V-Rod help?

I'm a noob to the forum. I really want to darkside my vrod, but as you guys know it's hard to find info for Harleys. I have logged some serious google time and cruised a LOT of forums and I can't find a single person who mentions even trying to put a ct on a vrod. I also don't quite understand how the size conversion goes from mt to ct. Any help or suggestions would be great.

It's an '04 vrscb running stock tires. Rear is a 180/55 ZR18 on a 5.5 x 18 rim.

Thanks in advance.

How much clearance do you have around your tire? The amount of clearance will determin the width you can go to. That in turn will help to determin the series. It has to be an 18" tire to fit the rim.

Jerry

jedishon wrote:How much clearance do you have around your tire? The amount of clearance will determin the width you can go to. That in turn will help to determin the series. It has to be an 18" tire to fit the rim.

Jerry

+1 what Jedison said! If we know the clearance we can help you choose a tire maybe that will fit.

That Vrod is just dying to have a darkside! I test rode the Nightrod and that was the first thing I thought of....this beast needs a car tire!!!!!!! I would love to own a Nightrod just can't do it right now!

Since the V is more of a performance oriented bike, I'd vie for narrow, like a 185 if I could find one, to lessen the crossover effect. I recall that the V has a pretty good lean angle, or so I was told by the guy who won't catch me in the twisties.
Why would someone buy a Vrod and not really ride it? That's like getting a Shelby to haul groceries in.

There shouldn't be any cross over effect if the PSI is correct and widest you could go is what I would recommend!!

Here is a 245 on a Rocket! Go to around the 5 minute mark and watch that thing perform!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYhkCA_JwJM

jedishon wrote:How much clearance do you have around your tire? The amount of clearance will determin the width you can go to. That in turn will help to determin the series. It has to be an 18" tire to fit the rim.

Jerry

There is maybe an inch clearance on the sides, and about 2 inches all the way around.

quadancer wrote:Since the V is more of a performance oriented bike, I'd vie for narrow, like a 185 if I could find one, to lessen the crossover effect. I recall that the V has a pretty good lean angle, or so I was told by the guy who won't catch me in the twisties.
Why would someone buy a Vrod and not really ride it? That's like getting a Shelby to haul groceries in.

It does have a pretty good lean angle, better now that the stock exhaust is off - that bracket was almost worn away from draggin the right side. It's a fun bike to ride.

twin1300 wrote:There shouldn't be any cross over effect if the PSI is correct and widest you could go is what I would recommend!!

Here is a 245 on a Rocket! Go to around the 5 minute mark and watch that thing perform!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYhkCA_JwJM

I was told I can go up to a 200 in a mt without clearance issues. Don't know about bigger, although some people have complained about rubbing with a 200, supposedly slight differences in brands of tires. Dunno.

Sounds like a 205 is a good bet for success. Plenty of those out there. We put a Dunlop Signature 205/75/15 on a friends VTX1300 and he won't part with it. The shoulders on it are somewhat rounded compared to other tires.

quadancer wrote:Sounds like a 205 is a good bet for success. Plenty of those out there. We put a Dunlop Signature 205/75/15 on a friends VTX1300 and he won't part with it. The shoulders on it are somewhat rounded compared to other tires.

I'll see if I can find one in an 18". My question then is this...is the aspect ratio of any major concern? The width has to fit the available space, and the rim size has to fit obviously, but I fail to understand the second number in tires. I understand what it represents (basically the height of the sidewall), but does it matter for anything when sizing a tire (other than circumference)?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

The series is for sidewall height. It will affect top end revs, and low end acceleration. Having an inch clearance you shouldn't have any trouble with a 205 fitting. It is an inch wider than your 180, or a half inch on each side. The hard part will be finding a 18 inch tire. Might look for a 60 series. There are come good tire calculator charts on here. just do a search, put in the old numbers and the new numbers to get a comparrison. I would look for one that is 1 inch or less bead width wider than your rim width.

Jerry

Simply put: 180x your aspect percentage is 99mm sidewall height.
So for an equal tire in a 205, it would need to be a 48. The wider you go, the lower that number.

Well, I can't find a 205 in an 18", regardless of series. I also couldn't find a 195 or 185. If I'm just looking in the wrong places, can someone give me a good whack in the right direction?

