I have been seeing more and more baggers with the large 26"--30" front wheels. they look sharp but it's nothing I would go out of my way to change on my ride. I was happy with my 04 Electra Glide just the way it was. 3 weeks ago Bambi changed all that. Now I have to replace forks,front wheel,crash bar, upper and lower farings, tour pack,saddlebags, and the list goes on.
I'm just looking for some honest opinons on stepping up to a larger front wheel and some input from anyone who has tackled this project themselves.

 

go to choppedbaggers.com you will get more answers about big wheels over there

 

Yeah, and be careful sifting through the answers you get there.

You can easily rebuild your bike with stock Harley parts and go to a 19" and have a great bike. You can stretch that to 21" pretty easily with aftermarket parts and still have a pretty good handling bike.

Start talking 23", 26" or more and you need to be VERY careful with rake and trail to just end up with a bike that handles safely, let alone a bike that handles well.

There are some pretty bitchin' looking big wheel baggers out there. Many of them aren't what you would want to ride everyday. Be careful in your choices....

 

This!

 

IMHO it just looks stupid...

 

Buddy of mine got a custom 05 road glide with 18s with 180 front and rear. Its got air ride front and rear but it looks sick. If I didn't have custom wheels already in my 09 i would go 180 front too.

 

The 26 and higher wheels are already starting to be a fading fad. Its like the chopper craze in the early 2000's. It went wild for awhile then died pretty quickly.

What I see a whole lot is the 21" front wheel on baggers. Its easy to do, looks good and doesn't really change the handling if you lower the front some. I foresee H-D eventually coming out with a 21" front wheel bike or at least have it as an accessory. Its just too popular to ignore anymore.

 

All the front wheels H-D has used to date on the front of the Touring models, 16", 17", 18" and 19", have near identical rolling diameters, which is why they all work. They also all have 130mm wide tyres, so handling should be reasonably similar (I haven't tried them all!). Bigger diameter than those requires alterations, to offset the effect of increased rolling diameter and a raised steering head.

 

I agree the 21" has been popular of late, as it really doesn't require too much mods and looks good.

However, back in the day, I was the slickest dude on my block when I got one of these

 

I have a 21" front rim on my 06 RK w/o any more mods and I love the look. No handling issues noted. My tire is a low profile Metzler! I agree with the others about bigger rims being a fad!