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No idea is this is helpful, but here's my (opposite) case. I own a 2009 SM, so less suspension travel, 17" wheels, etc. I bought 2018 KLX250 off road wheels/OEM tires. I swap the wheels/tires back and forth, along with the different front fenders, but change to geometry. I am not an experienced off road rider, but have no problems that I have noticed riding it either way without changing geometry.
I was up front on what I learned when looking at SM wheels for my KLX, it costs $1500 at the least unless by some luck of the draw one finds a set for less. Rims alone in the proper width will run around $200 each, spoke kits are around $100 each set. I pointed out lower cost options. I gave examples and research on the 18" deal where an 18" rim on the front can do what the OP was asking, for a fraction of the cost of trying to install 17s. I demonstrated that sport quality tires can be had in 18s, after all a lot of vintage bikes are racing on sport tires. I pointed out that sport touring tires are a better choice for a road rider who isn't going on the track for track days or racing. That there actually is quite a choice of tires if one looks. By the way, again, some sport tires are limited to sizes ranging from 170-190 for the rear and 120 for the front, so those are not an option in choice.
I gave my personal use example that the 18/21 will do the job fine with a set of street tires, that even SM type riding can be done with the stock wheel sizes, thus no cost but the more street type tires. I also gave the example of a rider using the old 18/21 setup on an XR600R in racing, outperforming other riders on actual factory manufactured SM bikes.
Then @tooter gave the easiest solution, only swapping out the front rim to an 18", then I mentioned doing a 17" front if buying a new rim. We gave options to get what he wanted for as low of cost as a used 18" rim plus the spoke kit for the front wheel only.
You simply say "it isn't SM", and "choice of tires is limited". It was almost like "the SM 17s way or hit the highway." How much help was that.
Who is offering help and information, being transparent here?
He did ask about prices and no where in the world was SM actually ever limited to just 17" wheels and the looks. Maybe 17s are required at the pure race level, but certainly not at the lower levels and track days. There are a lot of riders using dual sport size wheels playing supermoto on the track and on the street. I know, I am one of them on my KLX650 and 250 playing on the back roads of SE Ohio. As one friend said to me, after riding my KLX, that he had no idea how I rode that bike that fast. His comparison? His Aprilia SVX550 supermoto, plus his better riding skill than me. My response again, was 15 years riding the bike and using the same kind of tires.
Good grief.
I'm not saying there's a problem in running a street-biased tire on any size rims you like, or running trackdays on a 21 inch front where, or anything at all.
I'm just saying, when people are talking about supermotos they are not talking about running a rear DS tire on the front of the bike. Supermoto is 17" rims. The OP asked about supermoto setups, so I assumed he was talking about supermoto wheel sizing. Running a street-oriented DS wheel setup and calling it "supermoto" is like mounting all-season tires in a taller sidewall on the back of a Mustang and saying "this is my drag radial setup".
04-18-2023, 06:56 PM
