Motorcycle Tire Size Chart Conversion Metric To Inches
As a motorcycle enthusiast, choosing the right tire size for your bike is crucial. The size of your tire affects everything from the handling of your motorcycle to the speedometer readings. This article will help you understand how to convert metric tire sizes to inches and provide you with a comprehensive motorcycle tire size chart to make the process easier.
Understanding Motorcycle Tire Sizes
Motorcycle tires are labeled with a series of numbers and letters that indicate the tire's size, load capacity, speed rating, and other important information. Understanding how to read these numbers is essential to choosing the right tire for your motorcycle.
The first number in a tire's size indicates the width of the tire in millimeters. The second number is the aspect ratio, which is the height of the tire's sidewall as a percentage of its width. The third number is the diameter of the wheel the tire is designed to fit, measured in inches.
For example, a tire labeled 120/70ZR17 would have a width of 120 millimeters, an aspect ratio of 70%, and be designed to fit a 17-inch wheel.
Metric To Inches Conversion
Many motorcycle tires are labeled using the metric system, which can be confusing for riders in the United States. To convert a metric tire size to inches, you need to convert the millimeter width and aspect ratio to inches and keep the wheel diameter in inches.
To convert the millimeter width to inches, divide the millimeter measurement by 25.4. To convert the aspect ratio to inches, multiply the width in inches by the aspect ratio percentage as a decimal (divide by 100) and add the result to the diameter of the wheel in inches.
For example, to convert a tire labeled 120/70ZR17 to inches, you would first convert the width to inches by dividing 120 by 25.4, which equals 4.72 inches. Then, you would multiply the width in inches by the aspect ratio percentage as a decimal (70/100 = 0.7) and add the result to the diameter of the wheel in inches (17). The calculation would be 4.72 x 0.7 + 17 = 20.64 inches for the overall tire diameter.
Motorcycle Tire Size Chart
Using a motorcycle tire size chart can make the process of choosing the right tire for your bike much easier. Here is a comprehensive chart that lists common tire sizes and their conversions from metric to inches:
Conclusion
Choosing the right tire size for your motorcycle is crucial for performance and safety on the road. By understanding how to read tire size labels and converting metric sizes to inches, you can ensure that you are choosing the right tire for your bike. Use the comprehensive motorcycle tire size chart provided in this article to make the process even easier.