19″ or 21″ Wheels?

Full Transcript:

This is Bret Tkacs, and welcome back to Around the Wheel. Today I’m chatting with Bill. Bill is just a regular rider, like the rest of you guys, and happened to send me an email that was loaded with lots of conversation but had a very specific question that I thought all of you would be interested in. Bill, do you mind just reading that email to the listeners here?

Not at all, Bret, love your video series. I’m 6’4″, 270 pounds. I currently ride a 2019 Scrambler XE. I want something bigger to handle all my motorcycle camping gear and my weight easier. I have a good lead on a 2023 BMW 1250 GSA. My only concern is the 19-inch tire for off-road. I know you put a 21-inch tire setup on your GSA. How bad would a 19-inch tire be for minimal off-road sometimes gnarly (rocks, stones, heavy gravel) if we were doing a BDR / Smoky 500? I run Motaz tires on my Scrambler. I also have a good lead on a 2023 Triumph Rally Explorer which comes with a 21-inch wheel. I understand the issue in low gear with the T-plane and I want to know your thoughts on tire size on the bikes. Cheers, Bill.

Perfect. Thank you, Bill. That really, I mean, there’s a lot of stuff going on here. When I’m listening to your email and I’m thinking of everything from your height and weight, you know you’re 270, you’re 6’4″. That makes a difference because at that point we’re also talking about making suspension adjustments to, you know, if we really want the bike to be ideal and if you’re discussing 19″ versus 21″, we’re definitely talking about, how do you get the most out of that machine. So, before I get into the whole wide versus narrow options modifying a bike, power delivery, suspension, the type of suspension that both those bikes use, I’m going to answer that first initial question. The question was, you know, 19″ versus 21″, and how much of a difference does that make? And that one’s actually a fairly easy answer for me.

For most people, this is a really common question, Bill. By the way, I get asked this a lot by email and at camps and everything else. And when you mention minimal off-road, my initial response to that is a 19 is fine. It’s great. If all you’re doing is gravel roads, service roads and you’re touring, a 19″ is a fantastic tire.

But you didn’t stop there. You didn’t just say minimal off-road, you also mentioned some very difficult and challenging terrain. And that’s when we start really going, okay, what are we buying the tires for? Or the wheel size for, is it for the 90% or 95% of the riding or is it for the 5%? And we get that with tire selection where people go, hey, do I really need this knobby? I’ve got a 95.5 and I only ride off-road 5%. Well, it doesn’t matter about how long, it’s what kind of off-road. If that off-road is basically 95% paved and 5% because it’s got gravel on it, then that’s fine. But when we start talking about the difficulty, that’s where the change is. So you mentioned you had watched one of the videos I made about the 21″. What did you get out of that video? What was your questions left from that? Because I’m gonna, I’m gonna expand on this some more.

Well, I was kind of worried about my height and this kind of goes back into one of the other podcasts, the triangle when I didn’t, I didn’t want to put risers on my bike and I was trying to find um. So I’ve been really practicing riding with that, that natural triangle, as I, as I lean over the handlebars, I have 21 inch tires on my scrambler and when I come up to an obstacle I actually go over it pretty well because I think the axle is lined up with the top of the obstacle and so when I hit I have that good ramp up and then also I kind of just skim over the top once I’m up and over it.

