Front wheel 19" or 20"

[stu.sharratt]

Good evening chaps

I'm interested to see what the consensus of opinion is regarding building my VH front wheel with a 19" rim instead of the correct 20". A friend built his with a 19" ostensibly to allow greater choice of tyre, also availability of rim. I can see some merit with this approach but at the moment I'm leaning towards the correct sizing. To be honest my main concern is aesthetic.

[nevhunter]

IF critical ( none available that are good) I would go for the one that gave you the best tyre. If both have tyres avaulable fit the original. Ariel wheel rims have the spoke angles varying from one side to the other and IF they don't align well the spokes are weakened and look crook. By the time you have rims chromed and painted and spoked up you have spent a fair bit of money, so get it right. Just as a bit of an aside one of my bikes runs a 21" x 275 front and the bigger dia steers better.
Also If you want a better ride fit a slightly wider rear rim and a bigger section tyre and less pressure. (if you don't have a sprung rear wheel) . Nev

[john.whiting]

Red Hunters just dont look right with 19s,but the 20" tyres are definitely rarer.At least you can get them,in the 60s many an Ariel was junked because the tyres were impossible to find. You see, many a restored bike now with all the spokes sprung out,not only by the rim punching but also because the head bend angle is wrong. What bike has 80 spokes all identical? Regards John.

[brenton.roy]

Red Hunters just dont look right with 19s.

Yes, I think so too, but it's only opinion. I'm sure 19's work fine.

I bought 20" tyres from here - I thought fairly reasonably priced. Delivered to my door in Aus. in a week. http://www.vintagetyres.com/search?qs=[300-20]

[Keith.owen]

Guys,
This is one of those many topics that are verging upon the immotive.

I don't know what the real difference is handling wise. I do know that the deluxes were fitted with 19" rims front and back so for the Hunters it was either cosmetic or made sufficient difference to be worth the trouble (or was it just the ribbed front tyre?).

I have kept my 20" front wheel but have fitted 19" simply because of the selection of tyres available. Since the machine is for riding and here in the UK (at least where I live) I run the gauntlet of the Chelsea tractors and assorted psychopaths every time I venture out I want to achieve the very best in machine handling and hopefully sure footedness!

I don't know how many other manufacturer's fitted larger diameter front wheels to their machines, but a lot didn't. The truth is that I don't know whether the perported improvement is exclusive to the rigid Ariels or if this is not the case why other manufacturer's didn't adopt the same principle. Perhpas theres some other reason associated with the rake / castor action of the steerring head? A lot of times it is a combination of factors that contribute to a single outcome.

Then again I've seen some modern Japanese bikes with smaller diameter wheels on the front than the back!!

This is an interesting topic!!

Keith

[ABMartin]

My '37 VH has a 21 inch front wheel. It fills out the mudguard quite nicely and may even have been a factory option at the time.

Bruce

[nevhunter]

Bikes that had aspirations to off road favoured the 21" . Most factories offered a "trials" version of their OHV engined bikes in the late 30's. As for Rim widths, theoretically the rim should be widened for the wider tyre. If I run a 4.00 or larger rear tyre I run a wider rim. With some bikes the chain clearance will be a possible issue. Nev