Highest rated Tires for KZ1000

Mr. E wrote:

It seems I will be on the hunt for some drag wheels in 17 for up front and something cool for the rear. I would like to find a solid rear wheel - 

I may be wrong, but I think my Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 runs a 120/70/17 front tire, and a 190/50/17 (73W) rear tire. A fellow Ninja rider who participates in land speed, ten years ago went 208 mph using a Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP V2 on his ZX-14 in Loring Maine. 

What are the other racers using?
 

It's pretty likely that you'll need to fit a 17" wheel front and back.   Or said another way, moving to 17" wheels would provide the widest selection of tire options.

The most direct way I can think of to put 17" wheels on a Kz1000 is to find a set of stock Kawasaki spoke wheels (77 or 78 A1/A2) and have 17" rims laced onto the hubs. Buchanan could build up the wheels and then you'd just bolt them on and go.

www.buchananspokes.com/

Or course, spoked wheels use tubes typically, and I don't know if a tubeless tire would retain it's speed rating if you were to add a tube.  And I suspect it would be hard to get an answer about that from the tire manufacturer. 

Did you see any other bikes out there running spoke wheels?

Doctorot is running spokes without a tube, so it's possible.  Or maybe Buchanan can recommend a way to seal the spkes.  I'm guessing they get asked about that pretty often.

I do have a spare set of spoked factory 18/19 rims so that may be a final option for us, I am hunting now for 17/18 vintage rims. PM solid rears and 3 spoke RC /PM Fronts.  Hard to be picky and in need at the same time but here I am 

When I used to drag race my bike, (77-kz1000A big motor ), it routinely would run about 130 mph in the 1/4 mile, and that was usually at the top of 4th gear or just hitting 5th. So 160 mph  wasn't to far away. And that was with spoked inner tube wheels. Usually running 10 lbs pressure or less in the back tire.  That was good fun back then......

urankjj wrote:

When I used to drag race my bike, (77-kz1000A big motor ), it routinely would run about 130 mph in the 1/4 mile, and that was usually at the top of 4th gear or just hitting 5th. So 160 mph  wasn't to far away. And that was with spoked inner tube wheels. Usually running 10 lbs pressure or less in the back tire.  That was good fun back then......

Thats haulin ass bud!

If I was doing it I would just run slicks unless your class mandates street tire. Slicks are generally lighter, speed rated, and very easy to swap out at the track with tire irons.

Injected wrote:

If I was doing it I would just run slicks unless your class mandates street tire. Slicks are generally lighter, speed rated, and very easy to swap out at the track with tire irons.

I have been looking at the Major MFGs and Mickey Thompson slicks. Since I am having to source a second set of rims to find tires that fit, I was thinking the higher rated "street" tires would save me a couple hundred each, however My father and I were discussing bringing spare tires just last night. That's a great point on easy changing and something  to seriously consider as I don't have a rabaconda or something similar for mobile tire changing, I'm usually just sweating and cussing on my knees with spoons HAHA. The rabbit hole goes deeper yet.

If you go with spoked wheels you can use Outex tubeless kit to remove inner tube. I'm running them on my kz1000 with radial tires. removed 1.5 pounds from the rear wheel. 
www.outex.jp/tubelesskitenglishlist.htm

Also, it might be in your interest to have a spare set of wheels. That way if you need to change tires rapidly they're ready to go and your not waiting to remove and install the tires. When i go the the track I have 3 sets: two for slicks, and one for wets. 

Spoked certainly gives me the options, I have a set of 18/19 " kz1000 spoked rims, they may be sacrificed to the cause for their hubs. Ill dig deeper into that spokeless option- that makes running spokes a viable choice in my mind -