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New Rear Tire vs. Pulley Mod

21K views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  Racer117 
#1 ·
Good day... My brother-in-law has a 2007 Vulcan Classic. He will be due for a new tire next season and was wondering if the benefits of the "pulley mod" could be achieved with a different tire size. If so, what are your size recommendations?

He would also like to go with a wider than stock tire if this is possible. What is the widest tire that he could fit?

This is a great site. Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
I have an 06 and I did both front and back pulley change when I did a tire change. The shop only charged me 40 bucks since I bought the tires from them.I stayed with the stock size tire. I did notice a big change in the gears. Much better. I went with the wide white walls this go around and the bike looks great.
 
#5 ·
Barons power pulleys. Ebay. The back pulley you can get in polished or black powder coat.
 
#6 ·
You can explore how your 900 will perform in different combinations using the tool at gearingcommander.com. Choose the Vulcan 900. The tables give you performance for stock pulleys, which have 32 teeth (front) and 66 teeth (back), and the stock tire, a 180/70/15. You can reconfigure the front pulley, back pulley, and tire size to see how speed changes at a given RPM.

The Baron front pulley has 34 teeth, so type that into the "Current" line, replacing the 32, which is also in the "Stock" line. Look at the effects by clicking "Current", clicking back to "Stock," etc., above the table. To compare this change with adding a 200/70/15 tire instead the front pulley, put that tire into the "Custom" line. Click between it and the "Current" line, and you'll see that adding this rear tire has about 2/3rs the effect of adding the front pulley.

You can do the same thing with Baron rear pulley, which has 62 teeth (instead of 64), with different tires, and with all combinations thereof.

Personally, I did the front and rear pulleys on mine before reaching the need to replace the rear tire. I am very happy with the two-pulley mod. You do lose a little snap off the line, but after that, I find that everything is better, especially RPMs when cruising above 55, which is roughly about the cruise speed that determines whether use 4th (below 55) or 5th (above 55) now. I like cruising in the city better. Rumbling through a town at 25-30 in 3rd occurs at somewhat lower RPM, which is nice, there is enough there to handle a hill or the need to get up and go. 4th is now a nice 35-45 through town gear. I used to be in 5th at those speeds, even in the mid 30s if there weren't any hills. No longer. Fifth is now strictly a highway cruising gear. I wouldn't really call it an overdrive. I would call it a nice highway cruise gear, and if it were me, I'd have geared the bike this way from the start (well, maybe I'd have added a 6th to the stock gearing). That's just me. Others may disagree. Get a feel for your bike. You can play around with gearing commander to get some sense how the different feel in terms of vibes you get after the mods.

There negatives to the pulley mods, at least that I've experienced (your mileage may vary). My rear Barron pulley is not quite true (it's just a little warped), and that might be why the belt makes more noise than it did before I changed it out. I'm not sure. I'm watching belt and pulley wear carefully. No pulley is "perfect," so I can't say a lot about how much it's out compared to the stock pulley or others, but the shop that installed it pointed the warp out to me. They said it was "pretty small," but might raises issues, they couldn't say for sure. I do hear a very slight "wa wa wa wa wa" at around 40 mph in 4th and have wondered whether that might be due to pulley imperfections. Who knows. I chose not to send it back and am just watching belt wear carefully. We'll see how it goes. So far, I'm managing the noise with occasional belt cleanings and a bit of dry silicone. Some say that causes the belt to attract dirt and is bad for that reason, but I am not finding that what I've been using causes the belt to get any dirtier than it did before.

It's all a journey, isn't it?

Happy and safe riding,
Dan
 
#9 ·
Thanks for all of the great info here Dan. I didn't find any of the pulleys on eBay but did check them out on the Barron's site. They look like a good product but they sure are not cheap! The gearing commander site sure takes the "guess work" out of that changes you want to achieve!
 
#7 ·
I also have the 07 LT. I changed both pulley's using the Baron's pulleys and I also changed to a 170-80 rear tire and this mod made a wonderful difference. I believe it feels like a true overdrive. The front pulley and a different rear tire pulls the tire too far forward. Both pulley's work well with either the stock or larger tire. I personally prefer all three. I waited until I needed a rear tire as well, saved me money. As far as the speedometer goes it is 4 mph slow checked by GPS....
 
