Yes.... I will win the rooster tail contest.... I actually am interested in how bad the hydroplaning will be. We have not had a serious rain since the tires were bolted on but I have a park nearby that is going to become a test track for driving and controlling the wide tires in the rain....(Thanks for the idea Kevin... saw the Tri-Glide snow video)
Oh, and before anybody says it ....
Yes... the best way to manage rain with those tires is to park it 'till the sun comes out
I am getting geared up for the next phase: The front end.
I reverse engineered the triple trees from a set of OEM ones. Don't let anyone tell you the Freewheeler has a Tour Glide or Road King front end... it does not. The dimensions, rake, neck geometry differ substantially from those and other models.
The triple trees are complete at this point. They are machined from 2" billet.... The tree design is similar to this (kind of a reverse-v wide glide) only a little beefier:
We kept all of the touring geometry except we added some rake vs the stock tree. The between trees tube covers and cowbells are similar to this....
The front end will be 4" over stock (the pic above is more like 6 over) so it will stretch the profile a bit and (if I did the rake and trail calcs right with the geometry changes induced by the front and rear wheel/tire changes) it should net out like a set of HHI 10 degree trees (I know they only make 9 and 12.... but I want to be my own person
) and the whole bike will be lifted 1.5" like the tail is now.
It will be crowned off with a set of 1.25 18" rise apes (of course) and braided steel lines all round. So that is the work plan for October.... Will keep you posted on progress......