Just got a 2016 Breakout and am starting to make it my own. I had a few questions and am having a hard time locating answers.

Back tire/fender gap
There's a few inch gap between my back tire and the fender. I've already ordered the Thunderbike rear fender. But once it's installed, I'm under the impression that there will still be a large gap there.

The question
How do you close this gap up? Do you mount the fender differently? Drop the back end? or should I look into getting a 21" back rim?

I want it to look like this:

Copyrighted image removed by moderator. You may link to it, but you may not post it.

I like the way that back end looks and that specific bike has an 18" back rim.

Thoughts?


Back rim size
That actually prompts another question. I like the way bigger rims look on these breakouts. I'd love to go with a 21" back and 23" front. I know for the front that a fender riser kit (pretty cheap) would let me put a 23" in the front. But I'm not sure what's involved in the back end.

The question
What mods are required to fit a 21" tire in the back? Keeping in mind that I've got that Thunderbike back fender (linked above) coming.

Dropping front handle bars
I like the bars to be a little lower in the front. I like the idea of the top being a little cleaned up and creating sort of a flatter look. As shown here:



My shop mechanic suggests clip-on handlebars. Which I'm not opposed to, but I've never ridden with those and every photo I see of them looks like they're really narrow. Which seems like it would impact the handling quite a bit.

The question
Anybody ride with clip-on handlebars and if so, how do they handle? Can clip-on's be angled straight or do they have to be pointed backwards and down?


I'm outta time, so those are all my questions for now!

Thanks in advance.

 

First off, welcome!!!! I've never seen a 21" rear wheel on a Breakout I think it would look very strange...The easiest way to close the gap between the fender and tire is to lower the rear end. You have a few options, from inexpensive Softail lowering bolts that will lower it 1 or 2 inches, but ride like crap, to $1500 + air-ride systems. I installed a Legend Suspensions air-ride on my Breakout and love it, that would be my first choice. I can slam it all the way down when parked or riding around town, or lift it up on the fly with the handle bar controls depending on the road and speeds, and the ride is great!! I also recently installed the Thunderbike 260 Steel rear fender on my Rocker C (same rear set up as the Breakout) and I used Progressive 422 adjustable shocks ($400) and lowered the rear 1 3/8", that narrowed the gap to 1" between the tire and fender while also improving the ride over the stock shocks, ......as far as a flatter/lower bars, I can't help ya there, as I went the other direction with 16" apes on my BO....

 

Hey Rocker B! Thanks for the welcome and the reply.

I'll check in to those options for dropping the back down. I definitely don't want it to ride like crap.

Your bike looks great! Those handle bars do too. I'll post what mine end up looking like.

Here's a 21" back rim on a breakout. I think it looks pretty swell myself.

 

I do like the look of the opened up right side with the pulley-rotor/brake kit that bike has.....Not sure about the 21" wheel though??? Maybe it could grow on me, idk......and ya, post those pics, I look forward to seeing them!!!

 

Keep in mind that gap between the tire and fender is to allow your wheel to move up and down without hitting your frame mounted fender. If you want a tight fender to rear tire gap, you typically need to mount the fender to the swing arm similar to the Rocker, or have a short Bobber style fender, and even then you have to be cautious your tire won't rub on the up stroke.

 

Hi and welcome to the Forums and the Breakout family!

For the back end all valid options have been listed by Rocker B already, nothing to add here. I've not installed the Thunderbike rear fender but lowered my rear by appr. 1" with Progressive Suspension 422s and I'm quite happy with the ride.

User Nostradamus74 runs the Thunderbike rear fender with Shotgun Shocks (air ride) and AFAIK he's quite happy with that setup. Be aware that installing the Thunderbike rear fender requires grinding on your frame where the fender mounting tabs are. Unfortunately that fender is not a direct bolt on.

As for the 21" rear wheel that's in the pic....I agree with Rocker B that the open wheel on the right looks quite nice, but that option implies serious work to be done to the left side and might even require cutting the swing arm, welding of brackets and mounting tabs etc. Also note not everything that is shown on those Thunderbike promotion pics really works for everyday riding. Did you check if they maintained the stock swing arm and what else they had do modify to fit the 21" wheel?

In terms of lowering the handlebars you could first try to use some short straight risers instead of using clip-on bars. Keep in mind that the complete speedo and indicator light unit relies on the handlebar clamp. Eliminating this clamp will bring up the issue of finding an alternative for the speedo etc. I don't know what's your height and/or arm length. I'm 6'4" with rather Gibbon-style arms With the Thunderbike flat risers (with 1" riser spacers) on my bike I find the forward lean to be on the limit...any more forward lean would be uncomfortable. Extended forward lean of your upper body combined with the forward position of your feet due to the mounting position of the pegs will make you look and feel like a swiss army knife....may look cool but won't feel cool after half an hour.

For the 23" wheel on the front....nothing I can say about that. I think I once saw a Breakout with one installed but can't really remember what it looked like....

 

Both my bikes swingarms hit the rubber stops before the tire can touch the fender, even with my Breakout lowered all the way to the stops with the air-ride, (basically Hardtail) it still has over 1/2" tire/fender clearance.....

 

......Ya, and it will require body work!!! Grinding down the strut horns on the frame is a fairly easy DIY with the right tools, but for the price of that fender, I would have thought that it would come paint ready, made getting it painted a lot more expensive!!!

 

I just ordered the Thunderbike chin spoiler for my Breakout and had it fitted by my dealer before I hand it to the airbrush guy for painting. Same story there. Fitting that thing was a mess and it won't be a perfect fit leaving a 5 mm gap between the spoiler and the frame...

So conclusion is: Be careful with the Thunderbike parts they are nice to look at in the promo pics on their website. The parts are premium priced BUT, JMO, not premium built.

 

Hey Ray, have you had it painted yet?? Not sure if the spoiler for ABS mounts differently, but I had the same issue, with the TB spoiler on my Rocker, and there was a fix. I didn't like where the front mounting bolt went through the spoiler, so I bolted a piece of steel to the original mounting hole and drilled another hole at the other end, moving the mounting hole location higher by a couple inches. When I fitted the spoiler it had a gap between the frame, but I was able to bend the new steel mounting tab back, pulling the spoiler up tight to the frame.