can I put 4.00 18 tires front and rear

[briansal]

I am getting new tires for my bike 78 XS400. right now it has a 4.10 rear and a 3.00 front. they are in good shape but I have no idea how old they are. could be original yikes. I would like to put on a bigger front tire so 4.00s all around. would this be and issue? No front fender so clearance isnt an issue. I'm thinking the dunlop tt100-k70. it says its a rear tire but will that be a problem using it on the front? The bike is not being ridden very hard more for cruising.

 

[iamunique127]

I was looking at those tires too. I think it's a universal tire that can be used front or rear.

 

[bcware]

I wouldn't put a rear tire in the front if it really is a rear tire.

The conversion charts to go from inch to metric cover a range and aren't exact so it's hard to say.

I have a '78 and I can tell you that a 100/90/18 in the front (with a fender) is maxed out.

My rear is a 110/90/18 and it maxes out my swing-arm and I have no chain guard.

I am pretty sure I have heard of people putting a 120/90/18 on (which is a 4.25-4.5) a pre-1981 (narrower) swing-arm, but I think it really depends on the profile of the tire.

Sorry I can't be of more help

Are these tires super cheap or something?

 

[Pork Chop]

I rode an xs400 with 4" firestones on the front with no fender or fork brace and all I can say is I would never have that set up on my bike. It looks cool but even the guys at Deus who strongly promote that "look" admit handling is woeful.

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[xschris]

Bigger the tire from stock the worse the handling gets.

 

[briansal]

My father in law is a harley sales manager. I can order parts at cost. But it's limited to what's available for this bike. These were the vintage tires that I could find. $150 which is a deal in Canada. I will have to see what the slimmer size was for the fronts. I just really like the looks of the bigger fronts. I see them even on the new harley bobbers I wonder how they handle.

 

[iamunique127]

I rode an xs400 with 4" firestones on the front with no fender or fork brace and all I can say is I would never have that set up on my bike. It looks cool but even the guys at Deus who strongly promote that "look" admit handling is woeful.

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I wanted the look but didn't want to give up the handling so I decided against those tires. I went with the same set up bcware has.

 

[iamunique127]

My father in is a harley sales manager. I can order parts at cost. But it's limited to what's available for this bike. These were the vintage tires that I could find. $150 which is a deal in Canada. I will have to see what the slimmer size was for the fronts. I just really like the looks if the bigger fronts. I see them even on the new harley bobbers I wonder how they handle.

Those tires were used on the old British bikes in the 1970's. Had them on my Nortons, that's why I was looking at them.

 

[bcware]

I see them even on the new harley bobbers I wonder how they handle.

Like shit,

but honestly, if you ride a bobber/chopper you generally don't care about performance handling.

A big honking front tire is going to do the most damage.

 

[MrYeats]

Take a look at the pic of my bike. I have a 130/90 18 on front and 150/90 16 on rear.
There is no room to mount a front fender, or even a fork brace, but it looks good.

 

[briansal]

Take a look at the pic of my bike. I have a 130/90 18 on front and 150/90 16 on rear.
There is no room to mount a front fender, or even a fork brace, but it looks good.

That's looks awesome just the way I want mine. How do you find that it handles.

 

[briansal]

But I do really want it to handle nicely too. Hmmmm.

 

[bcware]

I kept my rear tire stock (110/90/18) and bumped the front 1 size (90/90/18 to 100/90/18). They're roughly the same size, the handling is very good, the front doesn't look tiny anymore, etc. It's a good compromise between looks and performance in my opinion.

When the front gets more massive it's going to resist your steering inputs; it won't want to turn. It will also hurt acceleration and braking a bit. When the sidewall gets too large I am not sure what will happen, but it won't be good due to the odd shape/profile that starts to occur.

 

[briansal]

I kept my rear tire stock (110/90/18) and bumped the front 1 size (90/90/18 to 100/90/18). They're roughly the same size, the handling is very good, the front doesn't look tiny anymore, etc. It's a good compromise between looks and performance in my opinion.

When the front gets more massive it's going to resist your steering inputs; it won't want to turn. It will also hurt acceleration and braking a bit. When the sidewall gets too large I am not sure what will happen, but it won't be good due to the odd shape/profile that starts to occur.

Your bike looks awesome as well. Did you paint or coat your headers. I just ordered some gaiters and clip ons off eBay. I want to powder coat the wheels before the new tires go on. And either wrap paint or ceramic coat the headers.

 

[MrYeats]

I used Rustoleum high heat paint 2000 degrees, Color is Copper.
I cant tell you about the handling because it doesn't run yet due to never ending ignition problems...
The main reason I did it this way was for looks and the fact that I don't plan to test the handling so much as it is mainly a stoplight to stoplight design. Oversize carbs, lower primary gear, stripped of all unnecessary weight, except for my lard ass of course.

 

[bcware]

My mac 2-1 system came with black headers. Before that I was running a 2-2 system that I painted with black header paint from the autoparts store. For barely scuffing the chrome pipes the header paint held up pretty well.

 

[MrYeats]

my pix don't show my copper color pipes :-(

 

[MrYeats]

my pix don't show my copper color pipes :-(

Here it is after paint

 

[briansal]

my pix don't show my copper color pipes :-(

I was wondering lol. I would like to see those as with mt color scheme that could look cool. I am also thinking tan wraps would really suit my bike.

 

[briansal]

Here it is after paint

those look great . Now get it running to see how they hold up. And we need a handling review.