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Considering some new wheels for my 2015 Ultra Limited Low. Current stock setup is 16" rear and 17" front. I'm interested in changing out to a 21" x 3.5" on the front end, but have heard that doing this creates wobbles at low speeds, bike will want to dive on sharp turns at low speeds, and other horror stories. Have also been told that to get the geometry and balance back requires raking the front end. I'm sure that if I asked 10 different shops that I will get 10 different answers. I just don't want to have to buy a bunch of stuff I don't need. Love the look, but just want to get the right info. Any help on this would be appreciated.
The 21" wheel will work just fine as a direct bolt on with no other mods needed. It will ride just as normal as it does right now with your current setup.
Blind fold me and I can't tell you that I have a 21x3.25 inch front wheel on this bike. I actually think it tracks a lot better and I love curves. It doesn't affect anything negatively for me. I did go to an 18 rear only because the 18s were in stock and I had an 18 rear before. "For Me"...I'm glad I did because it leveled things out better. As for the dive....I think these are ppl who are doing parking lot figure 8s or tight u turns at less than 2 or 3 mph. I can still do figure 8s and u turns....but the super slow turns in tight spots where I'm going extremely slow --I do feel the difference. By super slow...I mean slow enough where I could actually just "walk" the bike with my feet on the ground. Sorry .....but those occurrences do not occur a lot unless you are a bar hopper.
I included a picture...it's the best I have on me. Oh...mine is a '17 ultra limited
That Ultra looks great! I'm a bit vertically challenged and going with a 18" rear might make the bike too tall for me to sit comfortably. Wonder if leaving the back the stock 16" rear and going 21" on the front would be too radical and throw things out of whack?
As Sbates said .........you'll be fine. Most of my buddies run 16 rears because they have stock rear rim. And the 18 rear used to be really hard to find anywhere other than Harley. As I said ....for me, I'm glad I went 18. To me, my bike sat "even" in its stock setup. Even when I looked at it, it looked even from front to rear. So, the 18 gave me that look back. Def not saying a 16 would look bad. As I said, most of my buddies have them and their bikes look great ----some don't like 18 rears because it lifts the bike too high and shows too much "hardware" back there.
Here is my 2015 Ultra Limited Low after getting a new set of DnD Fat Cats 2:1...love the sound and it seemed to have added a bit more pep in her step. Had the Screaming Beagle Street Cannons w/stock headers on before...wasn't bad, but really notice the difference in these new Fat Cats for sure.
As for the 21" front wheel, I reckon I'll start there and see how it goes and I can always bump up the rear to a 18" later if needed I guess.
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