This is my first post here. I like that this forum seems to be open to making changes on the bikes. I enjoy building bikes and have built a few. My BMW cafe racer I built over 15 years ago before anyone was doing cafe BMW's.
And for the past two years I've been working on my KTM 950 which is now a two wheel drive 990.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461267&highlight=refresh
But this past year I finally had a chance to get a Guzzi which is a bike I've wanted for over 20 years so I'm now starting my build on the bike. The intention is to make it a "cafe fighter" if that makes sense. I have a nice cafe bike in the BMW but it's very uncomfortable. I love the look but I prefer the riding style of a super moto or ADV bike so that's the direction I'm going.
There's full build thread of my Lemans IV on ADV (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=972947) but one of the things I wanted to do was to get rid of the contentious 16" wheel and I thought I would do this post to contribute to the general knowledge pool. I also figured it would be appreciated here.
The 16" wheel seems to stir up a lot of controversy but there's next to no tire choices and it looks ridiculous. I will admit it works pretty good but the reason I wanted to find an 18" wheel was mainly aesthetics. My eventual plan is to put an entirely new Ohlins front end on the bike and make a completely new rear end but that's for the winter - this summer I just want to ride the bike and get used to it. And I didn't want to look at that silly wheel all summer.
Anyway, I asked a lot of people if there were any wheels that could be modified to work and everyone told me no. The California 18" wheel looked like it was a pretty good match but when I asked what would need to be changed I was told it was going to be a nightmare and take 10-20 hours of machining and not be worth it. Well, if there's one thing I've learned it's that if someone tells you something is impossible they're almost always wrong. This is another case of that.
I bought a California 18" wheel to experiment with.
I made a couple of little plugs to measure the dimensions. The hub is identical to the Lemans IV wheel but the brake bosses are wider. I have heard people change out the entire front end to use the California front wheel which seems nuts so I wanted to find a different, simpler way.
I got a big hunk of aluminum to make a fixture with the intention of machining the bosses down to the same dimension as the LMIV wheel.
The fixture holds the wheel within about 20 thou but I use the dial indicator to bring it into a couple thou.
I then milled off 7mm from each boss on each side to match the width of the Lemans IV wheel.
The California wheel is identical to the Lemans IV wheel in every way save for the width and the fact that they machine the spokes to have that silver edged look. While it would be easy enough to just paint them I decided to just round the spoke edges a little so it would be a better match.
Then taped it up and sprayed it.
I wasn't sure if the fender would still work but all it needed was a set of 7mm spacers and the fit was perfect.
And there you have it. I got a perfectly matched wheel in 18" and it cost me all of $100 plus about two hours of very pleasant shop time which is relaxing. With no changes the 18" wheel certainly flopped about and was slower than the 16" wheel but I dropped the forks (raised the tubes) about an inch and it's very much the same now but perhaps a bit more stable. Most of all I like the look of the same sized wheels.
Next up is getting rid of the horrid looking Dr. John two into one exhaust. Again, I'll make something simple for the summer and then in the winter I'll build a very nice exhaust possibly using the dimensions or possibly not. Much is undecided about the bike but little by little it will be transformed into something very special. If you're curious about the progress subscribe to the ADV build.
Thanks,
Gregor
And for the past two years I've been working on my KTM 950 which is now a two wheel drive 990.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461267&highlight=refresh
But this past year I finally had a chance to get a Guzzi which is a bike I've wanted for over 20 years so I'm now starting my build on the bike. The intention is to make it a "cafe fighter" if that makes sense. I have a nice cafe bike in the BMW but it's very uncomfortable. I love the look but I prefer the riding style of a super moto or ADV bike so that's the direction I'm going.
There's full build thread of my Lemans IV on ADV (http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=972947) but one of the things I wanted to do was to get rid of the contentious 16" wheel and I thought I would do this post to contribute to the general knowledge pool. I also figured it would be appreciated here.
The 16" wheel seems to stir up a lot of controversy but there's next to no tire choices and it looks ridiculous. I will admit it works pretty good but the reason I wanted to find an 18" wheel was mainly aesthetics. My eventual plan is to put an entirely new Ohlins front end on the bike and make a completely new rear end but that's for the winter - this summer I just want to ride the bike and get used to it. And I didn't want to look at that silly wheel all summer.
Anyway, I asked a lot of people if there were any wheels that could be modified to work and everyone told me no. The California 18" wheel looked like it was a pretty good match but when I asked what would need to be changed I was told it was going to be a nightmare and take 10-20 hours of machining and not be worth it. Well, if there's one thing I've learned it's that if someone tells you something is impossible they're almost always wrong. This is another case of that.
I bought a California 18" wheel to experiment with.
I made a couple of little plugs to measure the dimensions. The hub is identical to the Lemans IV wheel but the brake bosses are wider. I have heard people change out the entire front end to use the California front wheel which seems nuts so I wanted to find a different, simpler way.
I got a big hunk of aluminum to make a fixture with the intention of machining the bosses down to the same dimension as the LMIV wheel.
The fixture holds the wheel within about 20 thou but I use the dial indicator to bring it into a couple thou.
I then milled off 7mm from each boss on each side to match the width of the Lemans IV wheel.
The California wheel is identical to the Lemans IV wheel in every way save for the width and the fact that they machine the spokes to have that silver edged look. While it would be easy enough to just paint them I decided to just round the spoke edges a little so it would be a better match.
Then taped it up and sprayed it.
I wasn't sure if the fender would still work but all it needed was a set of 7mm spacers and the fit was perfect.
And there you have it. I got a perfectly matched wheel in 18" and it cost me all of $100 plus about two hours of very pleasant shop time which is relaxing. With no changes the 18" wheel certainly flopped about and was slower than the 16" wheel but I dropped the forks (raised the tubes) about an inch and it's very much the same now but perhaps a bit more stable. Most of all I like the look of the same sized wheels.
Next up is getting rid of the horrid looking Dr. John two into one exhaust. Again, I'll make something simple for the summer and then in the winter I'll build a very nice exhaust possibly using the dimensions or possibly not. Much is undecided about the bike but little by little it will be transformed into something very special. If you're curious about the progress subscribe to the ADV build.
Thanks,
Gregor
