I have been trying to decide where to take a trip this year. Going to get a month off from work ( if I beg, a lot) I am seriously looking at Mexico as there is less advanced planning involved. I may be buying a house sometime this spring, summer, fall and until I buy/don't buy it I can't make too many detailed plans. My next question is what bike to take.

I have 4 bikes. A Buell that's out. A 2000 Harley Tour bike, only 45,000 miles so it's the newest, and most expensive if damaged/stolen. A 1991 Harley Tour bike with 245,000 miles on it. I would not trust the engine without an overhaul though. But I planned on doing that anyway. And last but not least, a 1986 Harley Sportster with 103,000 miles on it, recently overhauled.

Most likely I will choose between the Sportster and the Old Tour Bike. The tour bike is better for rough roads, the Sportster is better for soft/muddy roads.

I plan on going in the Nov/Dec time frame. When it's not too damned hot and after the wet season?

HERE"S the Question, finally.

No one makes Dual sport tires for the Sportster (surprise surprise) I can get spoked rims for the bike and I can then put any kind of rim on it. What tire size is most popular, as in available? Remember, the bike weighs in at 440 pounds dry. I will be putting 20mm ammo cans on it for luggage so with everything I can expect it to be around 480 pounds dry, so I can't run 22" dirt bike tires. From what I can tell, the most popular size for a heavy bike is 19" front, 17" rear. The stock tire diameters are Front=25.85, rear 25.40. The stock width is Front=3.65 rear = 5.18. There is no room for anything much larger.

Yes, I realize that the proper answer is to get a KLR650 or some other "suitable" bike, but that's not likely right now.

CT_bob@juno.com

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Bob L.

Are you planning on sticking to smoother dirt roads or are you planning on taking some of the rougher roads? I think the Sportster on some of the dirt roads would be quite dangerous, since it doesn't have the suspension you'd need to travel at any reasonable speed, unless you want to take it real, real easy. Usually riding in dirt or rough conditions entails standing up on the bike in order to have the most amount of control over the bike, which is also not really possible comfortably on that bike. But if you're dedicated I'm sure you can end up where you want to go on just about anything.

Some of the bigger and heavier dual purpose bikes, like the BMW R1150GS and I think the Honda Transalp, use 19/17" combinations, so you could fit one of those tires on your bike easily, and they wouldn't be hard to come by either, at least in the states. As for Mexico, I don't know what tire availabiliity is like, but I'm sure it's not too tough to get a decent tire.

Best of luck!
Wright

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Wright Bagwell
http://fwc.webjump.com/xr650l/

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Wright Bagwell
http://www.geocities.com/wwbagwell/