Well, and this is where, if we just look at the math of a 21 versus a 19, it’s pretty hard to argue that a 19 is that much better Right now. I’m just going to throw it out there right now A 19 is significantly better off-road. But it’s not just about the axle height. Because we’re raising the axle height, we’re changing the rotational speed of the wheel and generally we’re going to a narrower tire wheel and generally we’re going to a narrower tire like a stock GS is a 120, where we’re talking a 90-90 or 90-100 on that 21. So there’s more to it than just the diameter of the wheel. But if we look at just the diameter, you’re not really talking about much of a difference. You’re only gaining about an inch in axle height because it split the difference between a 1921. And even if you’re looking at the profiles of the tires and the tread and everything else, you really only come out about 25 millimeters of actual increase. But also you’re changing the angle of crossing. So if you think about and I’m going to try to create a visual for anybody else that’s listening to this as well as you but if you were to have a, let’s just keep it square and just put an eight by eight obstacle that you’re going to drive over and you roll your tire up to that obstacle and park it there and you take that point of contact, that top edge of that contact, and you were to draw a line directly down to the point of contact on the ground, the center of the tire. Basically, you know, drop a line straight down from the axle, you know, or plumb line down from the axle and you measure that angle of climb. If you make that a larger diameter wheel, that point of contact moves back away from the axle. That decreases your rate of climb. Does it make sense? It’s not a lot, but it’s a little bit. Then, on top of that, now you’ve also raised that axle height, so now your point of impact and center also increases. So there’s all these little factors that go into play. It’s not just about the axle height, it’s about the impact and rotational. I said there’s a lot of different elements about this and what happens is they add up. So these little minor changes add up to a pretty significant difference off-road.

The other one that really has to be accounted for is the width of the tire, and this comes into play when we’re talking about cutting through mud or cutting through sand or any kind of a even like soft grass, where we’re kind of, you know, barreling down into it. And you know we often hear I want a bigger tire because I want to float, I want to get up on top of stuff, and I did a video on that as well in here. I want a bigger tire because I want to float, I want to get up on top of stuff, and I did a video on that as well. And essentially what I found is that any modification to air pressure or tire pressure that we get by airing down or anything like that really didn’t have a big effect on that. But even when you go from one tire to another, that’s relatively small.

But what happens is it’s not that you have float right, because those tires actually have about the same contact area. The difference is the narrow tire is long and narrow in its contact. Where the wider tires are going to be shorter in their contact but wider, you end up with the same surface area. So if you think about a float factor that a lot of people like to talk about, the float factor is really insignificant. If there’s any difference at all, it’s insignificant.

But what does change is that your tire is constantly going left and right, where you have that rake and trail that tries to recenter the balance of the motorcycle.

And if you have a narrower tire, it’s kind of like trail braking, you know, when you that first edge of the tire pushes everything out of the way and the rest of that contact patch gets a free ride when, if you have a wider tire, it has to displace a lot more of that material to the sides, which causes greater resistance, and that’s often why the bikes feel less stable.

So if you’re going through sand and mud, you might find a wider tire kind of floats left and right a little more, where a 21, because it’s also narrower will feel more stable going through. So there is some other effects that will help that stability, but primarily, a lot of it has to do with the width of the tire. So that’s something to keep in mind. So if you think about 2021, it’s, it’s, you know it’s, it’s those two categories now on. Now, to make this more complicated, why not run a 100 on that 21 right? So that will bring that width of that tire down and in fact, that will make it actually perform better off-road. And, of course, that width that we narrow down to depends on the actual rim width. Right, there’s a range of proper size when it comes to tires, and so that’s always something we want to keep in mind.

Okay.

So the questions that we didn’t get into. So, as we’re talking about, the 2021 is also looking at suspension. You mentioned two bikes very specifically. We talked about the GS versus the Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer bike with occasional off-road direction, which is good because both of these are touring bikes. These are not dirt bikes. They’re big.

I love riding my GS but it is a big touring bike. But they have different types of suspension and when you look at the GS, it has the telelever style suspension and the Raleigh has a conventional fork and that makes a big difference in feedback for the rider. The GS doesn’t have the dive that the conventional suspension has, which makes it feel great and often more stable on the road, but also off-road it takes really hard impact. So that 19 combined with that suspension, means that when you’re crossing obstacles they feel like you’re hitting them hard. They really do and I love the GS. I love my GS, but let’s just be honest, it is not the best bike for off-road forays, right? And of course we’re buying these big, massive, expensive motorcycles. So we’re not looking for the best performance or we wouldn’t be talking about these two bikes, but definitely that GS at 270 on stock suspension on a 19,. You’re going to definitely notice that more than if you’re running that Tiger at that same stock.

