I found a site: Tires-Easy.com they claim to have a car tire that may replace a motorcycle tire size: 180/55-17. The price quoted to me for two tires was 44.80 each+ shipping. The size quoted was: 175/55r17XL 88V BSW. I have posted this on the Hack Vendor site also. Hope this helps. Good Luck
I don't understand what you are trying to say here. $44.80 for the Achilles ATR-K Economist is the standard tires-easy price. So they're not giving you some kind of special deal. And you say they are "claiming" that it will replace a 180/55-17 motorcycle tire? I'd be surprised if they were "claiming" such a thing. They are a huge internet tire dealer. They sell car tires. It's up to you to determine which car tires fit your motorcycle rims. Here's a link to an earlier post I made about this tire. The ATR-K Economist has a treadwear rating of 400, a AA traction rating, and an A temp rating. All happy news for us sidecarists. The tread pattern kinda goes overboard on the rain channels, but then again it's the only 175 tire currently being sold retail in the U.S. for a 17" rim, so I'm not complaining. Here's a pic of the tread pattern of the one in my garage--
The 180/55-17 is a fairly close match to the 5 1/2 - 6" car rim. Most car tyres in this range are going to fit. I've had a 205/45-17 on since the Bandit rig was setup in 2010, it's just starting to show signs of wear now. Mind you I've been through 4 front and two chair tyres during the same time. The 45 section means its about 1/2" smaller in overal diameter, which is about 1.5 mph difference on the speedo, nothing that can't be handled by the SpeedHealer.
Works well on your 'Zuki, but the swingarm on a BMW K-bike has a casting that will rub on that size tire. Not sure if the GS has the same problem.
I bought mine in May--that was 6 months ago! I think it was introduced a few months before that so you probably missed it by days not months. Does that make you feel better? Didn't think so!
I'm gonna have to go look at my checkbook to see when I got the conversion from Claude, or maybe not.....:eek1
Just picked up a vstrom hack with a 17" rear wheel is the above mentioned tires the only car tire that'll fit. Is there any other square tread motorcycle tires that fit a 17"
If your hack has the stock Suzuki rear rim, you have many choices. The Achilles tire mentioned in Post #1 is interesting only because it's a 175 which means it's narrow enough to clear the swingarm on a BMW GS. Most V-Strom darksiders do fine with a 195/55-17 or a 205/50-17. Both of these tires give you a comparable ride height as the stock moto 150/70-17. There are a LOT of great tires in these sizes and you just need to decide which one you want based on how you use your rig. You can find tires in these sizes at the websites of any of the major internet tire sellers, but I find the quickest way to look at what's avaialble and see what the tread patterns look like is to use eBay. Go to the eBay car tire section, dial in the sizes you want, choose Gallery view, choose "new", choose "U.S. only", and up pops hundreds of pictures of tires in your requested size. Then you can narrow it down using the eBay refinements on the left side of the page. I just tried it for 205/50-17 and came up with 1100 listings! -- LOOK If you're looking for a more dirt-worthy tire, Winter tires tend to have the most aggressive tread patterns but also the worst performance and longevity on paved surfaces. Also note that you won't find UTQG ratings for Winter tires because it's not required by the DOT. If you want a UTQG-rated tire with a more aggressive tread, stick to the All-Season tires.