Ever since my disagrement with the tar...i was thinking since the bike is off the road i could do some mods i have been thinking about, namely a 21 inch front wheel...now i am not the most mechanical bloke around, so what do i need to change a 2008 street bob from original to a 21 inch, that is apart from a a 21 inch rim....also do i need to change the front guards position? also can a 200 tyre be fitted to the rear end?

thanks in advance

fangio

 Alright Fangio, if you must go ahead and fuck up your handling even more then...............

Get yourself a 21" rim, (try sik08, he may have one for sale soon!)

Buy a 21" spoke kit, preferably stainless.

Either lace and true it yourself or get someone who knows how.

You will have to raise your front guard I would think, but I'm not certain on that....(not used to people converting 19 to 21!) you may squeeze it in, however, the guard will probably look too fat for the skinny tyre!

As far as the 200 rear goes, I cant help you there mate, except to say that you should probably see what sort of effect the skinny hoop does to your handling before exasperating the problem by increasing the width of the rear!

it was a question...thats all mate, thanks for info.

Hi, i have a 2008 softail with a 21" smooth front rim, i want a 19" smooth front wheel and if you have one of these i will be more than happy to swap, my rim is in as new condition and is shod with a Metzler Marathon tyre with about 3/4 tread... let me know if your intrested...

 

Cheers Patto

Fangio,

Without modifying the rear, you can fit
a 180mm tyre in. HD have this in their
catalogue. straight and easy to do.

TB

I put a 200 on mine Fangio and there is no difference at all to the handling.

As for does it fit, well it depends on which rim you get, how the offset matches yr std rim.

I put on an avon 200/55 x18 tyre on a 200 x 5.5" x 18" rim that I got from the states, ($280 vs $1200 locally for the same brand part # etc) the offset was slightly different so I had to machine a couple of spacers etc but there is no swingarm, belt guard or fender mods that need doing as long as you get your spacing right.

A tidy up of the wiring under the fender is neccessary as it a tight fit but I love mine.
No matter what others will tell you mine actually handles better than std but that maybe down to the tyre compound as I'm sure it's softer.

I was thinking of going for a 21" on the front but have since riden a couple with them and am happier with my 19"

I have also ridden a couple of nite rod specials, a rocker and a Trumphy rocket 3 that all had 240 rear tyres and still put them through the twissties no worries so the 200 up from yr std 160 isn't a big deal, still not much actual rubber contacting the road and all they new softails have em so why not us......

oh yeah, with my mod I was able to keep the 25mm wide drive belt where i'm pretty sure the softails have gone down to a 19mm belt but not totally sure on that.

I still have clearance on the front pulley either side of the belt as some people say they do track over when running but haven't noticed it on mine, took alot of care lining things up and tracking the belt

Anyway............

I have a write up including pics on this forum somewhere just search for that if you want to check it out.

here it is:

http://www.hdforums.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=71&forumid=24&tpage=1&view=topic&postid=147309#148009
 

I take it you dont want to swap?

i have a 21 on the front of my sb. its 3.25 rim and 120 wide tyre so more rubber than before. handling is fine.
easiest way to go would be to lace a 21 hoop to your hub. i don't know if the softtail rim would fit due to wideglide hub vs mid glide. would have stuff around with the spacers and disc. your front axle is 25mm and softtail is 1" blah blah.
guard will fit better as it closes up the massive gap they have stock. don't actually gain that much height due to the lower profile on 21's