Curious here what's the general concensus on skinny vs wide front tires. Say the Nightster vs 48 or the Heritage vs Fatboy. Does one handle better then the other? Or is it just for looks?

 

It's been a long time since I had a bike with a skinny front tire. But to me, a fat front tire gives me a sense of stability. Maybe that's just my imagination. I don't know. But with the recent trend of putting rain grooves in pavement, I'm glad I have a bigger front tire. Just seems to me that a skinny tire would be all kinds of squirrely on rain grooves. But like I said, that's just an opinion. They didn't have rain grooves the last time I had a skinny front tire.

 

You don't know skinny until you've had a 21" front. I'm used to it, but for those who've switched they did so mostly for tire life and twisty handling. More rubber on the road means more grip, which is always a good thing. The wide 19" usually lasts 2-3x as long as the narrow 21".

 

If I was running from the cops I'd take a wide front. Other than that it's what ever looks best INYO.

 

+1 on this. Better handling due to more tire gripping the road, and longer tire life due to more/thicker rubber on the tire.

 

Fat is better for handling and canyon carving but skinny looks better on narrow front ends. Don't ride beyond your abilities (or the bikes) and it won't matter.

 

I currently have both. For any of the riding I do (and I do a lot) it just doesn't matter. As long as you don't try riding like you're on a superbike there shouldn't be any problem.

 

I have an 07' Softail Custom that had a 90/21 on the front when it was new and it was ok except for high speeds on the interstate. At about 80 it was all over the road and was not any fun at all to ride. I put a 120/19 on it and problem solved. Runs twisty roads a whole lot better as well now. In my book, wider is better.