[inimaitimepass]

Hi pals,
I am living in Coimbatore, and I own a P150 UG III, which has done nearly 22000km's...
I am riding with OEM tyres till now. I decided to change them as i lost the confidence on them regarding grip and handling. I planned to fit the stock tyres coming with Pulsar 200 i.e. 90/90*17” front and 120/80*17” rear, for my P150 UG III. But when I enquired the MRF dealers here, they said front tubeless tyre is not at all available. Only Rear tubeless can be fitted.
Then I contacted my service engineer Mr.Ragunathan of Suryabala Bajaj, who has more than 15 years of experience in this industry and whom I am trusting better than anyone. He said the tubeless tyres are not recommended for the P150 because its rim type is not designed for that. And the local mechanics will use some kind of paste to fit the P200 tyre in to the existing P150 rim, and it is a dangerous procedure. my greatest concern is better grip and handling so he suggested me the tube 120/80*17” tyre, and said, it still needed some modifications in the swing arm.
But when I gone thru in internet most of the pulsar owners said the 120/80*17” can be fitted into the existing rim with out any swing arm modifications. Now my queries are,

1. Are there no tubeless tyres available for the front? And if so, is the front of P200 is tube tyre?
2. Can I fit the P200 tubeless tyres for my P150, without any swing arm modification and without changing the rim?
3. Will the P200's tyres fit into my P150's rim? I just want a direct fit, dont want the pasting stuff...
4. Is my bike need any modifications in the swing arm to fit broader tyres?
5. What are the broader range of tubed and tubeless tyres from MRF (mu ultimate choice) that can be fitted in to my P150 for better grip and handing?

guys pls help me to make a perfect decision....

[Yogesh Sarkar]

1. Are there no tubeless tyres available for the front? And if so, is the front of P200 is tube tyre?

There are plenty of front tubeless tyres available from plenty of tyre manufactures.

2. Can I fit the P200 tubeless tyres for my P150, without any swing arm modification and without changing the rim?

Shouldn’t be an issue since you will be upgrading from 100 size stock tyre, though you might have to take off the chain guard.

3. Will the P200's tyres fit into my P150's rim? I just want a direct fit, dont want the pasting stuff...

Should be a direct fit

4. Is my bike need any modifications in the swing arm to fit broader tyres?

Shouldn’t be need with up to 130 size tyre.

5. What are the broader range of tubed and tubeless tyres from MRF (mu ultimate choice) that can be fitted in to my P150 for better grip and handing?

If you want grip, then forget about size of the tyre and MRF! You would be better off getting tubeless tyres from Duro and Vee Rubber.

With one exception, have heard that Yamaha R15 tyre which is also manufactured by MRF is quite good, so you might want to get that if nothing else is available or if you have to buy a MRF.

[inimaitimepass]

If you want grip, then forget about size of the tyre and MRF! You would be better off getting tubeless tyres from Duro and Vee Rubber.

With one exception, have heard that Yamaha R15 tyre which is also manufactured by MRF is quite good, so you might want to get that if nothing else is available or if you have to buy a MRF.

Yogesh "Sar"kar...

I thought that the wider tyre will give better grip.... the reason why i decided to go for wider tyre is because, 'm facing frequent skidding while hard breaking....it is getting worse in wet and sand roads.... so i thought if the tyre is broader then i can get a good grip... is there anything like full body alignment (i dont kno what it is, but my colleague said so) and wheel alignment that cause this skidding prob? how to over come this prob then?

Here in my city, its hard to find authorized dealers for such kind of tyres... i have only brands like bridgestone, mrf who have authorized dealers, to choose from... still can afford ceat or some other brand with some intense search from the automobile shops.... how about the zapper q series which has some support among the bikers...

[darth_lucifer]

But when I enquired the MRF dealers here, they said front tubeless tyre is not at all available. Only Rear tubeless can be fitted.

Lol.I had to buy puncture repair kit for tubeless a year back many MRF dealers then dont know bikes come with tubeless these days.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

With gravel on the road, even the best tyres would loose grip, especially while leaning. Same goes for the wet condition, however good tyres would generally provide you more grip than the poor ones.

Add to that, sometimes due to the rear brake play being less, one can easily lock the rear tyre which causes the bike to skid. It is best to ensure that there is a decent amount of play in the brake paddle to ensure that you don’t lock it easily and also make sure that while braking you use both brakes with the majority of the braking power coming from the front brake (make sure you don’t lock the front!).

More than bigger size, what you need is good quality tyres which sadly most of the manufacturers in India don’t produce. Mainly due to the fact that people want their tyres to last as long as possible, so our tyre manufacturers use hard compound to ensure longevity of the tyre, which comes at the expense of grip.

Coming to the Zapper Q, yes from what I have heard, it is definitely a better option than rest of the MRF lineup, so if you don’t have any other choice, go for it.

[inimaitimepass]

yogesh bhai,
i will always apply both breaks simultaneously... i rarely got tyre locking problems... but at times my calculations went wrong in gravel n wet roads... and this means i still have to process quickly... my real problem is the rear is skidding whenever i put brake in high speeds at straight line.... that is the reason why i am looking for a broader tyre.... what is the role of the wheel alignment/wheel balancing in the straight line skidding... my friends telling me that wheel misalignment is the real culprit... is this true? what is the full body alignment of a bike means? how important it is in maintaining a bikes balance?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Misalignment wouldn’t cause the skidding issue, though it would cause the bike to go in a particular direction excessively while skidding. Try out Zapper Q if other tyres aren’t available in your city, if you are going for wider tyre then take care to not go for larger than 110 or 120 size.

[navnit]

just to quick addintion : little close to perfect type preassure on wet roads & hard braking might cause your bike to fish tail or loose rear grip . .. have a look at look at that too ... back to basics might be ..