What I did find was a 215/55R18. Those seem to be relatively common. Is there any chance that's going to work. The Falken tire site says it's recommended for rim widths of 6.0 - 7.5. Will that be an issue with a 5.5" rim?

IF this tire could possibly work, any opinions of the Falken ZIEX ZE-912? Here's a link to the product page: http://www.falkentire.com/Tires/Ziex-ZE-912-2

Thanks again.

BTW, got out of what would have been an 85 in a 25 ticket last night because the cop couldn't get the radar on me quick enough...lol. Ended up with a couple hundred fine for breaking the vehicle noise ordinance though...

That should fit from the dimensions you gave. It will be just under 3/4" wider on each side than your stock tire. With a 5.5" rim you should have no trouble at all mounting a tire reconded for a 6" rim. Some have had trouble with the Falken, but they were trying to put them on 4" rims. Take pictures of the process so the next guy can see that it works.

Jerry

Hi, Im actually running into the same problem. I have a 2003 vrod 100th anniversary with the 18in rim, i was wondering if you were able to put the 215/55/18 on there without a problem> thanks

I'm not gonna do your searching for you but here are some links that may give fruit:
http://store.cokertire.com/550r16-excelsior-stahl-sport-radial.html

http://www.onlinetires.com/search/vehicle/tires/all_brands/asc/all_sizes/all_types/all_speeds/page_201.html

https://www.universaltire.com/

I put up the Vintage tire links because that's probably how you're gonna have to do it.

I've seen a Toyo Proxie T1R 215/45/18 on a 1800VTX F and it fit with plenty of room.
Also a great tire in the twisties!

JOHNJOHN8569 wrote:Hi, Im actually running into the same problem. I have a 2003 vrod 100th anniversary with the 18in rim, i was wondering if you were able to put the 215/55/18 on there without a problem> thanks

It didn't work for me. When I gave my clearances somewhere above...they weren't quite accurate. I took a squat behind the bike, and that's what I appeared to have for available space. What I didn't see from that angle and what I didn't think about was the belt. I have less than a quarter inch between the stock tire and the belt. (I found this out after I bought the tire...)

That means nothing bigger than what's on there without some work. That means no ct on my bike, as I can't find a single tire the same size as the stock mt.

I even tried going a little smaller, just to try it, and came up short for tires in that size as well.

10mm = 0.3937" .24=6mm and you have slightly more clearance. A 195 should leave you around 1mm clear to the belt, and going on a narrower rim than they
usually go on, even more than that.

195/65-18 NEXEN CP662 89T BSW
Hmmm...it's even hard in this size to find.

I found a 205/40/18, gonna give it a go. Last chance for my vrod:(

I finally did it guys. Bought a 205/40/18 Nitto Neogen and mounted on the rim. The rim may look aftermarket but it is a stock only machined and powdercoated. There is plenty of room from the top belt guards and just enough from the bottom without doing any work to it. 5.5 inches wide. I cant post pics, but if your interested just pm me your email or something and ill send. It handles really great and looks badass!!!!!

JOHNJOHN8569 wrote:I finally did it guys. Bought a 205/40/18 Nitto Neogen and mounted on the rim. The rim may look aftermarket but it is a stock only machined and powdercoated. There is plenty of room from the top belt guards and just enough from the bottom without doing any work to it. 5.5 inches wide. I cant post pics, but if your interested just pm me your email or something and ill send. It handles really great and looks badass!!!!!

Congrats!!

JOHNJOHN8569 wrote:I finally did it guys. Bought a 205/40/18 Nitto Neogen and mounted on the rim. The rim may look aftermarket but it is a stock only machined and powdercoated. There is plenty of room from the top belt guards and just enough from the bottom without doing any work to it. 5.5 inches wide. I cant post pics, but if your interested just pm me your email or something and ill send. It handles really great and looks badass!!!!!

PM sent

awsome i think you are fixen too fall in love

Thanks again to JohnJohn for the posting about what was probably the first darkside vrod!
FWIW, since JohnJohn's post I have found that a Yokohama Avid Envigor 215/45R18 will also replace the 180/55R18 stock tire after a little housekeeping under the fender.
See you at the tire rack in about 40,000 miles