Your thoughts on Running 175/55R15's on a 2021 Spyder RTL?

[Olddude39]

I would appreciate forum members sharing their thoughts on running 175/55's on their machines. I have a set of 175 Hankook Ventus V4 ES's in the waiting but would like to get more of said input on running this size before having them put on. Wanting to know if they handle noticeable better? Handlebar input? More effort to steer or less? Straight line stability as well as in the twisties. Any ride quality difference? I realize 175's are a tighter fit under the fender, so has anyone experienced any problems with this?

Thanks and happy riding!

[Peter Aawen]

Apart from gently lifting the fender lip to get the tires in & under while fitting the wheels onto your Spyder, you shouldn't have any major issues running those tires. Especially running 55 profile tires instead of 50's, you also might need to swap out the hex-head screws that hold the fender on (you can see them inside/under the fender while the wheel is off ) for flatter pan-head screws of the same size - the hex-heads stick out into the wheel well about 10mm and may juuust touch the tread at times, especially if you have anything much more than 18 psi in the tires (but you shouldn't! ) while the pan-head screws barely protrude at all. And again, if your tire pressures are too high, the deformation of the tire during hard cornering may carry further around the tires so that the sidewalls juuust touches the inner fender skirts as the tire rotates - more appropriate (lower than 20psi) pressures for the (lighter than a car) load the Spyder puts on the tires will see that deformation largely restricted to the tread area of the contact patch, so the tire won't deform so much up near where it could touch those inner skirts - problem solvered!

But, as I said, those latter two are 'mights', while the 'ease the fender lip up to fit the wheel on the hub' is an 'almost certainly' thing - meaning that for most, once those tires are fitted properly & under the fenders, you won't have any issues and will really appreciate the better ride, traction, & handling etc. that you'll get from them. Sure, there are arguably better choices of tires out there than the Hankook Ventus, but they'll still be quids ahead of any of the Kendas or Kenda clones, so you're on a winner there!!

Mind you, you don't ride a heap in the rain/on really wet roads do you?? Cos the slightly wider vs longer contact patch the 175's make over a 165 might be a little more prone to aqua-planing on wet roads than some of the more 'All- Season' or 'Wet Weather' alternative tires you could fit; and while the Hankooks will still be better than the Kendas in that respect, they won't necessarily be a good as some of the other options you could look at buying/installing (especially if you don't get those tire pressures down low enough for the lighter loads they'll be carrying! ). There are other tires out there that are better all round than the Kendas, AND better than the Hankooks on the wetter roads, but it's really a personal use/preferences/judgement call thing - if you don't spend a heap of time riding on really wet roads you might find that you gain a little tire tread longevity without too much in the way of 'lesser gains than some a/mkt tires over the Kendas' in terms of YOUR wet road riding... I've personally seen (& ridden the bike! ) a Spyder with set of Hankooks on it that've already been successfully run up front for about 35,000 miles that more than meet their rider's needs, and they look like doing maybe 10,000 or so miles more without any concerns - but he does only ride (carefully) in the rain if he gets caught out in it, and he doesn't ride when it gets really hot either; but he has been known to push it reasonably hard in the twisties!!

So it's clearly your call - run the Hankooks at the right pressures and you'll likely have no fitting issues beyond needing to lift the fender lip; you'll almost certainly get improvements in all respects over the Kendas; and even if the gains in some areas might not be so great as another tire alternative might provide, you'll probably find there's a benefit elsewhere the others might not match... It all comes down to YOUR needs and wants, and what compromises you might be prepared to make - but odds on, the Hankooks are still gonna be better than the Kendas/any Kenda clones!

[Isopedella]

My 2c worth.
I fitted Kumho Solus 160/60 R15 to my F3.
Its an all season tyre.
Runs straight and is good in the corners.

Night and Day better than the OEM's which were binned with heaps of tread left.

ku 31 1 20220615_154655.jpg kk 3 20220619_103911.jpg

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I would appreciate forum members sharing their thoughts on running 175/55's on their machines. I have a set of 175 Hankook Ventus V4 ES's in the waiting but would like to get more of said input on running this size before having them put on. Wanting to know if they handle noticeable better? Handlebar input? More effort to steer or less? Straight line stability as well as in the twisties. Any ride quality difference? I realize 175's are a tighter fit under the fender, so has anyone experienced any problems with this?

Thanks and happy riding!

My first tire change (fronts) on my 14 RT (basic = old style fenders) were to 180/55-15's Yoko T1R's .... I had to move the fenders on the brackets and add washers ..... To be perfectly honest, other than looks it was a waste of time .... The added traction of a wider (and very sticky tire) were CANCELED by the Computer. .... The Nanny has factory set parameters for the VSS and will be triggered when they are exceeded .... It's similar to adding a Turbo or Supercharger to your Spyder and Failing to alter the settings in the OEM computer (if it's even possible) ..... Mike