Cruiser front wheel question

 Hi,
Sorry for very beginner question.
Some cruiser models have narrowed front wheel.
What are dis and advantage comparing to bikes with two the same size wheels?
thanks

 jazu wrote:

Motorcycles don't have the same amount of weight on both wheels, so it's not
necessary to use a front tire that will support the same amount of weight.

A larger diameter, narrower front tire will steer more precisely than a wider
front tire and will take less handlebar effort to make the motorcycle start
into a turn.

Chopper riders liked the look of a wider 15-inch rear tire and believed that
it would have more traction, and they liked the look of a narrow 21-inch
front tire
so that became a classic look.

But HD police motorcycles usually had the same size front and rear tires. If
you're going to be out riding a 1932 Harley on dirt roads, spreading out the
load on the front tire makes sense.

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Great answer as always. I wonder how much of the 19-21" skinny front
wheel stuff is marketing and trying to make the bike look more like a
Harley,

Greg

 oasysco wrote:


If you look at the Suzuki Intruder line, that's a classic chopper look, but
the
19" front tire is still reasonably practical. It has a long narrow contact
patch on the
tire, unlike a wider tire that has a shorter contact patch.

In the opinion of most modern chassis designers, the wider tire with the
shorter,
more oval contact patch is better, but it just doesn't give the lean chopper
look.

Some chopper riders actually went to the extreme, putting small tires on
narrow
16" wheels. But, with extended forks and a lot of rake, the front tires would
scrub
badly if the rider tried to turn a corner at faster than he could walk.

I wouldn't want to ride a cruiser with a 3.00X21 tire faster than about 80 or
90 mph,
there just isn't enough force from the front tire to cope with a 7 or 8 inch
wide tire on the
back. The first thing I would notice is the handlebars waggling a little bit
as the chassis
started speed weaving. Then it's time to slow down...

19" and 20" wheels were used on British bikes in the 1950's, but I never
saw a 21" wheel until the European motocross bikes came over in the late
1960's.

A 21" wheel with a 3.50 tire on it is 28 inches in diameter and has a greater

circumference so the tire rolls across ripples without being deflected so
much.

That works on the street or on the dirt.

When I saw Yamaha and Honda supplying 21" wheels, I guessed that the next
step
would be 24" wheels, but I was wrong. Honda came out with a 23" wheel though.

Starting in 1982, the Japanese sportbike designers started experimenting with
16" front tires to get a lightning-quick turn-in at the entrance to a corner.

Problem with the narrow, small diameter front tires was that they could wash
out
unpredictably and the bike would crash. Or, the rider might simply be going
too
slow around a hairpin turn and the small diameter front tire wouldn't be able
to generate
enough force to hold the bike upright and it would just fall over.

The standard for sportbike wheels has been 17" for years now, and there are
only a few
sport tourers being built with 18" wheels.

Somebody at a motorcycle magazine got the idea that he could mount a rear
tire
on the front of a UJM and get better traction at the expense of increased
steering
effort. So he bolted on a set of wide handlebars to give better leverage.

That idea worked, but the big fat front tire on the UJM looked SO WRONG
almost nobody
ever tried it again.

Except me. I experimented around with fat front tires on my GS1100. The big
fat tires made
it steer like a boat.

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No - some truth and a lot of self-perceived crap, as always.


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