Larger wheel anyone?

Has anyone increased the diameter of their wheel from 14" to something bigger like 16"?

After riding a KLR 650 it seems to me that th elarge wheels give me more stability even when doing switch back roads. I also bottomed out going over s tall speed bump and would love to raise the bide a inch or 2. Just a thought for the future.

Simple way if you want big wheels, buy a motorcycle.

Want to use bigger scooter wheels? big on front would screw up steering, Rake/trail? Brake balance? Hard to outguess Honda.

SilverWing as scooters go is very steady.

John Grinsel

Ishkatan wrote:

Has anyone increased the diameter of their wheel from 14" to something bigger like 16"?

After riding a KLR 650 it seems to me that th elarge wheels give me more stability even when doing switch back roads. I also bottomed out going over s tall speed bump and would love to raise the bide a inch or 2. Just a thought for the future.

You could do it, but you would basically be re engineering the entire front end. Not worth it unless your doing a custom.

And BTW John, the front wheel is bigger than the rear already.

No, I don't want to re-engineer the bike or chop it. I was hoping for something simple like going up one inch on the rims and an adapter kit to move the fender up and back. Some cars seem to have big wheel wells allowing tire up-sizing and I was hoping for the same with the rear wheel to keep the horizontal aerodynamics constant. Maybe then the speedometer would be more accurate.

The Burgman 650 has one inch bigger wheels but they look too fat for the SW.

John, I understand Rake but what is "trail"? Also, this is mostly curiosity - I suspect I won't do anything. I tend to go for simple stuff.

Trail is the amount of distance between where the line from the head tube rake would hit the ground and the front axle. Longer trail tends to be steadier at high speeds but difficult at low speeds. Shorter trails are the opposite. The ideal is a mix and is calculated with wheel size, fork offset, fork length, head tube rake angle, and wheel base.

Buickguy wrote:

Trail is the amount of distance between where the line from the head tube rake would hit the ground and the front axle.

Thanks! This makes a lot of sense and solidified a lot of things I have been wondering about. javascript:emoticonp('')

It sounds like what I want is a slightly longer trail for highway riding - or - a variable trail based on the speed. No, I am not chopping my bike. javascript:emoticonp('')

Bigger wheel huh!

John said it for me.

Buy a motorcycle.

....or a Beverly.

MikeO wrote:

....or a Beverly.

I don't know her. Is she good looking? Good trail?

If I was in the US and wanted big wheels on a twist n' go scooter, I'd be on the lookout for a 2006 model Aprilia Scarabeo 500 complete with ABS, integral brakes, 54 litre top box, optional side panniers, 4.5 gallon fuel tank, and 16" wheels.It was also $2000 cheaper than the Silver Wing new.

Aprilia didn't import the Scarabeo 500 into the UK, and if they had I'd have bought one.

There was a brief mention on the Singapore Bikes, Silverwing forum that had some photos of a T-Max (15 inch?) wheel installed on a Silverwing front. No text explaining the 'how to' bit though, or if there was text it was a garbled google translation.

IIRC they also had a T-max rear wheel installed on the same SW, but there was virtually no clearance (< 1/4") between the tire & the swingarm pivot.

That T-Max wheel sounds like what I was thinking of. The rear wheel was not in question but that is also an interesting idea...

However, I noticed that after hitting my first 1,000 miles on the bike I am starting to enjoy it more and feel more comfortable on it, even on the highway. Since I have a brand new tire for the front wheel this is going to wait ... but I will be keeping an eye out for a free good T-Max front wheel for 15,000 miles from now.

Well you could buy the other scooter I own.

My SYM HD200 has 16" wheels.

Somerled wrote:

Well you could buy the other scooter I own.

My SYM HD200 has 16" wheels.

Nice, but around here I need something that I can goose quickly to over 80 mph on the highway. Now a Honda PC 800 sounds interesting. I am reading about a trip on one... a good read. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265019

Seriously, right now my focus is on winning a Kawaski Vulcan 1700 or Suzuki C50T (Boulevard). In the winter I think I will look for a KLR-650 and make room in my garage for the SW, KLR-650 and a long distance cruiser, like a Goldwing. Each for it's own function. SW for around town and commute, KLR for driving to the park and in the parks out west, and the GW for long distance trips and towing a small trailer.

Oh, While getting contest entries at the local dealer I sat on a Burgman 400. Much wider seat and wider bike. Felt very cruise worthy but not as agile (while sitting in the parking lot). I can see a 650 being better for cruising long distances - or putting a fat seat on the SW. The 400 seat was luxurious.

Ishkatan wrote:

No, I don't want to re-engineer the bike or chop it. I was hoping for something simple like going up one inch on the rims and an adapter kit to move the fender up and back. Some cars seem to have big wheel wells allowing tire up-sizing and I was hoping for the same with the rear wheel to keep the horizontal aerodynamics constant. Maybe then the speedometer would be more accurate.

The Burgman 650 has one inch bigger wheels but they look too fat for the SW.

John, I understand Rake but what is "trail"? Also, this is mostly curiosity - I suspect I won't do anything. I tend to go for simple stuff.

Even though the Burgman 650 has bigger rims, the overall diameter of the wheel (rim and tire) is no bigger than the Silverwing (actually it's about .05" bigger - less than one tenth of an inch). The profile of the tire on the Silverwing is taller, making up for the smaller rim. Its back wheel is about one quarter inch larger than the Swing.

And if anyone wants to raise the bike up, just increase the preload on your rear shocks a notch or two. The bike will sag less and give you more clearance.