Well, now let’s go another direction, since we’re talking two bikes. So we know the suspension on the GS will need to be modified to be correct, right? But the same is going to be true for the Tiger. If we want to get it to work best for you and you really do you want springs at a minimum and suspension at the other end. Right, depends what your budget is and what you’re expecting to get on the bike, and that’s going to be true for you on pretty much any motorcycle you purchase At 270,. You’re never going to be ideal, right? Especially because 180 is kind of the target for most manufacturers. Wow, exactly, yeah, you’re way off the mark here, okay. So the other one is when we think about like weight distribution, the Tiger carries its weight very high At 6’4″. That’s less of a concern than somebody who’s you know that’s on the ground. And what’s your inseam anyways, because height doesn’t tell me inseam, so 36.

35, 36.

Okay. So I mean you have that advantage on the average rider. Where you can carry that higher weight, you’re less likely to drop your bike than somebody who’s shorter, and so that’s a big deal. But also, are you an experienced rider off-road or are you just jumping into this whole thing?

No, we started doing this about 2008. But what we did, we had a bunch of Triumphs. I had the Tiger 955i with two of my friends and we tried to turn them into adventure bikes, you know, with the Shinko G04, g05, and some other stuff, and just got to the point where those are like driving tanks. So I got the Scrambler and my buddy got the Himalayan and that’s what we’ve been kind of riding in. We’ve gotten some pretty tough stuff in the Smokey 500 and also the MA BDR, tough stuff in the um in the smoky 500 and also the MA BDR um and, like the rocks I mentioned, there were some uphill and downhill. I just on sheer rock and that was pretty, that was pretty scarily. We did all right going down there. But, um, when I ride my bike on these kind of trips, I have probably anywhere from 15, another 90, 90 pounds on my bike with me. It adds to the geometry of what’s going on at the time.

Yeah, and I would be inclined that if you were to have modified two major things on the bike and the XC. I’m really impressed you’re able to ride that. You know as well as you feel you’re riding it, because the XC just doesn’t give you a lot to lock in with. There’s really nothing down at the knees.

It’s a tall bike which probably feels really good most of the time, but certainly standing is not the most ideal posture 6’4″. The catch is about being really tall is that, yes, you have long legs, you don’t drop your bike as often, you can kind of wrestle through things others struggle with. But on the other hand, when you’re standing off-road, when things are really difficult, it’s really hard to get a bike ideally set up for your height because the frames are too short, generally speaking. But for you, the two things that are going to make that bike feel different or better, no matter what bike it is, is one you’re going to need to get. You want to push those handlebars forward, meaning flatter bars, not just rotating forward, and I’m sure did you watch the video about risers.

I did, I did. I saw the guy on that Africa twin. He was six four I think.

Yeah, he’s, he’s a tall, he’s a tall kid too, or tall guy. But definitely getting those flatter handlebars and having those where you get a farther reach. Basically, if you think about yourself as a triangle, if you’re a short person and you have the same base, they’re going to be more stable. If you keep that same base at the bottom of the triangle and you just raise the top of the triangle, it gets less stable and you’re that tall triangle right. And so your goal is that you want to. You can’t make it shorter, so what you want to do is increase the base to increase your stability, and that increased stability between where your feet are, the distance from where your feet are forward to where you actually hold the handlebars, that’s going to increase that stability factor. So as you break hard and you accelerate that you’re not constantly being either putting pressure on the bars or holding onto the bars right. The wider that is the easier exactly, and that has to do with your height. And that XC is not a bike. That’s a great one. It’s a very difficult bike to set up, for that posture as well, and every bike will be a little challenged. But having those bars spread forward where you flatten them out so you can get trying to find that the best balance of those two. But the other thing that’s going to make a huge difference on how a bike feels to you is that suspension right. So whatever you get into, knowing that springs are the first thing you need and depending how far you want to go, full suspension, it’s going to make a tremendous difference on how you ride over those sharp impacts.

