Stratoliner- what size rear tire?

I'm considering a car tire for the rear and had about decided on a 205/55-17. The 215/55-17 seems to be more popular with the people that have made the switch. Why a 215 over a 205?

Not much difference between a 215 and 205, width wise. On my shadow, I had a 165, 205, then 185. 205 looked good, and was a great highway tire. The 165 felt just like the mc tire that it replaced. I liked the 185 best of all. Great in the twisties and great on the open road.

Wider tire is more contact patch. I just got my strat and will need to wait to wear out the back tire, but will probably replace it with a 215 60r 17 Altimax HP. It's been tested on a strat and my last tire was the HP Altimax. Really liked it, and great tread pattern.

I have about 850 miles on my exclaime 205/55r17 It feels very much like a mc tire. After reading some of other peoples problems with the 215. I decided to go with the 205. Some people love the 215. Several reports of bottoming out scare me. Not as many folks have tried the 205. So there is not as much info. At least take a look at this tire before you decide. It is Z rated also is a summer tire. We don't get much ice here. If there is ice. I don't ride. So it works for me. Check out the delphiforums for stratoliner and the darkside for more info.

Hi, My stock tire went 8440 miles and it was on the wear bars and then some. I put the General Exclaim 205/55ZR17 on my bike and so far no bottoming issues and I gave my 150 Lbs daughter ( she'd whip my a** if she saw this ) a ride and no rubbing issues. As far as worries over a "summer" tire, I rode 100 Miles in the rain last Sunday and never felt any traction problems. The extra "bar effort" is worth a tire that has the possibilty of 3 to 4 times the tire life for me. Slightly touched down the right board on an on ramp the other day and the bike felt planted and stable. Ride safe....

How hard was it to put the CT on the back of the Stratoliner?

I had a honda spirit with direct drive, so pulling the back wheel was a breeze. Not sure how difficult changing the tire on the belt drive will be.

Hi, I wish you alot of luck with that...I did the wrenching in my garage but it is not nearly as easy as on my FZ1...no center stand on the Roadliner mandated that I go get a bike jack...I got the one at Sears...a little assembly of the stand was required but it did the job...I also used my other rolling hydraulic jack to raise the back rim into place during re assembly...also BIG thing to be aware of the locking or locating notch on the caliper bracket is in its correct spot in the swingarm...this sounds easy enough but by the time your juggling the axle with the tensioning setup on it, then the ouside spacer on the close side and the spacer in the middle of the rim in alignment , then the outside spacer on the far side, then getting the caliper bracket lined up and hold all that without moving it while you push the axle thru to the other side...again...goodluck with that....I'm sure it will get a little easier each time I do it.....