19 inch front wheel

Hello,

Has anybody tried a 19 inch front wheel on the Wr250R/X???
A company called Procycle has a package deal they say is for "Adventure" riding that has a 19 inch front wheel and a 17 inch rear wheel.

Thanks

I have a 19/17 on my KTM and it handles much better offroad then 17's front and back.

I haven't tried it, but the difference is going to be tire choice. With the 17/19 you will still be able to use wide tires for on road handling, it will open your choices up to the adventure tire market used on bmw's etc. The taller front will roll over things a little easier as well.


A dirt 18/21 combo will use much narrower tires, which will be best for offroad, but worse on road.

A supermoto 17/17 should be best on the street, but dual sport tires are very limited for the front, basically you have to run 2 rear tires, which many do quite successfully, but I would hazard to guess is not ideal.

I have been thinking of doing the same 19/17 setup to a spare set of stock 21/18 wheels since this combo would be ideal for anyone torn between the 17/17 hooligan road manners or 21/18 dirt capabilities and front end stability.  Basically, those who do longer distance adventure-type touring or ride a mix of tarmac/dirt.  The tire choices are excellent, especially in the 100/90-19 and 130/80-17 size available in dozens of tire choices thanks to the super popular, mid-sized BMW F650GS ADV bikes. These sizes are usually available in tube-type and moderate weight range. I would recommend against tires for ADV bikes bigger than this as the weight rating of the tire will result in an excessively stiff sideway and heavy tire, both fouling up the handling on our light bikes.

If I go with the 19 inch front wheel, do you guys think I should use a X front brake rotor (better street braking, but heavier) or the smaller R rotor (lighter and less of a chance to damage it off-road)???

Changing the front wheel/tire from a 80/100-21 to a 100/90-19 will reduce the rolling diameter  by 1.2" and thus automatically increase your effective braking force by 5%. I think the decision on a larger front rotor depends on how and where you ride, more than anything. If you ride mountain roads or heavily loaded, go big. If not, I'd stay with your current setup and upgrade latter with an EBC Big Brake kit (offered by Wheeling Cycle Supply) should it seem lacking.
Remember that the WRX front master cylinder is different than the WRR, having a larger piston to offset the greater mechanial advantage of the large diameter disk. Running a large rotor with a WRR (small piston) master cylinder could result in a slightly over-assisted and vague brake feel,  though I believe many here have run this successfully and would know better first hand.

andysrage wrote:

Changing the front wheel/tire from a 80/100-21 to a 100/90-19 will reduce the rolling diameter  by 1.2" and thus automatically increase your effective braking force by 5%. I think the decision on a larger front rotor depends on how and where you ride, more than anything. If you ride mountain roads or heavily loaded, go big. If not, I'd stay with your current setup and upgrade latter with an EBC Big Brake kit (offered by Wheeling Cycle Supply) should it seem lacking.
Remember that the WRX front master cylinder is different than the WRR, having a larger piston to offset the greater mechanial advantage of the large diameter disk. Running a large rotor with a WRR (small piston) master cylinder could result in a slightly over-assisted and vague brake feel,  though I believe many here have run this successfully and would know better first hand.

I appreciate your insight!

I did buy a complete X front brake system (mastercylinder and front caliper) and 17 inch wheels but I have not installed them yet.
So I could go either with the R or X front brakes since I own both systems.

SLOWRIDER wrote:

If I go with the 19 inch front wheel, do you guys think I should use a X front brake rotor (better street braking, but heavier) or the smaller R rotor (lighter and less of a chance to damage it off-road)???

Wouldn't that depend on what tires you want to run? Off road oriented tires won't have the grip on road to really benefit from oversized brakes. Adventure tires are usually on road oriented however so then I would recommend the larger rotor. My wr250x with street tires (everything stock) takes a lot of hand force to get the brakes anywhere near locked on dry roads. Its not like its touchy or anything. This would be an important decisions since you have to choose which hub you want to have laced as you cannot switch rotors between the two hubs.

I have an X and this is what I plan to do also, it opens up a great range of Adventure type rubber, everything that'll go on the R1200GS etc.

As I've got an X I'm going to stick with the X rotor and caliper, with the 17" the front brake is really really good, don't want to compromise that any more than the larger wheel will.

Since breaking my leg in early May, I have only ridden on the street. I have converted my 21 inch r wheel to a 18 inch bmw front wheel with a duel sport tire like a toureance tread. I use a x caliper. I also have the stock r master cyclinder. All seems to work fine. I did have to use a little more spacers as the BMW wheel is somewhat narrower. disc is the same distance from the left side of wheel hub so additional spacers are added to right side. There may be one tiny spacer on left side to align disc. Down side is if I need to use stock wheel I must go to R caliper. BMW does make a 19 inch wheel with the same hub for its later model 650 single. I do like the 17 inch wheel on the back as there are a lot of tire sizes and the rim is wide. Plan to lace a 17 aluminum rim sometime.    Berwyn