I would rather be in your case. I would rather be on a 19-inch bike, or 19-inch front rim on a bike with proper suspension, than a 21. That’s stock, because that 19 would still handle better, because your ride height, your travel and suspension, your impact, all that stuff is going to be better off, more important than even the wheel, the wheel size. So that’s you know. So that, and that’s why I really wanted to chat with you specifically, because you’re not the only one going through this process. Everybody that’s listening to this is probably have these same questions and I know I’ve done this as I’ve gone over the years of going. We’re looking at all these little factors, but just keep in mind they’re not isolated right. It’s not just a 19 versus 21, unless you’re looking at a model of motorcycle, like the KTMs, where you can order the bike with a 19 or 21. And then you’re actually making that choice because they make all the other adjustments for you.

Oh, I didn’t know that.

Yeah, and the new Africa Twin is doing that as well. They have a model now with the 21 and a touring model with the 19-inch. In fact, it’s pretty common now, other than BMW, who still sticks with their 900 and their previous the 850, 800, where their 21-inch wheels and their 1200s and their 1250s and now 1300 have all been on 19s. And people like me are always screaming and yelling going why don’t they just offer a factory 21, right? Because all they have to do is they already have the shocks. All you have to do is change that. If you buy that 1200, right and you put a 21 on it, all you have to do is modify one shock or the others so that you level it out, and then you get all your road handling back. And if road handling isn’t crazy important to you, then you can just run it with the modified wheel. But obviously, the more perfection we’re looking for, the more we have to keep in mind those different changes. But when KTM puts a 21 versus 19, they just make some adjustment to the suspension, they can throw the wheel on it and away you go. And that’s only because some people like that 21 on the street. They like the handling and the wear and tear and everything else.

But yeah, I mean, with that Rally, that 1200, it’s a beast. You know, I’ve had guys out doing the classes on them. They love their bikes but it’s definitely a top-heavy bike. It’s a lot more to pick up when it falls over. There’s a lot more effort into getting that bike upright than versus the 1200.

The GS is, or the 12, 1300, you know when I say that 1200, just because I have a 12 still. But when that bike falls over it takes a lot more, a lot less energy to get that bike upright than like a 1200 Raleigh Explorer where when it tips over it’s really a bear and you know that would make a difference to me. Now, you’re, you have experience. But if anybody’s listening and you’re going, hey, those are the two bikes I was looking at, if you’re really new to this, you’re going to drop your bike a lot more. That means you’re going to be a lot more fatigued picking that bike up and you’re more likely to then create a downhill cycle of fatigue more mistakes, more drops, more picking up, where looking at the balance of the bike and everything else that needs to be a factor as well as we’re picking different kinds of bikes.

Okay, okay, interesting.

That’s not where I thought this was going, so where do you think we’re going to go, Bill?

I thought that it would be like all in on the 21-inch tire, to be honest, kind of because you went that route with your own bike. But it makes sense. Everything you’re saying makes a lot of sense.

Well, and I’ll tell you the story, the backstory behind that 21 on my bike. So I happened to be running at the time. I had picked up what I thought was going to be my everything to do bike and that was that KTM 790. Unfortunately that didn’t work out for me, but while that bike was in the shop, I needed a bike to do teaching on. I bought a 1200. That was a former student of mine. He said, hey, I’ve got this bike, I’ll sell it to you. And he had already gone through and put the narrower back rim on it and he put the 21, but he didn’t change the suspension. So I bought the bike and I went out and rode it and Paul and I went out on his 1200, which has suspension, and we went on a my 12, this is before I corrected all of my suspension and we rode some single track trails over in Washington state and they’re pretty gnarly and they have, you know, rocks and roots and we’re hitting stuff pretty good. And that was actually when I kind of became a fan of the 21. And when Paul got off the bike he says I kept waiting for the impact and it never happened. And we’re on the same bikes and we’re riding them back to back and everything else.

