Dominator 88 Tyre choice

You cant go wrong with the am26 90/90 on the front and 100/90 on the rear, just make sure that the front lower stay to mudguard fixing bolts are not too long. 

hello, Dunlop street smart are better and they do them for classic motorcycle wire wheels  300-19 and 350-19   new type tyres are very hard to fit you need the right tyre irons  long ones  and do fit new tubes and rim taps   you start to fit the tyre from the valve end first and push in the valve right back and the tube with no valve in it, this is so the tyre bead  fit nice to the inside of the rim , and work round steady   and you need to use some tyre soap, and take your time  be careful not to nip the tube,  yours  anna  j   

If you can get the orriginal sizes I would go for them. Anything bigger  can be an issue as I found out .  

Orriginal would have been 300x19 front and 3.50 x19 rear   ,the Sizes you quote come out wider and if  they fit then you are  luckier than me.

Check Avon web site for width. The 90/90 will not fit my pre 1964 Dommie.

Hello Richard - I have Dunlop TT100s on my 88 and have for 25+ years, having moved over from Avons SMs/Speedmasters (many moons ago) as currently on your bike, with no issues. I have heard it said, on great authority, that TT100s bugger up the handing on featherbeds, but they don't. 

They look contemporary, are good enough for 100mph around the island, and are therefore good enough for me. I have 3.60 H19s front and 4.10 (!) H19 rear on both my 88 and 650SS (both slimline rear mudguards, and narrow front fork yokes for the 3.60s), and I would not fit anything else. Roadriders may ride OK, but you (probably, I dunno) reduce rolling diameter, and are guessing about size/clearance.

Most of all, Roadriders just look wrong. My tuppence hapworth.

(Hello Bob Tuck, BTW - HNY!)

R

Couldn'd agree more with your comments Russ.  I have run the same combination on both my 650SS and 1961 ES-2 as well as my Commando for many years now and handling on both featherbeds is faultless. 

Also no problem with mudguard clearance with either 7" or 7 3/8" front forks.

Strange Richard,

The official Norton handbook clearly states tyre sizes for the Dominator 88 & 99 to be 3.50x19 rear, and 300x19 front.  The original combination, of Avon Speedmaster front, and, Avon SM rear is more than adequate for the performance of these machines.  Unless you intend to go in for racing, why not stick to the original specification?

Are your head bearings too stiff?

The issue you can have is that the metric equivalents actually measure  more than the old imperial sizes. Sometimes its not a problem , Sounds as if you can only fit the size tyres that are on your paperwork?    Or can you fit the sizes  that the bike was fitted with when new? Sounds to be a bit of a minefied!,,   The sooner we are out of the EU................

well i not had any trouble with dunlop they been real good and handling good to  the dunlop arrow max street smart  come in both metric or imperial  Tyre sizes  now metric sizes are harder to fit on wire wheels as there made as  tubeless tyers  , so try getting the imperial ones  my Norton 650 size is 3.25 x 19 and 4,00x18 rear  has it was an export Norton   witch is the same size as BSA A65 and Triumph T120 and T140  all for export market,  and the Yamaha XS650 were the same tyre sizes and you see i am droping in a few None Norton names  here  as these owners will have the same problems as anyone else    yours  anna j

 The bikes do vary a fair bit.  My slimline 99 with rear chaincase would not accept anything bigger than 3.50 x19.rear.   A 90 90  will not go in on front or rear. The Atlas with wider forks will take a 90 90 on the front and a 3.60 x19 rear  which the 99 (with the same frame) will not.Les Emery fitted a wider rear tyre to his 88DL , I wonder if his wheels are in line!!.My rear  rim is dead central between the shocks.

Dunlop's website lists three 19" 'Street Smart' tyres - the 90/90, 100/90 and 325.  They are all listed as FRONT fitment.  Is it OK to fit them to the rear?

This tyre looks very much like Avon's AM26.  Very modern-looking tread pattern. 

Paul