Will these tires fit ?

[Revolverman]

I plan to get a set of Dunlop D 606 tires for a Kawasaki klx 250 in the near future.

The tag on my bike says, Front, 3.00-21 51p and rear, 4.60-18 63p.

I want to get the d606 for both front and back, how can I tell if they will fit these rims and what does the numbers mean above, on my bike frame ?

I am looking at Motorcycle super store for these tires, but the numbers on the d 606 do not match the numbers on my bike. I am afraid they wont fit........

Any help appreciated.

Revolverman.

[z9nine]

Look at the size on the side wall.

should be a nuber that resembles this "110/80 V16" "130/90 V16"

It depends on the year on the size you need.

[markk53]

They may or may not, depends on the tires. Some still use the inch numbering on width.

The tires for the KLX250 will be a 90/90-21 and a 110 or 120/90-18. Don't go over the 120 width. All you do with a bigger tire is add rotating mass and weight. The bike only needs a 110.

[Revolverman]

Thanks for the help guys. The sticker on the bike says the tires I will be replacing are d 603 and front says d 603 f.

I have not had a chance to check my sidewalls yet, but I did email the superstore and ask them if they think the tires they have would fit the KLX.

The only thing that worries me is after 66 reviews, almost all were positive except for the last few who stated their tires came apart. Not sure what the problem is but if you click on read all reviews and scroll to the bottom you can read these last couple reviews.

I hope they are not going down in quality.

Revolverman.

[Revolverman]

The tires on the bike now says, front- 3.00-21 -51p, rear says, 4.60-18-63p.

Just curious, why not the 130 width ? Will it fit the KLX rims ? Looks like the wider the better. But I will stick with the 120 for the rear.

Still not sure about this.

Revolverman.

[z9nine]

Look online for a tire converter. Like mark said, some companies use inches. Width is a personal choice, you do not wanna go to wide as you could interfere with the swingarm, or chain. Look Here http://www.dansmc.com/tirespecs1.htm

When it comes to offroad to offroad, and tire width, there is an ongoing debate when it comes to wide or skinny tires. Some people say skinny cuz you can find the bottom, some say wide so yuo can go on top. If you do basic track or trail riding I would stick with stock. Kawasaki spend quite a bit of time and money making their bikes, I would trust them.

[markk53]

Originally Posted by Revolverman

The tires on the bike now says, front- 3.00-21 -51p, rear says, 4.60-18-63p.

Just curious, why not the 130 width ? Will it fit the KLX rims ? Looks like the wider the better. But I will stick with the 120 for the rear.

Still not sure about this.

Revolverman.

First off the metric size is the width in millimeters. A 90 is about 3", a 110 is about 4", a 120 is about 4.5", and a 130 is about 5" in width. The other number is the profile - the height defined as a percentage of the width. A 120/90 is about 4.5" wide and 4" in cross section. The real sizes will vary a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model.

The wider is not better on bikes. The wider the tire the more power it takes to make it rotate, the more drag it has (traction/friction) on the ground. When you have a 20 whatever horsepower 250 wasting power is not good.

In actual off roading the 450 motocrossers use a 120 width, the 250s use a 110. They want to get as much power to the ground as possible, yet not bog the engine down with too much traction or rotating mass. On road bikes the same applies. A big fat tire may look cool, but not work as well.

There is one other thing. The rim width on your bike is made to work with the 120 width. If you put a 130 on, the tire will have to pinch up to the slightly narrower rim than the one it should have, so you don't get as much rubber on the road in the center of the tread (faster wear) and the tire is just that much heavier to rotate (eating power). If you really wanted to put more rubber on the ground it would happen with a slightly narrower tire which would spread out when mounted.

Fact is the best tire for the 250 dual sport is the 120 dual sport tire for all around use. If it was running knobbies for off roading a 110 will work better.

The supermoto version does a 130 on the back in a street radial, lower profile different application and also partly for looks. I have a 650 and when I do the supermoto wheels for it I will be using only a 140, because I know that is all the bike needs for street use. The 650C dual sport rear tire is a 130, it doesn't need bigger. Fact is the KLX650R off road version runs a 120/90-18 rear tire for best off road performance. The knobby tread is slightly wider, but the fact is a bigger tire will not perform on par with the 120 in general off road use.

Final comment. Stay with the 120 width on your bike for performance purposes. Don't let anyone tell you different, wider is not better in this case. The only good part about a wider tire is to massage your ego when it comes to looking at the bike, nothing else. I hope this helps.

[Revolverman]

Markk53, I really appreciate the detailed informative reply. This helps a lot and explains a lot I was not aware of.

I will stick with the smaller size. I think I have this narrowed down to a Dunlop D 606-120/90-18 for rear and I am not sure about the front because I am reading a few negative reviews on the D 606 for the front.

I have read some good reviews on the Pirelli Scorpion Pro All Terrain/Enduro foor the Front Tire.

This nis not easy for me because I have been out of this for over 30 years and the gear they have now is so high tech.......... it left me behind.

I am not sure about the front being Pirelli either because I read where they say it wears pretty fast.........but since front does not wear too fast any way it should be ok.

I might actually be able to get by with the front that is on there now, it is a stock D 603 Dunlop and has about half tread left.

Thanks again for all the great advice.

Revolverman.

[Revolverman]

Mark, you seem to know a lot about bikes and tires, have you heard anything good or bad about the Pirelli Scorpion Pro All Terrain/Enduro for the Front Tire ?

And I am not exactly sure where to order these tires or if I can say their name on here, but I found 2 major sellers online that seem to be in good standing etc.

One seller is slightly cheaper than the other and both have free shipping. I just can't wait to get these on my bike........next to find a good shop to do this because I just cant do it myself.

Do you by chance know if most dealers charge a lot to mount tires ?

Guess I can post a pic now, this is what I am going to put the new tires on. Do you think I could get by without putting a new one on the front ? See rear tire also, looks pretty slick to me.........





Revolverman.

[markk53]

Tires are supersubjective. I use a Duro Median HF903/904 combination because I've had such excellent results and they're really inexpensive, a hard combination to beat. But that is my experience and choice. I liked the OEM Kaw tires similar to yours, but they were stupid expensive back then. I got the Duros when I couldn't afford better, having run Avons before that. I looked at them and at the IRC GP110s realy liking the look of the tread. I wasn't sure about the tires though and went Avon. Then I had to bite the bullet and did the Duros - 15 years and 35,000 miles ago. But don't let me change your thoughts.

Go to the ADVrider.com forum use the search and look for information about the tires you like. I have no experience and thus no opinion of value.

Have at it.