Hey all, I'm new to the forum. I'm working on getting my first bike and after doing a lot of research I feel like the Ninja 650 would be a good one to start on. What I don't want to do is get a beginner bike and then feel like I need to upgrade a few months or a year later.....I'd rather get a bike that I can use for a while.

My question is...is it possible to put a wider tire on the back w/o having to make any adjustments? I'd prefer to put a 180 on it and get rid of the 160. Any thoughts? TIA

 

Yeah, you'd be bogging the engine down with a tire that is too big, too wide, and too heavy. It would slow down acceleration because of the weight, along with the larger diameter, and turn in (steering) would be slowed and require more effort. The wider tire is possibly too wide for the rim width on the 650, affecting the profile when mounted in a negative way. The bike just isn't built to pull the fatter tire.

Forget the fat tire look, it's highly over rated along with over priced. Find out how much fun the bike is and skip the boulevard profiling.

I speak from experience in having put too large of tires on one of my bikes making it handle like a dump truck. I also took this the other way, installing a lower profile narrower tire to quicken handling, because that is what matters to me. I did one size smaller on the front (110/90 instead of 120/80) and one profile lower in the back (130/90 to 130/80) on a Gold Wing standard (no bags/fairing/box) to make it turn a bit better. It worked fairly well and the rims were appropriate for it.

I wanted quicker handling on my current Zephyr 550 and part of my changes involved staying with the 140/70 tire on the back and going to a 110/70 front tire instead of the 110/80. It works both ways, my bike now has quicker turn in, quicker handling as I wanted. Again, correct for rim size.

 

Stay with the stock widths for right now and get the suspension dialed in to fit your riding. Even though you are still working that out, a good suspension setup makes for a much better ride all of the time. I do not have a 650 but I love my EX500 for daily useage and even for short 1600 mile weekend trips. (I have even tracked it for a day and still had a great time.)

For alot of people, the 650 is a good fit. Although there are still alot of people saying that the 650 does not cut it for them after a while and want to "upgrade".

 

Aren't those small bores a lot of fun. I really do like both my "small" bikes. Of course the KLX is big for a dual sport, but it would be considered small on the street. It's just plain fun to get to wring the bike out without having it at "go to jail" speeds.

 

Totally agree with this. But the EX500 or the ER-6 will still peg you a go to jail tag if not careful.

I am still not in touch with the lil EX250 that I bought yet for my wife. For a track ride and knowing your environment, WFO would be killer. But for street, I can see why people will out grow those rides and the ER-6 would be a nice ride to own. You can still dig down and use what tq there is to keep things safe or even fun.

 

Thanks for your replies everyone. Much appreciated.

I really haven't decided on which bike to go with but I've been doing research for months upon months. I don't want to go with anything bigger than 800cc's for insurance reasons but I have looked at the Ninja 1000. I'm kinda schizo about what kind of bike I really want. Being 43 years old I've considered everything from muscle cruisers like the Victory Hammer and Judge to the H-D Breakout. Then sport touring I looked at the Triumph Sprint ST, Honda VFR800 and Ninja 1000. Finally I've recently fell in love with the new Triumph Street Triple (even though a lot of people seem to think it's an ugly "bug-eyed" bike). That 111hp 675cc triple is badazz. Whatever I get I want the bike to have the capability to put side-bags and a tank bag on it and go for long-distance cruises every once in a while. Only time will tell and I still need to take the motorcycle safety course before I sign on the dotted line of any bike.

 

during one of my solo rides out yonder, stopped at a diner and started chatting with another rider, (a yami rider) that really liked his sport tourer. ( forget the model ), but similar to the connie of kawi. A nice ride to look at and had adjustable windscreen at a push of a button. (bad *** in my opinion especially since my EX500 does not have that option or the connie)