Big Boy Mustang

[Jiggy]

I’ve recently purchased a secondhand mustang, being a first time rider and my first bike I’m rather enjoying the ride.

Today I lost a few spokes, so I need to respoke the wheel, but it got me thinking of changing the back Tyre to a fatty.

1) can you put a fat tyre on these bikes.
2) what’s the pros and cons with a fat tyre

Cheers.

 

[Leitmotif]

How on earth did you manage to lose spokes...?

Tyres will generally have guidelines for what size rim they want for optimal stability. With enough effort and ingenuity you can get a tyre intended for a 5.25" to seat on a 3.5" bead, but it's not going to be particularly stable. By which I mean it's going to handle like a wheelbarrow full of wet ass. Try to find a tyre designed for your rim width.

The biggest downside of a wider tyre is that it makes your turn-in slower. This is probably not a dealbreaker on a light cruiser like the Mustang, which is probably not a handling-focussed machine. Larger tyres are also more expensive, heavier and take longer to warm up, and if you go too wide you'll end up scraping your swingarm or fork stanchions.

Upsides? Aesthetics, obviously, and a larger tyre with more rubber tends to last longer.