And even though my bike was not I didn’t have modified suspension for his weight. He’s closer to your size, not as tall, but you know some more weight. He’s a little less, but still well outside the expected operator parameters. You know that BMW put out where they were expecting a smaller rider and my bike still had less, if less, felt impact than the 21 or the, you know, than the 19 inch, the stock 19. And that’s when we started really diving into going why is this? It doesn’t make sense, right? That one inch makes that much of a difference. And as we kind of looked into all the different variables and factors, going in was okay, this kind of works out. Now would I go out and buy a you know a 25 or $30,000 motorcycle and then turn around and spend $7,000 on wheels and suspension? Probably not, I think. You know, if I did anything on a GS, I might modify just the front and then modify a shock. And in your case, if you’re going to modify suspension anyways, it would make sense Because the rear you don’t need to replace the rear wheel.

You can take the 170 size because they put the maximum size in that back wheel. So 170 is the largest wheel that fits on that rim Turns out a 150 is a proper fitting as well. It just happens to be on the minimum right and that’s how most manufacturers do it. What they do is they’re going to put the largest width tire that the rim will allow, because people like fat tires and they think they’re better and so they spend the money for it. The Ducati Desert X is the only exception For their rim size. They put the minimum width, so they have the same size width as a GS 1200 or the 1300, and they come factory with a 150, where the GS is coming out with a 170. That’s because the 150 is actually a better performer, right it just it rolls in quicker in corners. It tracks better on the. You know, in the off-road environment the 170 just looks better and from a wear and tear component for touring. More rubber on the road means you can last longer because the way you’re distributing the weight and the heat and everything else.

So yeah, I think for me, if I was in your position, the 19 or the 21 wouldn’t be my deciding factor, given the fact that you’re not doing a lot of difficult stuff. Certainly that 21 will be a benefit when you get into that difficult stuff, but not so much that I think it would be a game changer. I think in your case, I don’t think that that should be it. I would look at things like power delivery. Think that that should be it? I would look at things like power delivery. Certainly the GS is going to have a little more level, flat torque, kind of more similar to what your XC is.

That parallel twin is a great motor. It’s a very forgiving motor. The Rally Explorer likes a little more revs and it’s not quite as delicate down at the bottom end. So that’s something that you would want to consider. I would give a thumbs up to the Tiger for conventional feedback on the suspension Weight distribution. I would go for the GS. It’s a lower, balanced Self-maintenance, the GS you can get into. So both of these bikes have pros and cons. There isn’t one where I would say one is definitely a win or a loss. It’s just I think there’s more to your decision than just 19 versus 21, even though the answer is which one’s better off-road? Well, 21, but is it that much different?

And that depends on you as a rider yeah, I think I’m more of like of a 70 a 70, 30 guy, just based on the riding we do. I mean, because a lot of the places are like, say, the fingers off of the Blue Ridge Parkway um, those aren’t too bad, but when you start getting like coming down through New York and Pennsylvania and some of those, uh, BDR routes that’s the kind of stuff that I see on your videos going over the rocks and stuff like that that I’m worried about. But I don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze for, like you said, 25%, 30% of the time.

Well, if it’s 25% or 30%, that’s a lot higher than the average. That’s actually way more. And if you think about what we really do, even doing a BDR, by the time you ride to the beginning of the BDR where you ride the BDR, by the time you ride to the beginning of the BDR where you ride the BDR which none of them are a hundred percent dirt, and then you ride back home, you’re going to guarantee a minimum of 50% and probably more than that’s going to be paved, riding Right, right and, and so I think you know when we estimate how much we do.

