IMO Tom, there's a happy medium... it's kind of like the weight of a vehicle
(a baseball will always go further then a duckpin ball or whiffleball with
the force of an average human arm applied), it should continually change as
force applied increases or decreases. A happy medium on tire width will get X
amount of traction without creating to much drag on topend. Contact patch for
a specific manufacturer goes up very minimal with width of tires on
motorcycles due to their design(being round)... what might be more beneficial
is to look at the actual design of different tires in relation to their
contact patch under different tire pressures run. A good way to do this is to
ride it CALMLY(or at least consistently the same) thru baby powder on a
concrete floor for a rough basis on the actual contact patch(I would bet
dropping 5lbs of air pressure will give you a larger contact then going to a
10mm larger tire of the same manufacturer with the same pressure). I also
think it's all in playing with shift points and knowing what rpm/torque/speed
range you're current tire is slipping to find out where to make the
appropriatte change(s). I plan on someday using my helmet cam to check tire
growth and patch size with different pressures during runs.
Todd Dross
On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:56:03 -0500, Tom Neimeyer wrote
> We currently run a 140 rear tire on the bike at Bonneville. I think
> we get some tire slippage, but I am not sure how much. Would there
> be a benefit of going to a larger tire? What are the debits? We
> can fit a 150 or maybe a 160 without clearance problems, should we
> do it?
>
> Thanks, Tom
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