I saw a guy on a bike today, he had a fat tire on the rear. 240 to 260 maybe bigger.
As I was coming up behind him I could see that his rear had a shimmy on the road. I guess it was from the ridges in the lane?
Is this common with those big tires? I've never noticed it before on other bikes with normal tires.
Just curious..

 

Maybe something wrong with his bike. I have a 260 on my Breakout and a friend has a 240 on his, never saw anything out of the ordinary riding behind him and vice versa. Do I have to push her a little harder into a turn, yes, but that bike handles amazing.

 

Had a NightRod Special for a few years and it had a 240 rear. I think people exaggerate and blow the handling issues out of proportion. I absolutely ripped that NightRod in and out of turns. Had to change out footpegs from scraping so much. It takes a little more effort to get it into the turns but nothing crazy. If you can ride then it'll be a non issue handling wise

 

Breakouts come with a 240. I have a 250 on mine and I've never had any handeling problems.

 

Shimmying is not caused by the wide tire. There's something else going on.

Wide tires will cause a bike to be harder to lean over in a curve or turn. The wider the tire, the more pronounced the effect. Some people barely notice it and others feel like it is a deal breaker. Wide tires can be compensated for somewhat by wide handlebars, hence the Breakout's unusually wide handlebars.

I remember when a lot of people were putting 300mm wide tires on the back of their bike. It was like a steam roller going down the road. The new 2018 Fat Boy has a 160 up front and a 240 out back.

 

260 lbs pushing you into the turn don't hurt either.

 

Thanks... Dude was on a bar hopper, stretched out.. And he looked like the hulk on a bike. But I was curious if he noticed or felt his bike doing the shimmy..

 

i remeber a friend had an old panhead lower and and a shovelhead top end that bike was BADASS!

 

I'm sure it was, but I dont know what that has to do with a 5 year old thread about tires

 

i got a 240 on the back of my Fatboy and no problems at all