Changing from mags to spokes on my '82 GS750?

[Sandy]

i bet a 1975 GT500 would be drum, wouldn't it?

The earlier T500 were drum but believe when they went to the GT500 model they were a disc.

[Florida Guy]

In my opinion, spokes are just more trouble than they're worth.
If faced with a choice, I'd select the mags.

I remember riding a long time ago with a friend of mine on Honda 750's (1970 & 1971) and he had his girlfriend on the back of his. About 1/2 way to our destination the rear tire gave out due to a few broken spokes going through the inner tube.
We were lucky it didn't result in a really bad accident because we were cruising along on I95 at the time.

[rudy]

I remember riding a long time ago with a friend of mine on Honda 750's (1970 & 1971) and he had his girlfriend on the back of his. About 1/2 way to our destination the rear tire gave out due to a few broken spokes going through the inner tube.
We were lucky it didn't result in a really bad accident because we were cruising along on I95 at the time.

Did he know they were broken (or loose) before hand? If he did, he deserved what he got. One thing good about having to get down and clean your spokies and actually TOUCH everything is it forces you to check and see everything. Spokes should all be checked for tightness once or twice a year, depending on how much and how you ride. It's really not that much work, just tap each of the 36 spokes as you spin the wheel to make sure they sound right. The only time a spoke or hub would break is from being hit, or run with loose parts.

Spoke wheels, as with any system or part on your bike, car, truck, plane or boat is only as safe as you keep it. If a spoke wheel stands up to the abuse of drag racing, I'm pretty sure it's good enough for the little bit of tooling about I do on my bike.

I have spokies on my XS650, they're light compared to their cast Yammie counterparts (like what's on my XS400). But my Zook spoke wheels are even lighter than my Yammy ones! The only thing heavy about the spokies is the rear hub with the gobs of mild steel and rubber in it.

Spokes are old school, yeah, no doubt about it. But these bikes are just as old school. If I wanted a new race bike, I'd buy a new race bike with all it's high tech, space age gizmos, whatsits and exotic alloys. But the main reason to have a vintage bike is to be different than most of the others out there. And spokes are pretty blatantly vintage on a non-cruiser.

I'm not some old fart stuck in the past. I'm 25. I should be drooling over the latest Busa and Gixxer. I don't deny that they are great bikes, just not for me. Even my buddies who HAVE the new CBR's, Gixxers, YZF's and ZX's respect my old machines and marvel at their simplicity and style, just as I respect theirs for being fast, light and nimble. They're attracted to the old bikes because they're different, not the same cookie cutter machine like so many new bikes are. That's the beauty of vintage baby!

I don't aim to **** anybody off, or tell them that their opinion is wrong. Just trying to explain the standpoint of a vintage spoke lover. I'm with Loose Seal all the way on this one. Hope all goes well with your wheels man. Get that sexy classic back on the road. I actually had a spare set of 1000 spokies. Just sent them to Florida two days ago. But I guess I can't help everyone who wants em.

Rudy

[marz]

spokes to mags .

ell i was gonna but in the end i havent the problem is finding the hubs..
but if you figure it out ? feel free to post where what . ect.

the place i found was in the states hes real good . but i am sorry cant remember the cost.