With road tires it's almost impossible to buy a tube type anymore, except in really small sizes. Plus so many bikes running laced wheels are done with rims that can go tubeless.

One point that stuck with me in my last post had to do with flat fixes on the trails. The WM rim makes total sense when running tubes if the rider plans to do flat fixes on the trail side. Break the bead standing on the tire with your foot, pop the bead up much easier too.

 

I have done this with both tube and tubeless tires. Tubeless tires are stiffer and take more effort to un-mount and mount, but you can still deal with it. I carry a small bottle of Ru-Glyde in my tire changing kit which helps a lot. I got mine from Napa auto (comes in a gallon jug).



If the bead doesn't want to break, I use the kickstand of a second bike to break the bead. Another good reason to not do technical riding alone.

 

Just put Shiko 705's on my KLX250s and getting them scuffed in. What tire pressure did you guys end up with these when used for 70/30 street/dirt use?

 

Personally I run around 32 psi for street riding and general back dirt/gravel back roads. If it is a lot more off pavement I will drop the pressure down around 20 psi. Underinflated for a lot of street, but workable at that time in those circumstances.

I don't remember if the tire size question was ever covered. Personally, again, I run a smaller tire if possible. I dropped from the 120/80 to a 4.10 to get a lighter narrower tire to get the most on a relatively low powered bike. I will say the spread of the 4.10 when inflated actually had as much or more tread on the ground than the 120. I'm impressed with the wear so far.

The advantage is the lighter tire takes less power to drive, the narrower tire will not take as much power to drive if bogged down in mud or sand, I can break it loose to get some slippage away from a stop without abusing the clutch. The other plus is the tire was about $15 lower cost than the same model in a 120/80. But again, that is my preference. One problem with my preferred tire is they don't make an 80/100-21, only a 90/90. I'd like to see how a slightly narrower tire would work on the front. As for going bigger to a 130 or more, that's what Kawasaki had on the KLX650, Honda actually put a 120 on their XR650L. Kind of tells me something.

 

Hey can you message me I'm super confused on what size tire to buy for my 2009 klx250s I want the shinko 705's b705whwn I google 2009 klx250s tire size it says front is 80/100/21 and rear is 100/100/18 when I go to any website and choose tire sizes these sizes ares listed please helppp

 

I'm trying to get shinko 705s for my 2009 klx250s i have no idea what tire size to get all the sizes yall suggest show unavailable on rezilla. The stock tire size for my bike when i google it aren't listed for these tires. Can someone please please tell me exactly what tires I need or send a link please? I have big knobbies on rn and I'm like 90 percent on road and need new tires really bad so any help is hugely appreciated

 

I run a set of Duros, sizes are 90/90-21 and 4.10-18. OEM runs an 80/100-21, but the Duro doesn't go that small. The rear OEM is a 120/80-18, which is about 4.50" wide. Don't go wider, 120 is actually a bit wide for a 20 hp bike. The 4.10 is about equal to a 110/90 .

So if you find Shinkos in a 120/80-18 it will probably fit, same as OEM size, a 4.10-18 will definitely fit. On the front I'd try to stay with an 80/199-21 if possible, but a 90/90-21 would probably fit, as would a 3.00-21. The 4.10 and 3.00 are inch measurement where the 120 and 80 are metric.

 

I got 90/90-21 TL front 120/80-18 TT rear. I have an appt at motorcycle shop Tuesday. Yall think the shop will have no issues even though there not stock rim size? Also the TL and TT is that okay? Those are the only kind I could get in these sizes. I'm just worried I'm gonna show up at shop and there gonna be like these don't work on this bike and I'm gonna be like people online told me they will lol ya know?

 

Revzilla's video has some misleading ideas, like the idea that running a tubeless tire on a tube type rim is not good. Heck it's near impossible to buy any tube type tires anymore for the old spoke rim bikes. I've been running tubeless tires on my KLX650 for around 20+ years. It isn't that you don't run tubeless on a tube type wheel, it is that you do not run one without a tube. Obviously a tube has to be inserted and the tire manufacturers do say to consider the load and speed rating to be one level lower.

Another is that the beads are not compatible. There are two main types of rim design, one being the WM, which will NOT have a tire actually seat on it. They were predominant pre-1980s. My 1979 SR500 has the WM style bead. The later bead is the MT style and the tires do pop up on the bead and stay put for the most part. The WM will allow a bead to slip off, nothing is holding it other than maybe rim locks. My Butacos had WM style rims. All my other bikes had MT rims, beads stayed put and would require the tire to be levered off the rim bead.

Tubeless RADIAL street tires have different profiles and require stiffer sidewalls as such. Fact is sometimes tube types have extremely stiff sidewalls, because they are 6 ply versus 4. The thing is now there are almost no DOT street tires that aren't tubeless, because most applications are tubeless. The tires I've used on my 650 were available as tubeless and tube type, only difference is a thin inner non-porous liner layer. I ran the tubeless, because I could get them, couldn't get the tubeless. Sold both types when I worked in parts/accessories back in the '90s. The KLX250/300 will use either tube type or tubeless tires, but absolutely needs a tube regardless of which ones are used.

 

1. Hey I got shinko 705s put on my 2009 klx250s and the rear tube has popped 2 times now. And there being installed at a highly rated shop each time. It just popped yesterday there fixing it now. Should these tires work?