I am very close to buying a 990 Adv. I am thinking I'll want a 2nd wheel set with street oriented tires and on the stock 21/18" wheels I run dirt oriented tires. Who's got a similar set up ? What tires do you run? Does it freaking rail on the paved twisty stuff? What size rims for the 2nd street oriented set? 17" for both or 17" rear + 19" front? Going to the 19" front I discovered that the tire OD will 1" smaller so the front will drop 1/2". I need to look at suitable tires in 17" and see what OD change there will be compared to the stock 150 x 18" tire.
It's not what you ask, but for what it is worth I considered smaller road SM wheels too. But I ended up using the stock OEM wheels with road tyres (Conti Attacks) and getting a spare dirt set with a SE rear rim. I never notice the larger wheels on the road - the front brake is the first weakness in aggressive road riding that you will hit, not the larger 21" size...
I would also like to get some road wheels with smaller front. My thinking is that then my wife could reach the ground and be able to ride it. She use to have a Guzzi NTX 650. Fully loaded panniers/30 lt fueled up no probs. (not off road)
I have a 19"/17" wheelset with Conti Road Attacks on them. I spoke with the guys at Woody's Wheel Works and they helped me make the decision not to go with 17"/17". I like the smaller wheelset on the road; I dunno if it's just a "power of suggestion" thing, but I feel a lot more confident and I think I am a bit quicker through the turns. I am certainly no expert rider. One thing I hadn't considered is the smaller wheel sizes making the bike so much closer to the ground; I usually park the bike on the centerstand. I haven't altered the stock height in any way. I don't intend to add any length to the sidestand as I probably won't have the smaller wheelset on very often.
I'm running 17/5.00 rear 17/3.5 front with talon hubs (crush drive rear) on a2011 990r drops into corners nicely and just add throttle to lift it out started with this to save on tire wear so much fun that i find that I Lost 30years when I Put on the 17" to do it again think I would try to use a 5.5 on the rear for a better profile with the Dunlap sport max Q2 180/55 The industry stopped using the 19" fronts 10/15 years ago Yes the leading axle is not found on road bikes but they dont have 10"of travel we raced 6 years of AMA supermoto with leading axles went 10mm offset and and 15mm off the swing arm to get them to turn Quicker
side stand is iffy at best Use the center and it dos take a little more effort to git it up that's when that 30yrs comes back
I prefer the 19/17 to 17/17-- imho the 19/17 is pretty much perfect and the 17/17 just doesn't look right on the SE or Adv.. I've ridden similar geometry bikes that were made with 21/18 stock and they were twitchy/unstable with the 17/17. I've run Conti Road and Trail Attacks- and prefer the Trails because they don't give up much on pavement and are better off it. I have a CJ Designs adjustable sidestand which works very well.
Thanks for the input guys. Looks like 19/17 is the way to go when doing an all street ride. I'm putting that into my Adventure bike budget
Just checked out Woody's Wheel Works. For the best set up 19/17 sealed wheel set before brake rotors and a sprocket it like $2000 I guess it's just money or maybe eBay
There's a full setup in the FM with Capo rims (best setup imo) and an extra set of fresh tires for a great price. No connection with the seller.
I'll add another opinione here. I have owned 19/17's and 17/17's on 3 different bikes. The 19/17 is a great all-around wheel set. If you don't ride or ride very little dirt, I think this is a great full-time wheel set for the Adv. However, if you keep a dirt set of wheels and want an aggressive street wheel set, the 17/17 is the ticket. I does change the geometry and I makes some suspension changes when I mount them, but then they work great. I now have a 950 SE and am in the process of building a 17/17 set of 950 SM wheels for it. They're that good. http://173.74.246.28/ktmtalk/photogallery/galleries/members/ACF177C.jpg
Same thoughts as above. If you are going street, GO all the way. 17" are so much fun and do work. Think 990 SMR with a larger tank. And a 950 SE with 17"s is a blast. IMO. It feels like a big 560SMR.
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/176/1.../2011-KTM-990-Adventure-Dakar-Comparison.aspx This compares the BMW, Yamaha, Ducati, KTM, and Triumph big dual sport bikes. To me it seems they were more interesting in long distance tourning than dual sporting. Ducati Multistata got top marks due the motor output. But 130hp in the dirt seems a bit over kill to me. Even the 990 with 97hp is really more than can be used in the dirt. Along the lines of this thread, MC USA also didn't like the tires on the bike. I wonder if a more street oriented tire would have been more to their liking. That and maybe a 19" front rim?? For me the KTM still wins as I want decent road performance and the best possible dirt performance. I was surprised that the KTM wasn't the lightest bike, but the low CG makes it feel lighter than the scale shows.
The fellas at Woody's are using premium components(like Billet hubs) and workmanship for their wheels. Using/sourcing your own hubs/rims and sending them to Woody's will ensure their workmanship and heavy gauge spokes are in the build, but not their billet hubs. edit to add: 19/17 all the way
