Ok Guys and Gals....
Where talking rear tire here....
When dose the size (width) of the tire start to lessen the handling qualitys of your bike instead of helping....
Thanks for your replys....

 

When the bike stands by itself without a kickstand the back tire is too wide,lol.

 

lol...

 

Generally speaking, the wider the tire, the more resistance to leaning over. The primary purpose of fat tires which became common on powerful Japanese bikes is to create more traction for high horsepower motors. Round cross-sectional profiles of radial tires help with the leaning but even with radial tires : the wider the tire, the more effort required for leaning.

As a practical matter, for many Harley riders this may not be an issue. If you lower your bike to reduce ground clearance and cobble on a set of way-high ape-hangers, you're not setting up a good handling platform to begin with. Aesthetic "looks" becomes the dominant theme rather than performance and many people like the look of a fat rear tire. It connotes "horsepower."

For the level of horsepower of most H-D bikes, you do not need a wide-*** tire out back. I am working on a curvy road Super Glide and I am adamant about sticking with my stock 160 rear tire. By the way, I like the Dunlop D103 (originally fitted on the Honda ST1100).

Ive jacked UP the suspension with cartridges in the front fork and 13+ inch Ohlins on the rear with less than an inch static sag. Im also running low and narrow Sportster bars. It works VERY well and handles more like the BMW and Guzzis that I ride.

 

Handling gets a bit screwy when there is a big difference between the width of the front and rear tyres. Cornering gets squiffy.

You can imagine this if you think of leaning a bike to the side with same width tyres. No problems.

Now imagine a really big rear tyre and think of the bike leaning to the side. The bike doesn't lean exactly to the left but slightly forward of left on an angle between the outside edges of the two tyres. This picture might help...

 

I converted my Super Glide to Fat Bob wheels and front end last year and I can tell you there was a very noticeable improvment in handling with the wider, larger diameter radial combo I used. These are the HD stinger wheels for the Fat Bob, 18x6 with a 200/50-18 Avon Cobra out back and a 3.5x18 using a 130/70-18 in front. First few times out on it I found that it almost begs to be ridden faster than it ever did with the stock size wheels/tires - the limiting factor becomes a ground clearance issue and this is with stock height in front and longer shocks out back, the footpegs touch down before any other parts. I love how it rides and handles the corners, it has the big fat look without looking stupid or causing handling issues. Everything was a complete bolt on. There's more details HERE

 

There is a flaw here in that motorcycle tires have a rounded cross section, not square. The pivot/lean point is the center of the tire, not the edge of a square cross section.

 

If it feels better and works for you, then that is awesome. Probably, the greater contact patch makes it feel better-planted to you. I have friends who swear that ape-hangers make their bikes handle much better ! The narrower tires, however, are quicker steering, others things equal.

 

Want to be totally confused? Watch this, including the videos:

http://www.motomorphic.com/index.php

 

The picture was thrown together quickly and I used the Paint tool that came to hand to draw the tyres. Still makes the point though, I think.

Here's a slightly better picture with a view from above and the bike lent over to the left. The green area is contact with the ground (yes, I know the contact patch should be oval)...



Bottom lines is that having a big difference between tyre widths is for looks alone (unless its a drag bike i.e. one that never goes around corners).