, the trailwings are dualsport tires. if your wife isn't riding much in the dirt, you could also mount a set of street tires on the bike (street fronts for the front and rear tire (ie. bt45's)).

i love my street plated ttr125le. i was going to stick street rubbers on the stock rims, but decided to lace up some 17" wheels. i do plan on mounting up some dot knobbies on the stock rims to do some dual sporting. oh, if you are going to mount handguards on the bike, move the turn signals off the fork tubes and onto the headlight unit by drilling a hole and using two large washers.

my bike

? :cry: ?

[BadlandZ]

i was going to stick street rubbers on the stock rims, but decided to lace up some 17" wheels.

my bike

? :cry: ?

Looks good. Did you have any clearance problems with the 17's? What rim widths and tire sizes did you use? What kind of financial damage is involved? Are there "aggressive" street tires (rain?) that might work for light trail rides?

[sponge]

i'm running excel rims (2.5 front, 3.5 rear) with 110/70-17 tires front and back. clearance on the front wheel is good, but the next time i do a wheel change, i'm going to route the hydralic brake cable to the outside of the fork (the tire rubs against it during installation). i've heard of people mounting 120 width tires up front on the ttr125le, but they all report a little bit of rubbing. i've been told that the widest tire you can go with the ttr125le aluminum swing arm is also a 120 before you start rubbing the chain. i didn't feel like finding out if what i'm told is true or not, but on my bike, those numbers look good so my reccommendation is to run no bigger than a 110 in the front, and a 120 in the rear. the reason i'm running 110/70-17 front and rear is simply cause i'm a bit cheap (cheng shins can be had for about $65 a tire usd). running tires that are a touch too big or too small then the rims that they were designed for isn't the worse thing you could do. as long as you don't have clearance problems, life ussually goes on (sometimes you won't use all of the tire width when you're leaned overed)

cost. i don't really remeber the exact numbers, and to make it worse, i'm in canada (i pay in cnd dollars, and i pay for shipping, and duties, and such). and then i didn't feel like dealing with lots of people so i got my local motorbike store to order all the parts in. i'm sure they took a cut too (which is fine, they deserve to make some money too). i ordered in a set of stock hubs too. the spokes are heavy duty, and the rims excel that the store ordered from http://www.buchananspokes.com/. a rough guess for the complete front and rear hub assemble, spokes, rims and tires in us dollars would be around $1000. you'll have to call around.

regarding trail riding with street tires, i haven't tried it, but unless it's very loose gravel, wet grass, mud, or a water crossing, i think it shouldn't be a problem especially considering the bike sits so low to the ground and is fairly light.

last note, out of all the bikes i've owned and ridden, i love this one the most.

? :cry: ?

Looks good. Did you have any clearance problems with the 17's? What rim widths and tire sizes did you use? What kind of financial damage is involved? Are there "aggressive" street tires (rain?) that might work for light trail rides?

[BadlandZ]

Looks like rims are the only way to get real choices on tires.

The FAQ says:

"All year model TTR's with a stock or YZ/KX front end can run either a 2.5/17" or 2.75/17" front rim. … The 2.75" rim is wider than necessary, but allows the more common 110/60 size sportbike front tires to be used without distorting their intended profile.”

So it sounds like her 2004 TT-R125LE would be fine with a 110/60-17” front tire.

The FAQ also says something about the rear:

“The '03 and newer "LE" models with the wider aluminum swingarm have the choice between the 2.75/17", or the preferred 125GP sized 3.5/17", rear rims. The 3.5" wide rear rim allows you to run tires up to a 120/70 without any issues. 120/70 is the most common size of sportbike front tire, and they work great as rears if turned backwards.”

So it sounds like her 2004 TT-R125LE would be fine with a 120/70-17” rear tire. If I go with the “more common” options, I should be able to find some decent aggressive rain tires or something like a Michelin Gazelle? Am I reading this right?

I think I’m going to have to do some serious tire shopping first, if I can find something that looks good on a 2.75” rim for the rear. She isn’t going to be racing the thing, just going to the post office and light trail riding! So, if there is a 110/70-17” that makes a good rear, it will probably be fine.

Thanks for the help sponge! And, if you have more photos of your bike, my wife would like to see them!

PS: EDIT - 110/60-17 COMMON? Hmm, I may have to complain about the FAQ

[Chainlash]

Cheng Shin makes an intermediate tire that some race with in mini supermoto with very good grip. They fit the stock rims. My friend had it mounted for $40 F/R. A bargain!

[BadlandZ]

Ok, after all that, it started to get really expensive (rims, spokes, tires) and still didn't offer a lot of tire choices. This shouldn't be so hard! She just wants a little more tread on the road to go to the post office, not a weekend racer.

So, I went back to searching, and found the Bridgestone's originally mentioned may be the best solution.

The closest size matches seem to be a 90/100-19 front (TW39F BW TT) and a 120/90-16 rear (TW40R BW TT).

On the front, the 90/100-19 is considerably wider than the factory 70/100-19. However if a 110/60-17 fits on a 2.5” rim, I think a 90/100-19 should fit. But, I’m not sure about the rims, I think the factory is a 1.4”, and the recommended for a 90/100-19 seems to be a 1.85” rim. Any thoughts on that?

On the rear, a 120/90-16 is also considerably wider than the factory 90/100-16. However, a 120/70-17 fits on a 3.5” rim, and they should be the same width (and close in height). But, as far as I can tell, the factory rim is 1.6” wide, and a 120/90-16 seems to recommend a 2.5” rim.

Any comment on how these should fit? Will I need rims still (same spokes I guess, just new rims?)

Can anyone confirm the factory rim widths?

Can anyone recommend alternate tires that would fit this need?

[sponge]

you are right about tire choices. i've heard it thru the grape vine that running the bridgestone trailwings on the stock rims work rather well. the difference from the stock rims width to the reccommended rim width is pretty small (something like a half inch on the front, and three quarters of an inch in the rear). the tires i'm running are not on the reccomend rim size (110/70 are reccommended for 2.75" rims, i'm running them on a 2.5 and a 3.5 rim). the profile of the tire will be off a bit, but for the riding your wife is doing, i don't think it will matter. in the end, this is probably the best way to go for a street legal dual sport (the tires are good looking, i have a set on my nx250). if you want a street legal bike with knobbies, look into the track master II's.

? :cry: ?

[Chainlash]

....Can anyone confirm the factory rim widths?

Can anyone recommend alternate tires that would fit this need?

The rim width spec is in the manual. It might be 1.6. I use Bridgestone BT45 street tires on stock rims 100/19F and 110/16R. They fit nicely.

[Buellwinkle]

Can you get wider rims and use the stock hub/spokes or does it not matter with these wider tires? I would want to take a small jump and have the bead break and tire come off.

[ProCycle]

i've heard it thru the grape vine that running the bridgestone trailwings on the stock rims work rather well.

We us the Trail Wings for flat track duty. ?

They are amazing. My buddy buddy can drag the pegs in the corners. ?