I am new to motorcycling and I recently bought a 2016 Dyna Wide Glide. I have read that a lot of people who own wide glides feel the front tire needs to be upgraded to a 90/90-21 and in some threads people have upgraded the rim as well to accommodate a 120/70-21 tire. I am looking to get a beefier front tire on my bike as well. I hear the bigger tire in the front makes the ride feel better, be more stable, and helps with conquering such things as uneven pavement and potholes. I haven't owned my wide glide that long and I have heard that spoked wheels are a pain because they have to be adjusted a lot and are hard to clean. So with that said I have a few questions that I am sure probably are talked about somewhere else in these forums, however I wanted to ask so that I had all my information in one spot and could ask follow up questions if needed without having to jump all over the forums to get the answer.

1) I know spoked wheels look nice, however I would rather have a machined wheel and not have to use a tube. Does anyone have experience with a machined front and rear wheel on your Wide Glide? Are spoked wheels really a pain to maintain?

2) Going along with the change out of the front wheel. Does anyone have experience with an 18" front wheel with maybe a 120/90-18 tire? The reason I ask is this would be about the same size as the current 21" wheel with tire on it.

3) Is question 2 even possible? The reason I ask is everywhere I look online for 2016 Wide Glide wheels, I get back for the most part only 21" spoked wheels or maybe 1 Machined 21" wheel that say they fit. I only found one site that seems to maybe have machined wheels that would work and that's PM wheels.

4) Any parts that come to mind that I will need to purchase other then the new wheel, tire, and brake disk if the stock one doesnt fit on the wheel or is a bad idea to put back on when changing wheels?

5) As stated above, I am new to motorcycling so if this all sounds crazy, please let me know. I just want to have a wheel/tire combo that if I go over rough, uneven, potholey roads I don't bend my rim all to crap or something more serious because my tire is not beefy enough or have to tune my rim every ride because it got out of wack.

Thank you in advance for any insight you might have on these topics.

 

My suggestion -- ride it until you need a new front tire, then replace it with a 90/90-21. If you find you're a real aggressive rider then maybe consider going to something wider.

Check the spokes periodically for any that feel loose, and correct as needed. Not a big deal.

 

Awesome. Thank you for the feedback. Yeah, I guess I should go down the road of what to replace stuff with when I get there. We'll see how the stock spokes go, maybe I will end up loving them and down the road if I replace the front tire with a bigger tire, maybe I will just get a wider spoked rim.

This is more of a feeler question, but is there any advantage to having more or less spokes on a rim other than weight?

 

I would think more spokes would be stronger, and less spokes would be lighter. I'm sure there's a point of diminishing return in either direction, as more spokes requires more holes drilled in the rim, and less spokes probably requires a stronger and probably heavier rim. Somewhere around 40 seems to be the sweet spot, as that's what most motorcycle wheels are.

 

I agree with Reindeer's post, but for your research Hogpro, Wanaryd, and Coastal Moto are a few shops that specialize in aftermarket Harley wheels, and Ridewright is a big name in spokes. Another option if you want to go with a 120 tire is buy a rim and spokes from somewhere like the Drag Specialties catalog and have it laced to your stock hub.

 

I have a 15" Wide Glide and purchased a 40 spoke 21x 3.25 Ultima Hoop. I bought spokes from Buchanan and had the hoop powder coated gloss black to match factory. Then laced the factory hub to my new rim. I now run a 120/70 x 21. World of difference from bumping the 80/90 to 90/90 on the front. My step-mom actually has a 14" Wide Glide, she went a different route and she got a factory wheel off of a 2014 Street Bob which is a 19". The bearings had to be replaced with ABS bearings and a Wide Glide spacer, but other than that it bolts to the front disk with no issues. Not sure about the 18" wheel in which you speak. But the 19 will work just fine and it runs a 110/ wide tire.

So long as you are running a front tire that is more than half as wide as the rear, its going to improve your handling on the Wide Glide and make it feel like a completely different bike.

 

I don't understand the "skinny tire - bad" argument. Or "it will follow cracks" or "can't steer straight." All the tires on my bikes are round so the same amount of rubber meets the road. I own one of the fattest bikes (48 Special) and skinniest (FXDWG) and they both handle the roads just fine. Only difference is the 48 can turn easier and dip into driveways, etc. The WG just goes where pointed, regardless of potholes, cracks, seems, tar snakes, etc. And I just cleaned all the spokes the other day and it wasn't bad at all: chrome polish and rag and wipe each one til shiny. No more work than fingering all the nooks and crannies on my 48 cast wheel.