Ahh, forget the SM stuff.. If you want it surefooted offroad you'll have to take it easy onroad and vice versa - cause it's all about tire selection. I suppose at most you'd need two sets of 21/18's.. One set with street tires, one set with 90/10's - such as Kenda Trackmaster ll 's... Your offroad riding will need the bike to be as surefooted as possible so you can gain skills. 50/50 tires will have you learning - the hard way - what all they(the tires) can't do offroad. It takes a highly skilled offroader to run 50/50's on the trails.

 

I did the conversion
rear brake rotor was the same, at least on the wheels I bought
just different rear sprocket size to make up for the wheel difference


front just needed different caliper mounting bracket
I reused my caliper and bolts as the wheel came with the larger rotor on it

Think I paid $1000 for the wheel set but already had nice tires mounted and ready to bolt on along with the speedo calibrator device for my digital speedo



I would get the sm version
unless your riding it off road alot

I wish I would of got the sm to start with, I bought my bike brand new around $5300 in 2012 I think

I love the sm wheels made it so much nicer to ride as I do all street riding

 

You don't need SF wheels, just more street oriented tires. I ride 90% street and find my tires (see signature) are perfect. They handle great on the asphalt and do good on trails.

 

I would find a SF to begin with personally, unless you plan on doing more than 70% dirt riding. I did the S to SF conversion a couple of years ago and it was a fun transition but it wasn't quick or easy (due to parts availability) as it took more than a year. SF wheels are hard to find and getting quite expensive, it was much easier a couple of years back when the SF was still made/only a year or so out of production.

Converting S to SF

S front brake to SF

 

Here is your Unicorn.

 

Nice unicorn cmott.
I thought maybe you were sharing more of your trail cam catchings with us!

 

I’m not sure if it is real or not, the narration that is. Either way it is funny.

 

Fact is the 17 may not be that much different from the 18 dual sport due to the width, which dictates profile. I found a 140/70-17 was almost the same diameter as my 130/80-17 dual sport tire on my 650 when looking at SM stuff.

I also learned that confidence in a tire is the important part. I can run my 60/40 dual sport Duro right with my friends on their radial shod SMs on road running. I've got 30,000 miles on the Duro tire, so I have a darn good idea what I can expect. Never had them break loose in spite of running that 21"

I've also not had much problem off road with those tires either. Thus I still don't have a set of 17s yet.

 

OK, I'll bite....why are you buying an 18-hp bike and expecting it to do supermoto duty? The KLX250 is lightweight and agile trail bike that can be pressed into street or commuting use without too much trouble, but it will never be a real street machine no matter what wheels you put on it. For the price of a set of replacement wheels you can probably find an older GSXR600 beater that will give you 10 times the thrills.

No, make that 20 times.

 

LOL. that's super funny.

I just paid $1700 for my, kind of beater, 2006 KLX. So, a $1000 set of wheels is no bargain. Even $600 is no bargain. You can pick up a do-it-all SV650 now for around $1500. The GIXXER is too committed. You're very right that an 18HP street bike will be underwhelming.

The only benefit I can see in having one bike with two sets of wheels would be if you had a tiny storage space. If you have a garage a 2 bike solution is a no brainier.

Also, when you're done with whatever bike you pick up as the 2nd bike you can simply resell it on Craigslist when you're done with it. No eBay postings, shipping of the wheels to far off buyers etc. Craigslist now means I rent bikes. If you're a smart buyer you can own bikes for little more than the time and trouble of registering them.