#10 · (Edited)
I just run the 200 rear tire ... does the same thing as a front pulley change ... a pirelli rear costs around $205 here in Canada ... corrects the speedo, drops the rpm's ... you can go up to a 230 rear with a slight fender splash guard and belt cover mod ... check out 230 club on this site ...
 
#11 ·
I installed the Michelin Commander II 170/80 with stock pulleys. The Speedo in now within 1-2 MPH, revs are slightly lower. I used balancing beads and the bike runs very smooth at 70 - 75 mph. The 170/80 Commander II is wide, I used a caliper and the actual width is 177 mm, I didn't measure the width of the Dunlop but the Commander II does not look narrower. I would be interested to know how wide the Dunlop is measured at its widest point.

Perhaps try a higher tire first. If that is not good enough then change the rear pulley (I don't think there is enough clearance with front pulley and taller tire). If you still want lower revs then add the front pulley.

Most of my riding is secondary roads 45 -65 MPH and I am fine with the Michelin 170/80 and stock pulleys. If I was doing a lot of interstate riding I would most likely for for taller tire and rear pulley or both pulleys and taller tire. Actually if I was doing a lot of intestate riding I would be looking for a bike with a bigger engine!!
 
#16 ·
The tire width is not the biggest advantage ... its the "aspect" or sidewall which is a % of the width that gives the overall change ... ie a 200 -70-15 is 70% of 200 mm vs 170 -70 - 15 ... the 200 is a taller tire, correcting the speedo and dropping the rpm's ... a 230 actually over corrects the speedo ( faster than indicated) and drops the rpm's even further ... its what ever floats your boat.

The biggest disadvantage of a pulley here in Canada is buying it with todays current exchange rate.
 
#15 ·
I did the front and back pulleys. The best price I found for Barons was on ebay. I read on here somewhere that scoot works was having problems. I have not heard any squeaks at all from the back. It did take a while to put them on cause he said it had to be perfect so I would have to come back. If you get everything aligned right you shouldn't have too many problems.
 

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#20 ·
I actually got my rear pulley from this site.

http://www.motoparthub.com/?search=vn900+pulley&sessionID=1461933906.36&formValid=&.x=0&.y=0

Have since removed it due to teeth wear and the dreaded squeak. I did get it replaced with a new one under warranty. That was a long and tedious task but it did work out in the long run. Have since sold the new one sent back to me and am not just running with the front Barons overdrive pulley. It's a toss up tho. I like the power off the line I got back due to riding 2up most of the time. But I do also miss the lower rpms at hwy speeds. But to my surprise, it's really not bad at all. But I have to say, I do NOT miss the belt squeak at all!

Back to the subject. I had been searching again recently just to get some prices. Went back to MotoPartHub and put one of the pulleys in my shopping cart to check shipping cost. They offered free shipping. Then a few days later I got an email from them saying I still ahd something in my shopping cart and they offered a 15% discount (or something like that). I remember thinking I could have got it from them for $235 shipped to my door. Might be the best deal out there. Good luck!
 
#22 ·
Pardon me as I'm kind of new to this, but what advantage is there if I change the front sprocket but leave the rear wheel and rear sprocket as is? I'm just trying to find out what the performance gain would be. The bike has a brand-new Bridgestone Excedra rear tire. I don't want to waste it by buying a bigger tire size at this time and not sure i want bigger anyhow for 2 up riding. Also dont want to deal with the squealing sound that some people have experienced with the rear pulley.

Thanks!

Vince
 
#23 ·
You'll get about 5% less RPM at any speed with the front pulley mod. You can check out the effect in various gears at gearingcommander.com. Just put in the Vulcan 900 and adjust the parameters for the front pulley.
 
#24 ·
Thank you for the info. I tried the gearing site and it is good for some stats but your explanation was what I was after. Simple concise answer to my question without judgement. I think I will explore getting the front pulley done first. I can see what the rear pulley swap will do once i need a new tire if more change is desired. I like this forum!!!

Sincerely,

Vince
 
#26 ·
I am in the same boat. Front pulley seems to be the easy way to low RPM to hwy speed.
I am planning to change front pulley instead rear tire. By the way, what's the biggest tire you can use with 34 front pulley only.

Thanks

Alex
 
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