'09 RKC - Why retain 16" front tire?

[Randall K. Wilson]

In my opinion the 16 inch front tire on the RKC was retained for one reason. Ok when they went up to a 17inch they then went to a low profile tire.
Now that is fine and dandy, but for those who desire the old school look of "wide whitewalls", that cuts into their program. Case in point...with a low profile tire you reduce the wideness of the white sidewalls. Hence for the folk who want a Roadking that they can maintain that old nostalgic look, HD was smart enough to leave the 16 in front wheel alone so that the owners could have their wide whitewalls and buy a lot of Westley tire whitener....

Obviously all of that spins my beanie, because I love wide whites on any Roadking or Roadking Classic. (the rear wide white aka brake dust collectors)

 

[flh canuck]

I was in the local dealership yesterday checking out the 09 models and noticed that the 16" spoked wheel on the Road King is the older style wheel with the stepped bead area versus the smooth "profile" laced wheels on my Electraglide.

Wonder if the Motor Company simply has a pile of the older 16" wheels piled up in a warehouse and needs to use them up?

The 09 cast wheels look really sharp but I think they should have stayed with the 16" for the sake of simplicity.

I cant imagine that changing the rim diameter by 1 inch would make a huge difference in the handling and I doubt that the 17" tire market offers a superior selection of available tires...This looks appears to be a case of changing simply for the sake of change....

Of course I tend to be a bit set in my ways and thought disc brakes were pretty strange looking when they first came out too....