Huge front wheel

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I`ve seen a few motorcycles with a huge front wheel. Is there a purpose for that or is it just for looks? Just my personal view but I don`t care for the looks.
 
I don't know what you call huge, there could be a purpose. Wide tires help with flotation on soft surfaces, larger diameter tires help with rolling over obstacles.
 
Looks.. Not my thing either but then again I also don't care for café racers or bobbers. To each their own.

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I am trying to figure out where's the brakes on the front wheel or if they figure that they can just ignore most of the braking power of a front wheel? Or does custom = death trap?
 
How big is huge? I know adventure touring and dirt bikes have relatively big front wheels (19-21") to help roll over obstacles.
 
It's a style, mostly because with modern, electronic managed fuel injected bikes, it's much more difficult to perform mechanical style statements. So, paint, wheels, wide tires, bars ... what we used to call "Gee Gaws" ... stuff that mostly adds weight and is supposed to look pretty. Or just different.

It's partly driven by advertising from small ... or not so small ... shops with CNC equipment and a dozen hours of free time in the CAD/CAM application. Although it's not quite true that "anyone can do it" it's pretty close to that. And some of those people are not designers, which is a skill.

Not really the same thing, but large, narrow wheels (19") have been a popular style amongst American heavyweight bike riders for 60 years. The photo is just a natural extension of that, albeit in my opinion just a clever way to fleece the owner of $2000.00, or more. Here in Canada, fat front tires and wide glide front ends are far more popular, and always have been.

I literally only know one narrow glide bike owner, and he runs a 16" tire. Outside a bar you will see 50 wide glides, most with 16" wheels and fat tires, and one narrow glide. Just a different style of bike.
 
Originally Posted By: EdwardC
How big is huge? I know adventure touring and dirt bikes have relatively big front wheels (19-21") to help roll over obstacles.


There are many options out there in the custom bike world where 21" would be considered small. 24 inches, even 30 inches is not unheard of.

Originally Posted By: bioburner
I am trying to figure out where's the brakes on the front wheel or if they figure that they can just ignore most of the braking power of a front wheel? Or does custom = death trap?


There is ... something on the left side of the fork that looks like a pretty beefy caliper, actually. It looks like the rotor was removed, or not yet installed, for some reason.

But, to answer your question, sometimes custom does equal death trap. That's not new.

You can actually ride carefully with just a back brake. You have zero emergency stopping power, but as I said, carefully. You still can stop faster than a car or truck. However, there is a more common safety issue with bikes that can't corner or turn in a parking lot in a reasonable radius. More dangerous, in my opinion, because you can have a single-vehicle accident, typically at higher speed, in that condition.

Some might say it's the rider's problem but being hit by a thousand pounds of bike and rider is not a trivial event. It's not unheard of for the auto driver to die and the rider to survive.
 
I would think the larger tire/wheel would create more of a gyro effect and be more stable at speed.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
There is no way a bike with one brake can stop better than the average car or truck.

Yep, there have even been comparison tests between car and motorcycle braking performance and usually the car can stop faster. People who don't believe it can go Google it and see.
 
Biggest production wheels would've been the 23'' on XR and XL Hondas, I certainly saw no advantage. Vintage bikes could've been bigger, but that was a whole different era when handling rough roads was more important than just handling. The bike in the pic is a straight line machine...we don't have those in NZ roads, so pretty useless for me.
 
Originally Posted By: DerbyDave
Looks.. Not my thing either but then again I also don't care for café racers or bobbers. To each their own.

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I see this as a very tiny rear wheel.
grin.gif
 
Originally Posted By: DerbyDave
Looks.. Not my thing either but then again I also don't care for café racers or bobbers. To each their own.

ea6a670dbb30cce8af836179beb2b5d3.jpg


Yep , this is what I`m talking about. So apparently it serves no purpose, that is other than looking goofy to me.
 
Its a front wheel drive bike. LOL!!! lets see a burnout! LOL


How do you turn that thing without scraping ground?
 
Originally Posted By: danez_yoda
How do you turn that thing without scraping ground?


Simple, You don't. That bike is all show and no go. A $30,000 (or more) driveway decoration at it's finest.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimkobb
Originally Posted By: DerbyDave
Looks.. Not my thing either but then again I also don't care for café racers or bobbers. To each their own.

ea6a670dbb30cce8af836179beb2b5d3.jpg


Yep , this is what I`m talking about. So apparently it serves no purpose, that is other than looking goofy to me.

Thats why they say "to each his own" and no not for me either. But I do like looking at custom cars and bikes, just not paying outrageous sums of money for them.

ROD
 
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