XT600 Supermoto wheels

[GManTheThird]

Hello all, I have recently purchased a 1992 XT600 love it to bits and have been doing lots of little bits and pieces to it.
The next thing on my list is a set of supermoto wheels. Does anyone know if any other bikes wheels are a fit (with spacers to be made of cause). Or where I can purchase a set (not breaking the bank)
All threads I have found are people relacing their hubs onto new rims?? Is this the only option?
Cheers looking forward to the information as I am stuck.

[Jens Eskildsen]

Nothing is a straight swap.
Some fit a whole front end from like a WR or something, and make modifications to fit a simular rear wheel aswell. But its rare they come with Sm wheels. Using parts from other bikes will also render the speedometer useless.

A used set of hubs, and buying spokes and rims, and putting the whole thing together yourself is about the cheapest way, short of a second hand set, which is rare.

I was lucky to buy a set that needed some tlc, and love it to bits.

[xtrock]

I dont know if you really need motard rims to get there, when i bought my bike it had 150 or 160 rear tire on the original rim.

[connal]

That's a very cool looking stand you've got there Jens. How does the lifting mechanism work?

[xtrock]

Originally Posted by connal

That's a very cool looking stand you've got there Jens. How does the lifting mechanism work?

Just step down the arm you see on the side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=areEB8osEeo

[Jens Eskildsen]

Originally Posted by xtrock

I dont know if you really need motard rims to get there, when i bought my bike it had 150 or 160 rear tire on the original rim.

The point with the wide rims is, just like on streetbikes, to get more rubber on the road. On a narrow rim like the xt, the tire will be squized more together, making a sharp/pointy profile.(kinda the opposite of a car tire) Especially with a 160 tire which is way to big for this size of rim.

With a wider rim, you get a wider, rounder profile. I run 150 in size on a 4.25" rim, stock rear rim is 2,50"
Here is some random pictures, found online, just to illustrate this.

Narrow rim, wide tire:


Wider rim, look how the tire "opens up" and you get much,much more rubber in contact with the tarmac



On top of that, the steering is quicker with the smaller front wheel, and the bike feels more flickable (is that a word??)
Some say (said like Jeremy Clarckson) that it looks cool aswell, but each to his own.

[xtrock]

A big tire is better for straight riding, but it will slow down handling. Its not about having most wide tire on the ground for better handling, narrow tire gives you qicker handling and fuel consumption too. I think the reason they started using the 17inch rim is because of tire choice from race bikes, suddenly you can use a slick tire on a offroad bike with best grip. And yes 140 is max i would use on the original rim, wider it may pop off the rim.

[GManTheThird]

Jens, that is the exact look I am going for, I may have to build the wheels myself think it's the only possible way thanx for the info

[Jens Eskildsen]

Originally Posted by xtrock

A big tire is better for straight riding, but it will slow down handling. Its not about having most wide tire on the ground for better handling, narrow tire gives you qicker handling and fuel consumption too. I think the reason they started using the 17inch rim is because of tire choice from race bikes, suddenly you can use a slick tire on a offroad bike with best grip. And yes 140 is max i would use on the original rim, wider it may pop off the rim.

A 150 tire wont pop of a stock rim. It will just cause the handling to be worse, and less rubber on the road because of the profile.

Yes, a narrower tire is more flickable than a bigger one, for this very reason, i only run a 110 front on my 17s.
But saying a smaller tire on a 21" rim is better than 17s on sm rims is BS.
It doesnt help if theres no rubber on the side of the tire after you "flicked" the bike

As i said, the 17" front makes the bike much more flickable, and the front tires are usually only 110 or 120 in width, with a much smaller profile, usually around 60-70. With a smaller diameter comes less centrifugal force = better steering. With the smaller front, you have more weight towards the front aswell. It will handle way better than a 21" rim with a 90/90 street-tire. It really sounds like you havent tried this...

Racebike dont run narrow tires, or bigger diamteer rims. A YZF R1 runs a 190 tire in the rear. But surely they would want more topspeed and better handling. Im sorry, but I think you'll be laughed at for saying that at a racetrack.

I get better milage with the Sm wheels, as the whole bike sits lower, and have less drag. But economy shoyld get you into this, a new set of rims is pretty expensive. So if you run smaller diameter tires, to save on gas, this isnt for you.

Sm bikes emerged in the 70's in an attempt to get streetriders, dirtriders and MX guys to compete against each other. They were actually called Superbikers back then.

Anyway, to sum it up:

A 110/70x17 will outhandle, and outride, a 90/90x21 on the street any day of the week. Theres no point in talking back and forth, if you really disagree on this.

[xtrock]

OMG calm down man, never said the 21 is better...Iam talking about tires in general, some people seem to think the wider the better, thats not the case on street bikes.

[turboguzzi]

totally agree on width being over rated. i built mine with TZR125 rims and run 110 front 140 rear supersport racing tires. bikes handles beautiful and on top, on these rims I can fit moto3 slicks if i ever wanted to lean even further.

the modern supermotos might have 160 rears but they also have 60-70hp to load the tire, you will never bring a 160 rear to proper working temperature on an xt600.

read here:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...upermoto-62806

agree that the look is not that classy, but i built this bike to have fun on track, not put in my lving room to look at

[xtrock]

Its a old XT600, it will never be a SM bike! If people wants to spend big cash on rims and tires go ahead, you still wont even come close to a SM bike from KTM or Husqvarna. My advice is sell the XT and buy a real SM bike, it has the engine, the brakes and the frame/suspension for fun riding!

[Jens Eskildsen]

Sounds like we all agree then..

Wr250x runs around 110 front and 140 rear, it cant use up a 150 on the rear.

I have no trouble spending money on my bike, as its taken good care over me in the 9 years I've had it.

A husqvarna 701 sm is 5 times more expensive than what i bought my xt600 (secondhand) for beacuse of the danish taxes.

[jjrider]

I put a 150/70/18 on the rear of mine(4.25" rim), and went with a 19" x3.5 front and a 110 tire to get close to SM look and handling but kept the bike from getting too twitchy(responsive?). The 150 is definitely too big for the bike even with a motor putting out considerably more than stock . Can really feel the resistance at 90+mph .




.

[Jens Eskildsen]

Are you really sure you can feel the difference between a 150 and 140 tire?
Its almost not possible to meassure the difference in hp. Theres 140 tires weighing more than some 150s, and the other way around. At 90, theres just not that much left.

Anyway, i use up my 150, so 140 would lack cornering grip for me.

I think mine is a 150/60, so pretty low profile.