Front wheel - does size really matter?

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Kaboef

Grey Hound
Joined
May 22, 2006
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Bike
KTM 950 Adventure S
I've been wondering about this now for quite some time. Does a 21inch front wheel really makes such a big difference on the types of bikes we ride? As I mentioned in an earlier post elsewhere, DS riding is all about compromise between on/off road capabilities.
Thus, for on-road sharp handling you need a smaller front wheel (the Buell Useless went so far as to have a 17inch front), and for offroad or dirt handling you need a bigger front wheel.
If all the new bikes came out with the same wheel sizes, I could have let the issue rest, but seeing that the thing is such:

650GS - 21inch
1200 GS - 19 inch
Transalp - 21 inch
Varadero - 19 inch
640 KTM - 21 inch
990/950 KTM - 21 inch
KLR - 21 inch

Does the above imply that bigger engined bikes are more used on-road, thus the 19inch front wheels, and smaller bikes are more used off-road, thus the 21inch? Cant be, because all bikes are used differently. And what about the KTM950/990 being the only big bike with a 21inch front wheel?

If a 21 inch front really is advantageous on dirt, why havent BMW fitted a 21 inch front to the 1200 Adventure?

Watermat confessed that he wants to do research to find out if it is possible to fit a 21inch front wheel to a 1200GS.
So there are a demand for it, no?

Does size really matter?
 
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