Looking for 80/20 Tires that fit

[Kiiro450]

Hello Folks, Wondering if any GS450 Sages can help.

new (to me) bike that i'm putting back together and looking to make road ready soon. one of the things I want to change out is the tires as they have a manufacturing date that's about 12 years old at this point, and they are a touring tire. I live a little out in the sticks and have dirt / gravel road for at least a kilometer or two before i hit the first paved surfave and as a new rider I'd like to match my tires as best i can to the conditions i'll be riding in, which will be a lot of gravel country roads.

I wanted to get the Shinko 705, hearing a lot of really good things about them as a budget tire that punches above it's weightclass, but the guy at the tire shop said they wouldn't fit. in fact he had trouble finding any 80/20 that would fit. he suggested a Kenda K761 if I have an extra 5mil on either side but I am not sure that I do (the torque link brake rod looks like it would interfere)

my question, as i'm still pretty new to this, is if anybody knows of a good 80/20 tire in the following size
90/90 - 19 front
120/90 - 16 rear

or, if I do have the ability to go to 130 wide in the rear, or 17 inch in the rear. I'm not sure if the torque link brake rod is adjustable or if I can go to a 17 inch wheel in the back and what that would mean in terms of cost and handling for the bike.

 

[bwringer]

American Moto Tire is a great source for tires, in the US anyway. It's also a great way to research what's available. They don't have everything, but they do list almost everything that's out there.

Anyway, here are the dual-sport tires available in 16"
https://www.americanmototire.com/dual-sport/?narrow=[["Rim size","16"]]

Including this 120/90-16 Bridgestone AX41 that's listed as in stock:
https://www.americanmototire.com/bridgestone-battlax-adventurecross-ax41-120-90-16-m-c-63p-rear/
The AX41 is more of a 60/40 tire, but on my KLR650, they work great in all conditions and on pavement, although they tend to wear out pretty quickly (but then again that's a "me" problem... I'm really hard on tires). A newbie on a GS450 would probably not beat them up too badly and you'd probably get plenty of mileage.

And there's a front, too:
https://www.americanmototire.com/bridgestone-battlax-adventurecross-ax41-90-100-19-m-c-55p-front/

As far as I can tell, that's about the only dual-sport option with the correct sizes. Fortunately, they're great tires.


I've worn out tons of dual-sport Shinkos, inluding the 705. Great tires at great prices, but not available in a workable size.

Kenda tires are... pretty awful in general. I'd avoid these. You'd also have to go a little wider front and rear, which may or may not fit the space available.

 

[Kiiro450]

Thanks a bunch for this. I had come across the battleaxe but too quickly dismissed them as too aggressively offroad, but your post helped me think that through.

My biggest worry was that I would give up too much handling on pavement for a little bit of dirt road, but as you point out it will be a long time and a lot of practice before I am taking these tires anywhere near a limit (at least intentionally).if it comes down to a trade off between a safer ride in the times I am on dirt roads, and a bit of cornering ability and longevity then my money is on the safer ride, especially in the first few oil changes worth of riding and learning.

Besides that, my buddy got a KTM 890 adventure R for his first bike, and while I know I have no possible hope of going where that bike can go it would be nice to be able to maybe ride out to some of the more remote camping locals etc with him and perhaps this tire will be able to help with that. Roads here in Manitoba can be *bad*.

 

[LAB3]

The Shinko 705 performed well on the rear of.my GS450 and gave about 9k miles of service life. Had the Kenda 761's on there to start with and they suck equally on all surfaces, avoid them like the plague!