Gs500E scrambler conversion: questions and questions!

[Xavier]

Well, a bit of backstory on this one, since this is my second post!

Short version: which dual sport tires do I mount? They must be 130/70 or 140/70.


Long version:

I'm Xavier, 22 year old living near Barcelona, Spain, in a nice purty mountain town. A year ago I bought a second-hand Gs500E with about 40K miles on it. I disassembled it, sanded and painted everything.. It ran nicely when I bought it, but after cleaning carbs, checking clearances, an oil change, synching carbs and adjusting the air screw on them it ran even nicer!  In Spain there's a huge community behind this bike, they recomended it to me as a first motorbike and they weren't wrong.

Now the catch: I had a crash two months ago, when a guy came out of a parking spot without looking and I crashed sideways on his bumper, messing up my knee in the process. Now the knee is healed, and I finally got the insurance company to pay for the damage to the bike (mirror, and one of the top refrigerating vanes of the engine was broken, scratched right side of engine and exhaust). The damage was mainly cosmetic, the bike started right after the crash. But it wasn't my fault, so I wasn't getting a scratched up bike for someone else's distraction!

The bike is coming out of the shop this week, with a new and shiny exhaust, new cylinder top (what's the english word for it? the part where you screw the spark plugs) and engine side. I'll get some spare cash selling the new exhaust, and the tires are pretty worn so I'm replacing them. The thing is that I love going fishing and I got some pretty sweet lakes near my house, problem is you gotta do some light off-roading to get there. 

That's the reason I want to make my bike a scrambler, with dual-sport tires, engine crashbars and a deflector plate for the oil filter. I'll still be using it for some road trips and everyday driving, so I'd like tires that won't wear out with 3K miles on the tarmac. Let's say 80% road 20% offroad, or even 90% 10%.

BUT! In Spain we got some quite (shitty) strict laws about wheel sizes, so I can only mount a 130/70 or 140/70 in the rear...which effectively kills any of the nice dual sport tires I've seen on a lot of threads, like the Shinko 705 

Any suggestions? What can I mount? I'll ride my baby soon, but if I don't give her new shoes she's killing me  .

[Big Rich]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Good that you and the bike are back on the road though!

The cylinder top is generally called the cylinder head - but it's pretty close anyway.

What about Kenda tires? Their K761 comes in a 130/80-17 rear, I'm guessing that's still not ok?

[Xavier]

If it was 140/70 it'd be ok, but 130/80 is too much for the government regulations...quite frustrating!

I'm using BT45 right now, I'd be happy with anything that gives me more traction than those offroading, but I find nothing in those sizes.