Picked up some new tires. The front is a 120/60.
I usually run 120/70's. What can I expect? Will there be a noticable difference? Turn in better, but less stable at higher speeds?! ???
How about ground clearance by loosing about 12mm of ride height.
70's are pretty much the racing standard for current production racing tires. You didn't buy the tire from a race distributor? You're really going to be better off with the 10. Yeah, quick turn in, and a loss of feel if your chassis was set up decently.
Production street bikes have came with 60's to keep the ride height down, and 70's are a quick way to raise the ground clearance and change some dampening characteristics through some extra sidewall.
Like "Ching-gow" eluded to, the 70 is going to be more fogiving in a bumpy corner than the 60, and tread on the 70 wraps farther around the tire (you'll get closer to the edge of the tire with a 60), which can be a little scary at full lean. The lower profile also owers the front end and steepens the rake/reduces trail, so the bike will be more twitchy. Pushing the forks down in the triples will regain the rake, but you've still lost some of the trail due to the smaller diameter front. on my 750SS I tried everything I could to "settle" the front end with a 60 (steering damper, front end as high as it would go, etc.) but it still felt "nervous". I put a 70 on it, and was able to lower the front back down, and loosen the damper, and it just feels "right" again.
I prefer 50 series front and back, like on my 1970 Nova.
Yo, yo, yo...you can't loose with twen'y two's...