The 21" front wheel is fairly
well accented as being the normal size used on a chopper. Although 16s, 17s,
18s, and 19s, have become more popular in the past couple of years, the 21
is still without a doubt the most commonly used size. The increasing popularity
of the sizes, especially the 17", can be credited to the fact that a
large number of chopper suppliers have been selling a cheaply made 17" imported
spool wheel at a very low price (most of them belong in a junk pile)
There are many good reasons for running the 21 up front. Originally, the idea
was to run a skinny front wheel and tire and still have enough ground clearance
to turn corners. This, of course, was before the advent of extended front ends-and
the 3.00 x 21 tire is almost exactly the same diameter as a 5.00 x 16. So what
you had was a chopper that sat level but had a cooler looking front end.
Needless to say, with today’s 6" to 20" over stock front ends,
ground clearance isn’t a problem, but there are other features of a 21
that are a definite advantage. The most important of these is the axle height;
again, since the 21 and the 16 are of the same overall diameter, the axle will
be the same from the ground. With a smaller front wheel, the axle drops closer
to the ground and the weight of the bike has more of a tendency to ride over
the top wheel when your trying to stop or turn. In other words, endos and highsiding.
Not that either of these will ever happen; it’s just that the tendency
and feeling are more noticeable in the handling as in the front axle drops lower
in relation to the rear axle.
Something that is likely to happen is "fold under" (you
probably never heard of fold under-and for good reason: I just made it up. Endos
and highsiding
are two common terms in racing for two things that happen quite often; fold under
is something created by small front wheels and is not seen to often in racing
simply because small wheels aren’t used.) Fold under occurs when some ass
in a ’60 falcon pulls out in front of you when your puttin’ down
the road without a care in the world-you hit the brakes, lean the bike to the
left and lay it down in a slide-the nose picker goes on his way, and you want
to bring it back up so you don’t continue to slide into oncoming traffic
in the next lane. Well here is where you learn about fold under: the smaller
front wheel’ the harder it will be to pull it back up off the fork stop,
and if you’re running a skinny 17 you might as well forget it. Here’s
something to think about: when you’re skidding to the right with your wheel
locked to the left, and you’re leaned over so far that the portion of your
front wheel is touching the ground is over halfway past the center of the axle’ your
front wheel will be running backwards. If you don’t believe it, grab your
kid’s stingray bike and try it. There are other factors involved also,
but you get the point.
Other, less important, features of a 21 include
increased mileage – there’s
more of it, so it goes farther.because it is larger in diameter, it turns fewer
revolutions to go the same distance, so your wheel bearings last longer. Ride
is improved, because of the curvature of the larger tire; in other words, it
will meet and roll gently over the same bump in the road that a smaller tire
would slam into- it will also roll over the hole in the road that the smaller
will fall into. This will hold true no matter how big or small the hole or bump
may be: the 21 will ride better, comparatively speaking.
If you really dig the looks of a small wheel and
there’s no way you’re
going to be happy without one –well shit, brother, don’t worry
about it, run one; maybe you should consider an 18 or 19 rather than a 16.
They all work. You may ride for years and never have a problem (as long as
you get a good quality wheel). On the other hand, how much difference in looks
is there between a 2.75 x 18 and 2.50 x 17 not much right? And the 18 seem
to be the breaking point between good and pour handling. A lot depends on what
kind of rider you happen to be. I’m a crazy screw-off, hot rod, balls-out
jammer, and no matter how often I scare the shit out of myself and swear off
doing the things that get me in trouble, I know it will be all forgotten every
time I throw a leg over my hog. So I feel that I’ve got to have everything
possible going for me to get me out of the tight spots. If you’re the
type that just takes a slow putt through the park on Sunday after noon and
you don’t get hung up looking at all those big boobs and asses instead
of watching were you’re going you could probably get by with a 12’ wheel.