should i run a bigger tire???

[Bubba68CS]

Originally Posted by Kawlison

If you started reading this thread from the beginning answer you started with erroneous reasoning. You can't divide weight of bike plus rider by the psi of the tire to get contact patch size. Weight divided by pressure does not equal area regardless of the shape. Put eleven square inches down on a piece of paper and see how close that matches your tire's patch size.

I am aware that this thread is pretty ancient...but just an addition since it is a "FAQ"...what is said here is true. The assumption made by the original poster was that the tires have no structural force that holds a shape. Case in point: if you replaced the tires with thick walled steel drums and pumped them up to 30 psi and let the bike rest on that...how big would your contact patch be?? Give you a hint: the answer is heavily dependent on the shape of that drum.

A tire is not infinitely elastic. Decreasing the pressure to 1 psi is NOT going to yield a contact patch of 700 square inches for a 700 lb bike. It is physically impossible. The shape and size of the tire affects the contact patch. Since a tire is somewhat elastic, the air pressure will obviously affect the size of the contact patch. But the math is not as simple as weight/pressure = contact patch.

[kartboy337]

Originally Posted by cabledawg79

So what is the biggest tire i can run on my 08 meanie without any mod to the rear?

I'm with you. I know enough about contact patch and handling. I just want to know what people have put on a later mean streak without having to modify anything. Someone just answer that.