solid wheels
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 104
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ohio
solid wheels
So is the crosswind myth true?
I am thinking about putting fatboy wheels on my bike this winter.... All my friends are saying don't do it..
Fatboy owners, i'd like to hear what you have to say....
Thanks guys.
I am thinking about putting fatboy wheels on my bike this winter.... All my friends are saying don't do it..
Fatboy owners, i'd like to hear what you have to say....
Thanks guys.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
From: West Virginia
I have 5500 mi. on my 2012 FLSTF and have been in plenty crosswinds and have had no problems being pushed sideways. Now my wheels have the bullet holes where the older wheels were solid with no holes. Maybe that is the difference.
Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 155
Likes: 0
From: Tallahassee, FL
So is the crosswind myth true?
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 2,062
Likes: 4
From: Boca Raton, FL
the wheels are planted on the pavement at the lowest point on the bike
the engine, tank, rider all sit higher and cast a much larger profile for the wind to push against
if anyone says the wind pushes them from one point to another while they are driving it has nothing to do with the wheels
I have really nice open wheels and I get pushed on my SG from side winds off of trucks and such or a nice cross breeze as I am tooling down the road,
has nothing to do with the wheel
ridden the wife's FB many of times (2011) and there are no differences between side winds hitting out bikes as we cruise together, the rider and the side profile of the bike have way more to do with side winds affecting your straight path then anything else, and the wheels have nothing to do with it
the engine, tank, rider all sit higher and cast a much larger profile for the wind to push against
if anyone says the wind pushes them from one point to another while they are driving it has nothing to do with the wheels
I have really nice open wheels and I get pushed on my SG from side winds off of trucks and such or a nice cross breeze as I am tooling down the road,
has nothing to do with the wheel
ridden the wife's FB many of times (2011) and there are no differences between side winds hitting out bikes as we cruise together, the rider and the side profile of the bike have way more to do with side winds affecting your straight path then anything else, and the wheels have nothing to do with it
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 19,982
Likes: 6,110
From: Florida
Why do you think the MoCo puts holes in the new wheels?
When I go across the Bayside bridge over Tampa Bay on my Fatty, I get blown around like a wind chime. I do it on the RoadKing--nuthin'.
So, yes; it's true. But not to the extent that I wouldn't buy one. I just don't like the look of the solid wheels, unless they're chrome.
When I go across the Bayside bridge over Tampa Bay on my Fatty, I get blown around like a wind chime. I do it on the RoadKing--nuthin'.
So, yes; it's true. But not to the extent that I wouldn't buy one. I just don't like the look of the solid wheels, unless they're chrome.
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Cruiser
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
From: The wet side of Washington
No, in the sense that the solid wheels aren't any different than any other wheel. At any sustained speed, the physics of the matter is this - as a spinning object, for the purposes of air flow they are a solid. So, crosswinds act on my spoked wheels, at speed, the same as crosswinds act on solid Fatboy wheels.
Dead on. At highway speeds, spoked wheels are essentially solid wheels.
For empirical evidence; I ride a fatboy and haven't been blown around any more than any of the other bikes I've ridden with spoked wheels.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,396
Likes: 146
From:
I bought a Fat Boy new in '02. While the wind never blew the bike around it never felt right. I had been riding a lot of years and never felt relaxed on the bike. It never did anything bad but it always felt like it might. I was going to sell the bike but instead put on a set of custome spoked wheels as a last effort to keep the bike. It was night and day difference. I still own that bike and now, with spokes, it rides like any other bike I ever had. I can relax now. I also own an '07 Streetglide with kind of slotted solid wheels and it's fine. So I don't think you'll get blown around but it will probably feel wierd in the wind. I felt it more going into a diagonal wind rather than a 90 degree crosswind.
Personally I think it's the front wheel being worked ever so slightly by the wind and putting pressure on the front fork that is the problem. You can just feel it in the handlebar and it feels wrong. Nothing happens, a lot of guys just get used to it and don't even notice it after a while. A lot of models came with solid rear wheels and no one ever complained.
That's my experience, and yes I still have those solid wheels in the basemant.
Personally I think it's the front wheel being worked ever so slightly by the wind and putting pressure on the front fork that is the problem. You can just feel it in the handlebar and it feels wrong. Nothing happens, a lot of guys just get used to it and don't even notice it after a while. A lot of models came with solid rear wheels and no one ever complained.
That's my experience, and yes I still have those solid wheels in the basemant.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9,193
Likes: 494
From: Richmond, VA
The answer is yes. You will feel some movement with a Fat Boy disc up front. Obviously, the back is irrelevant in the equation since it doesn't pivot like the front. It can only move up and down. But a strong enough wind will create movement in the bars. No, it will not cause you to go careening off the hyway by any stretch of the imagination, but you will feel it. As stated, ANY wheel will have the same effect with a strong enough cross wind, but with the solid disc Fat Boy wheel, it will be slightly more pronounced.