Now a lot of my bikes are, they get a lot of dirt time. My Desert X pretty much is always on dirt, but it’s because I use it for training, I use it for scouting, I don’t commute on it, so it has a very specific job and purpose and some riders have that ability to do that. I think most people ride their bikes and spend a lot more time on the roads. There are more, you know, more considerations, but it is how well do you want that bike to run at that in those conditions? I mean, let’s face it, the Tiger Rally Explorer is a big touring bike and you know, and so it’s. It’s not like you’re going. Hey, you know how’s this compared to, like a 900 Tiger? The 900 is a serious performer and definitely a different machine than the 12.

But I don’t, at 6’4″, I don’t know how well, it would be an ideal fit for you and I think that might be your better decision maker or decision. I guess if I’m going to weigh what the value is as you’re looking at these two bikes, I think fit is going to be. That would be my number one concern for you being 6’4″. If I was going to pick one between two, I would set you on it and go which one allows you to be at a more relaxed position and gives you more movement forward and backwards without feeling like you’re putting weight on the bars or holding on as you get moved, because that means that your circle of balance that you’re trying to stay in is larger when you do that.

I know the GS is pretty easy to modify with flatter bars and I’ve done a lot of this and they have a pretty long distance from the pegs to the bars. The Tiger, the Raleally, is a little tighter, but it’s definitely a fairly spacious bike as well. But I think it’s also and I can’t recall I would have to sit side by side, but I think it’s a little bit taller to the bars as well, so that might compensate for that. Again, something you would have to get on both bikes and make a pretty solid decision on.

Okay.

So that’s my thoughts.

That’s great. I appreciate it. Like I said, I thought we were going 21 all the way.

Yeah.

But yeah, it’s good, it’s good, and so I try to incorporate all your videos into these decisions too. So it just comes down to that one thing the way I calculate things and, based on some of the videos, some reading and also practical experience, I try to put those together. But then I come with these gray areas. I’m like, well, I don’t really know if that’s the most right thing to do. Thus my you know my question to reach out to you.

Well, and for you and for all those that are listening, this is the reality of us riding these motorcycles and, to be real about this, we’re not riding the best motorcycles for off-road and that’s not what any of this should ever be about which one’s got the best wheels, which one has the best suspension. The truth is which one makes you happy when you ride it. Because in the United States, or even in Europe or Canada, if you’re in one of these Western countries, there’s very few, if any, reasonable benefits to riding a motorcycle, other than it makes a smile really big, and I think that’s part of it. And I can’t tell you the joy I get riding the 1200 up on some single track and I’ve been asked this more than once from guys on dirt bikes are you lost? And I just get a big giggle about that. Right, it just makes me smile, just to go. I’m taking this in silly places where it doesn’t belong, not because it’s the best bike, not because it has the best power, the best balance, because it’s the best bike, not because it has the best power, the best balance, because it’s new, because it has anything else, and so I don’t care if somebody’s riding a 225, a little XT, I don’t care if they’re riding a 1200 XT, I don’t care if they’re on a Harley Road King, if they’re out having fun and people talk about, well, that’s stupid. Why are you riding that big bike? Well, how small do you get before it’s not stupid? And the fact that bikes themselves are dangerous and they’re expensive and they’re high risk.

So yeah, I mean, from a logic standpoint, I would go. Height would be my first concern. Any bike you get is going to need modification suspension. So that’s out as far as the top heavy. Once you’re riding them, most of them feel pretty good. So it’s just, how often are you going to realistically pick that bike up? Is that a factor for you? And then I would work down towards that 19 and 21.

But that’s actually one of the later items on my list of fuel economy and people think about oh well, I don’t care what the fuel economy is, I don’t buy a motorcycle because it’s cheap. But what I do think about is how many pounds do I have to carry for every mile I ride? If I have a more efficient bike, I can go more distance carrying less fuel. That’s less weight on the bike. But also, here I am riding, you know five 600 pound motorcycles. So you know again. You know. So again you know we, we, we talk about I’m going to save, you know, carbon fiber and I’m going to save all this weight.

