I'm a newbie to the world of Harley Davidsons. Recently purchased a 2005 Deluxe and I must say, I love this bike. Bike came with a lot of extras and only has 8,800 miles on it. First major change in mind is the wheels. Would like to run the Fat Daddy's or simular. Ran across the Ultima's today. Want to run 21x3.5 in front and 18x3.5 on the rear. Would someone please give me the pros and cons about the Ultima wheels and this wheel combination.

 

Pro: Outstanding wheels for a great price.

Con: they only fit 1999 and earlier models.

I'd look at the DNA Fat Spoke wheels. They're the next best price and will fit your year model.

 

Can the bearings be changed to fit later models?

 

Probably, but then you have hub, rotor & pulley issues to contend with. If they could be fitted with just a simple bearing change, I'm sure the wheel manufactures would offer them to all years.

I suspect that machining of the hub would be required. That could probably be done with casted and billet wheels, but a lot less likely with spoked hubs.

Keep in mind this is all just speculation on my part. But common sense would tell us that if it was just a matter of rotor & pulley spacing, the MFG would offer such spacers.

 

If you change the bearings in the 1999 and earlier wheels you will also need new spacers as the 1999 and earlier bikes used non sealed timkin bearings in the wheels as opposed to the sealed bearings used in alter models. The stock spacers will be too long.

 

The bearing pocket in the '99 down wheels is a different dimension than '00 up bikes. The '99 down uses different brake rotors than '00 up. Not worth the trouble or money unless you have an at home machine shop with spare time on your hands. Your best bet would be to spend the couple hundred extra per wheel and go with DNA.

 

Yeah, I was just thinking when we swell wheels for 99 and older bikes we use the setup for 2000 and up with sealed bearings and different spacers. But...that is not gonna work with these rims.

 

American wire wheels!!! You can find deals on a lot wheels on e-bay if you know what your looking for. Sorry couldn't post pic of my wheels. but you can check out my garage.

 

With luck the Ultima King Spoke is right around the corner for the Twin Cams. I just saw on ebay what looks like a test wheel for the 1 inch bearings. It only comes in one size..... the wrong size, but I "suspect" if it works out they will probably start lacing a bunch of wheel sizes to that hub and the fat spokes will be available at a reasonable price for everyone,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-X-8-50-CH...3c890c&vxp=mtr


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Good find Bikerlaw, looks like you're right. Man, they're going to have a serious impact on DNA & Ride Wright. DNA will probably have to lower their prices and Ride Wright ... well, they're probably just screwed. IMO, Ride Wright's quality certainly can't justify being worth 300% more than Ultima King Spokes.