17's on stock hub/swingarm questions

throttlenburn

New Member
Hi Tonners,

I've got an 2007 SR400 running the stock 18's that I'm about finished with. One of the last things I want to do is swap out the stock 18's front and back for a pair of excel 17's.

I wanted to try and squeeze a 130 on the rear without replacing the swingarm. Moving down to 17s should allow this to happen - a few have done it before. Plus tyre choices open up considerably.

Up front I'll probably run a 100 or 110 which is purely dependant on sizing available. I run a 100/90 up front now. In terms of rim size I'm looking at 2.50 up front, 3.00 at the back

I went to buy the rims yesterday. The guy behind the counter told me that I'd have numerous issues swapping out 18s for 17s. Apparently I'm looking at issues with the chain, gears, brakes, rear shocks - it was a real doomsday scenario allegedly.

If I'm re-lacing to the stock front and rear hubs am I correct in assuming that I shouldn't have any issues apart from tyre width fitment and a bit of a gap between the front guard and smaller tyre/rim profile?

Is there anything else I need to factor here?

Cheers
 
On the front the only issue I can think of would be the clearance due to a wider tire. If you run a 100 now, a 100 in a 17 will be fine. The only issue I could see in the rear related to the shocks would be if the tire is too wide and doesn't clear the shocks. At that point you'd also have the chain tearing off the sidewalk of your tire too. If it fits width wise and ends up being close to the same overall diameter (rim+tire) as the stock setup you shouldn't have any issues with chain length or gearing, but if the diameter is significantly larger or smaller you might have to get a chain with a couple more or a couple less links to maintain the proper slack, and a sprocket change to offset the change in diameter. But I don't imagine dropping an inch of rear tire diameter will change anything drastically.
 
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