Mags to Spokes

[Big Rich]

FWIW, the rear axle on a GS750 spoke wheel is 20mm.

[jabcb]

Was on my GT380 going around 55mph. Went under a bridge being repaired & picked up a nail in the rear tire. Had stock spoked wheels & went totally flat in something like 1k ft.

Had a similarly sized nail in the rear tire on my CB650, which had stock mag wheels. Noticed the tire was a bit low. Was able to add air & ride it to the bike shop to get patched. Don't know how long the nail was in the tire.

Just a bit interesting…
Some of the GS guys are converting from mags to spoked & some of the Suzuki two-stroke guys are converting from spoked to mags.

This is a pic of my two GT750s, one with stock spoked wheels & the other with GS-series mags.

[Sci85]

TWO GT750's? Not fair...I want one.

[Ecklund]

Why??????????????????? Never had a mag wheel break, many a spokes though.

Don't do a mod because things might break? Hmmm.

One reason might be that some find those early Suzuki mags less than attractive and find wire spokes to be closer to what a bike should look like.

[Ecklund]

Spokes mean tubed tires and I'll pass on those all day long-
Bust a tube at highway speeds and your not going to end well- a tubeless will leak down slow enough to get off the road. My experience.

I rode a few bikes with ABS and liked the confidence building ability it gave the bikes. Didn't stop riding non ABS bikes though.

Technically advanced bikes are great. Bikes with carbs, points and tubes are still fun...

[Ecklund]

With spoked wheels you can lace up wider rims. I have 2 sets. 1 with a 18'' front. Turns a little quicker, no clearance issues.

May I ask what it cost to lace up a set of wider rims? And also do you know who still does this kind of job?

[Ecklund]

You have to like Cleaning though...

So true...

[greg78gs750]

joe, that kat is fricking beee-yoo-ti-ful. love the spokes on those kats.

[storm 64]

Keeping spokes clean is a time consuming job, but when they are clean and polished they look awesome! I've used "Woodys Wheel Works" in the past. He taught me how to lace wheels. Great guy.

[Big T]

May I ask what it cost to lace up a set of wider rims? And also do you know who still does this kind of job?

The last time I one done the lacing was $75 and the Buchanon spokes were $75. Both have increased

Rims? you can spend $500/ea to get wider rims. Cheaper alternatives area available, but it's not cheap

The whole job, 2 wheels, new rims and spokes, lacing - start at $800

There's a couple of people locally who lace wheels

[SCQTT]

May I ask what it cost to lace up a set of wider rims? And also do you know who still does this kind of job?

http://buchananspokes.net/

http://www.woodyswheelworks.com/home.htm

[Big Rich]

Lacing wheels isn't usually a hard thing to do yourself IMO, but it is time consuming. They can only lace up one way correctly (if you do it incorrectly, you'll know long before you finish). I think the last wheel I laced and trued took about 3 hours or so with no breaks?