But I could just go on a diet. I could leave a bunch of stuff I don’t need on my bike back at home. You know, I could take off that 25 lights I put on it you know kind of a thing. And my bikes most of my bikes don’t have accessory lights anymore because it’s complex, room for error and extra weight. But for a lot of people that’s important or that’s something that matters to them. And again, that’s the joy about what we’re doing right, it’s all about fun.

Well, you know I put those speaking of extra weight. I bought those Mosko Moto 35 liter bags and I got metal mule pannier racks on there and I got metal mule pannier racks on there and I thought I was going with the soft luggage. It would be lighter, but those are pretty heavy bags.

No, that’s, and Mosko is obviously, they’re kind of the cornerstone of the market right now. They’re the benchmark that a lot of companies are looking for, and for good reason. It’s a great company and a great product. But if you’re going with that because you think it’s lighter than doing aluminum panniers, as you just discovered, we’re talking ounces, if anything, and in some cases they might be heavier. Now there are other companies.

I just tried out a company. They’re called EMD. It’s a brand new small company out of Germany and their bags are really lightweight. But when you look at the durability of them, they feel like just a soft bag slapped on the side of the bike, where the Mosko bags are very, very durable. In fact, the Moskos are what I left. That’s what I had on my bike when I rode through Africa. I did a trip from Spain down to South Africa and rode the continent and I rode the Mosko bags. They held up fantastic. Weight wasn’t my biggest concern, but durability certainly was, and security and certainly going soft luggage. You’re stepping back on security, but you’re also stepping up in your safety. You know if you fall down it’s a soft bag rather than hard edges, you know. So there’s again everything’s a trade-off.

Right, okay, man, this was great. I appreciate this a lot.

Well, I appreciate you taking the time to share your question with everybody that’s listening to us today, because the question was simple 19 versus 21. Well, if we’re off-road, the answer is simple 21. But I hate giving those answers because it’s just one of many, many considerations that go through something. And, honestly, for most riders, unless you’re really getting technical, you know they probably won’t even notice the difference. You know, if you’re talking gravel and you know, and service roads and where most adventure riders go, they probably won’t even ever notice. And so you really have to be honest with yourself what am I going to do with it? How much does it matter? Again, you know, are you putting knobbies on your bike because 5% of the time you actually need them and so that’s why you’ve run them, or are you doing it for the look? Or do you spend all your time in the dirt and in the summer, Paul and I often, you know, teach on like 90, 10 street tires. You know they have almost no off-road to them but everything’s dry, it doesn’t matter. But if you come out where I live and you ride in the off season or the shoulder seasons, you better have real tires or you’re not going anywhere, or if you’re over in training with me in Georgia, if we get some mud in Georgia, you’re not going anywhere, as opposed to, you know, if you’re with me in Oregon or Washington, or here in Idaho, or even up in Virginia. Every one of those places that Paul and I teach Paul myself and Greg every place that we teach, you know, it makes a big difference on how we set our bikes up, based on what could happen while we’re teaching there. Okay, so that makes a difference.

All right, Bill, I’m going to let you go and again I want to thank you for sharing your question with me and with those that are listening, and I’m hoping this reaches a lot of riders and helps them as well. All of you that are listening, and I’m hoping this reaches a lot of writers and helps them as well. All of you that are listening. Thanks for listening to Around the Wheel and the podcast, and I’m sorry it’s been so long since I had any new content out. I’m trying to get back into the swing of getting some other things. What Bill did is what I really want this podcast to be all about. If you have questions that you, or problems or things that you’re working through and you’d like to have a chat or discussion about it, reach out to me. Let’s jump on the phone and share our back and forth with everybody else, so everybody can learn from this. Thanks, Bill.

Okay, Bret, thanks.

You bet have a great day.

You too Bye-bye.

Transcribed by https://podium.page