Couldn't help myself - Had to stick the 21" on...
So here's the deal. I thought I would have no problem leaving the newly acquired 21" wheel sitting up in the shed patiently waiting for me to get around to playing with it over the next few days....
Wrong....
I got up just after the crack of nine this morning convincing myself that I need to find a 90/90-21 tire to stick this sucker on the bike and see how it fits up.
It happen that a mate up the road (KTM Adv rider) had a one third to half worn Bridgestone 90/90-21 Trail Wing 41 tire, complete with appropriate tube. YeeeHawww. 30 minutes later the tire was spooned on and pumped up ready for install.
First things first - I weighed Woody's complete 21" wheel assembly which with spacers + disc's + tire and tube and it come in at 11kg.
I whipped the OEM wheel of the bike and zip tied the R/H spacer and ABS cover onto it, and weigh in at 14kg...
BONUS........ 3kg of "un-sprung mass" lighter = Ya gotta be happy with that ::015::
You can bank on saving another 1kg+ with the single disc wheel set up.
So - I fitted the new 21" wheel assembly up, and thought, hmm, that front mudguard looks like it might just fit back on.. Be good if it does because I can go for a ride and try the new wheel without the need to worry about brake lines catching the tire.....
BONUS again...... The OEM guard clears with about 3>5mm gap.
On goes the mudguard, brake lines securely clipped back in place, and front ABS sensor zip tied out of the way.
This is how it all looks this afternoon.
Right click and "view image" for full size pics....
A couple more dimensions:
The original tire clearance to the (top bend line) bash plate is 81mm
The clearance now with the 90/90-21 tire (half worn) is 66mm
The 110/80-19 Karoo2(T) mounted and inflated is 665mm diameter.
The 90/90-21 TrailWing (1/3rd to 1/2 worn) mounted and inflated is 696mm diameter.
Wheel change over completed it's time to roll the bike out to open ground and try and compress the forks to see how much tire to bash plate clearance we have.
I had my son (6' x 100kg) roll the bike down the driveway, weight the front wheel, and slam the front brakes on to load the forks as much as possible, and we ended up using all but the last 32mm (1 1/4") of travel.
This was good enough for me as the last bit of travel would place the tire on about the same (or reducing) trajectory and would not get any closer to the bash plate.
That said, it is damn close now and would absolutely hit with a new tire.
Unfortunately the last pic is the one that I really wanted as clear as possible. As Murphy's Law would have it this turns out to be the shitty one.
You get the message though and can see that there is only a whisker in it.
Next step is to remove the SW-Motech bash plate and just go with the OEM plastic component for a while. Use of this wheel may mean that I have to modify the SWM plate or possibly even look at manufacturing something myself.
I will ride the bike around as is for a period while I re-visit the design of the high front guard and sus out exactly what I will do with the dual brake lines.
If only we had the 18" rear rim here Woody....
I would be able to stick a 130(ish)/18 tire on the back and see how this baby can really perform off-road...
Hope you enjoyed the read and the pics - Keep watching coz there's a lot more to come.
Greg.
