Rear Wheel Swaps?

Hi,
knee deep in my '79 build. I have seen some customs with 3 spoke rear wheels. I am going to add a second UJ into the driveshaft to give my ample space for a 200 tyre, centered in the swinging arm. Is there a rear wheel with a cush drive that lines up/fits the shaft drive? There is a guy that widens wheels here in the North Bay (San Francisco), but he retains the spokes and hub. I would like to change to 3 spoke to match the front. Thanks for the forum!

Hi,

The final drive & wheel are unique to the 1300. no other model shares.

This means the only way to go 3 spoke is to cut the centre out of the 1300 wheel & somehow "graft" onto another rim & spokes.

You need to allow for the offset & alignment with front wheel too.......be careful !!!

There is someone in Germany who can take an original wheel & fit a wider rim, but spokes remain as stock. This German guy does a very good job & a few owners have used him.

Never seen a 3 spoke refitted to original 1300 centre yet.

I have a 3 spoke rear wheel on my current bike but that meant having a one off swinging arm made to accept a Yamaha VMAX final drive & a one off spindle kit to then fit a Yamaha XJ900 Diversion 3 spoke rear wheel (which accepts a 160 tyre).
The VMAX final drive is also upside down as its on the other side of the bike on a VMAX, but this does not create any problems. It also means a lot of work for rear suspension.
The 160 section wheel was wide enough for me as I dont want to radically change the appearance of the bike from stock, just update it to modern size tyres, brakes, suspension etc, & thats what I have done. It makes the bike 4 inches longer than stock too.
My front wheel is a 3 spoke from a Yamaha R6 which was quite easy to fit & using a digital speedo so no issues with speedo drive gearing.
The bike rides & handles much, much better than stock & much better than I expected it would. Very sharp & predictable on corners & the 4 pot calipers make it stop like any new bike. The rear caliper is 4 pot I adapted from a Yamaha FZR400RR.......and again is superb !

Hope that helps?

Pete F
UK

Wow! Lots of food for thought. I believe the guy up here also cuts off only the original "rim", to be replaced with blanks of your choosing? The Vmax solution is sounding better.
Your bike looks fantastic. I would be happy if mine, turns out 1/2 as well. Thanks for the help, now I HAVE to get on with it.

Mark, CA, USA (Ex-Pat North London)

You can get radial tyres for those size rims now. I know Avon make them and there is one other manufacturer, maybe Kenda
The 13s have the same size rims as the K100 BMW and there are some guys I know who have fitted them with great results.

I wonder how many people have explored using different swingarm and tire setup's from different bikes? I know alignment and suspension can be an issue, but you would definitely get a bigger tire size from a modern sport-tourer.

Lol was just thinking out loud cause i was looking at the shaft drive on a Moto Guzzi Griso 1100 and was thinking "That would look pretty awesome on my bike".

Was looking at the bike cause I was reading wiki articles about "shaft jacking". Has anyone ever experienced this on our bikes?

While a larger tire might look cool it will adversely affect the handling, particularly on the turn in. Also as a tire gets wider side slopes will more forcefully push the bike over. Think about how the contact patch would move off of the center line as the pavement is sloped side ways.

Here in Central Oregon where we have no political will to outlaw studded tires most of our roads are deeply grooved like old wagon tracks. While riding a typical outside inside outside path of travel a motorcyclist, in this neck of the woods, also has to ride through two troughs and one big center hump. The bikes that I have with wider tires (Valkyrie) really fight the grooves more that my KZ1300.

Regarding shaft jacking. Yes our stock drives jack up a bunch on hard acceleration. I don't mind the jacking reaction but I can really feel it.

Bill