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hello everyone, pardon me for boring you with my obsession, but i happened to see a couple of 80's vintage 130/60 16 michelin race slicks available. do y'all think they would be an acceptable front tire for my paso for normal norcal canyon carving? would they be unsafe? i'm fairly sure they were properly warehoused for the intervening decades. they would probably look the business on a 750 paso with 851 wheel no? thanks so much for your comments! Best, randy http://forums.ducatipaso.org/posting.ph ... abef40cf34#

randtcastell wrote: i happened to see a couple of 80's vintage 130/60 16

I push the limits with my tires compared to many people and will often ride on them until they are bald, down to the cords, patched, and up to ten years old, but......I would be hesitant to ride on any tires that are 20-25 years old, especially at any level of "spirited" riding.

randtcastell wrote:michelin race slicks available. do y'all think they would be an acceptable front tire for my paso for normal norcal canyon carving? would they be unsafe?

Disregarding the age of the tires, a slick would be overkill on the Paso. For canyon carving, slicks aren't that bad at all as long as it doesn't rain or the temps are below 60 degrees. No matter what stories people tend to spout off on the Internet, it is definitely possible to heat up a racing slick on the street without using tire warmers.

This is a Pirelli Superbike endurance racing slick that I had on my 748 a few months ago....



Realistically, though, I would not recommend 20+ year old racing slicks to anyone for street use...or any type of use other than as a tire swing.

If you need a front tire, why not try a brand new and more recently manufactured tire of a little different size? I just recently saw a Bridgestone BT-020 in a 120/80-16 available. It's a little taller than the 120/60-16, but I would trust it better than 20+ yr old tires.

Thanks for your sage advise. I will heed it and let them go. Say, is there any problem putting a 120 width tire an a 3.5" paso rim? And just to drive you crazy, I'll go ahead and ask: would a 130/70 16 likely be smaller in diameter than a 120/80 16 size. I owe everyone a round. Best wishes, Randy.http://forums.ducatipaso.org/posting.ph ... f=1&t=3791#

There are many threads about using alternate sized tires, so you may want to go reading through those. There is some good information from people who have actually run some of the different sized tires on their Paso....

randtcastell wrote:Say, is there any problem putting a 120 width tire an a 3.5" paso rim?

Hmmmm......I was looking at other tire sizes just before responding to this thread. I had "120" stuck in my head.

I'm not too sure what rim the 120/80-16 is designed for, but the 17" wheels on my other Ducatis are 3.5" wide on the front and use a 120 width tire. I guess we'd have to find a bike that uses that size as a factory tire and then see how wide the rim is. *Edit - Looks like the early 80's Honda VFR and Kawasaki GPZ 1000 bikes ran the 120/80-16 front tire. Interesting that I found someone stating that the VFR rim is only 2.5" wide.

randtcastell wrote:And just to drive you crazy, I'll go ahead and ask: would a 130/70 16 likely be smaller in diameter than a 120/80 16 size.

If I can remember correctly...

130mm x .7 = 91mm in height
120mm x .8 = 95mm

I would say that the overall diameter of the 130 would be 8mm smaller.

*Edit - Ahhhh...I see those slicks listed in an eBay store. Even the seller states that they should be used on museum bikes.

*Edit #2 - You may be better off trying this Dunlop Qualifier in 130/70-16, and it's cheaper, too...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-Dunl ... 0396810493

If the Dunlop is like the Avon AV45 Azaro ST in 130/70-16, then it is designed to go on a 3.50" wide rim.... http://www.jpcycles.com/ProductDetail.a ... e=06Metric

what rims are you talking about ? The Paso rim is 3.75", the Marvic 16" rim is 3.5".

G.

Well, thank you all. Sorry about the steep learning curve represented by my tire size naiveté. The Paso I've lost my heart to has Akront rims on Marvic rims, ala 851 Strada. 3.5" front width rim, 5.0 rear width rim. I like the Avon Azzaros i'd love to fit a AV45 130/70 to the front and a AV46 150/80 to the rear, just concerned about look and fit of that 80 height on the rear. Thank you again everyone. Best, Randy.

you can take the Avon Av72 180/60-16 as well. You will have less height issues but you`ll need to distance the chain due to its width.

G.