When I was in Milwaukee for the 115th celebration I saw a new Road Glide with a fat front tire and it looked awesome! Does anyone have experience with how this affects the ride and handling?
If it improved handling, you’d see it on race bikes. Probably does great on the freeway at speed...straight. Might also want to hydroplane more than stock.
I doubt a bigger heavier rim and tire would improve handling if anything it should make it more sluggish in slow speed maneuvers I wish fat tire owners would weigh in and what type of riding they do (aggressively, or slow ) lol
I doubt a bigger heavier rim and tire would improve handling if anything it should make it more sluggish in slow speed maneuvers I wish fat tire owners would weigh in and what type of riding they do (aggressively, or slow ) lol
I ride mine on the freeway around town and love to take the curviest rode's I can find. The fat front tire eats up potholes and runs smoother than any other bike I have ridden. It does take a little more effort going into a turn or sweeping curve but, once it's laid over it will hold the line a lot better than the skinny front tire ever did. And you don't even notice the extra effort after the first 15 minutes (at least I didn't). My bike is no harder to push around in the driveway than it was with the old tire. There is no loss of handling ability at slow speeds that I have noticed.
You do have to run a back tire in reverse on the front but it doesn't effect how it clears water from the tread or cause it to hydroplane any more than a standard tire. There would have to be a lot of water on the road for that to happen and if it does, it would have happened with the skinny front tire also. The reason you have to mount the tire backward is the belt in the back tire is laid on to take the force of acceleration into effect when they install the belts . When mounted on the front the force of braking is a lot more than the acceleration force so to keep the internal belts from pulling apart you mount it backwards. The Pirelli Night Dragon tire is the only one out that I am aware of that is bi-directional.
All in all, I really like the improved handling of the fat from tire. And to the comment about if it was so great the manufacturers would be doing it, they do, look at most sport bikes. They all have fat front tires on the front and that's because they handle so much better in turns and sweeping curves. The great ride going straight down the rode is just a bonus. I have been riding for over 50 years on all types of bikes, I currently own in addition to my Eagle Eye RGS a Springer Softail. The Springer is a great bike but with the skinny front tire it (and most Softails and Touring bikes) feel like they are falling into a corner instead of smoothly moving through the corner. It cracks me up when I read about how terrible a fat front tire bike rides because it's obvious they have never ridden one or one that is set up properly. Sorry to be so long winded....
09-13-2018, 01:05 PM
So You Want to Run a 180mm Wide Front Tire?
