18" rear disc mag wheel?

1974jh5

1974jh5

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When I built my bike, I used an XS500 rear wheel because I wanted an 18" mag wheel with a disc brake. I did a lot of digging and it seems that in 1978/79 some XS's came with 18" mag rear wheels, but there was no mention of whether they had disc brakes as well.

Can anyone clear that up for me, i.e. did the XS650 ever come stock with an 18" mag disc brake rear wheel?

If so, does anyone have a spare they'd like to part with?
 
The only mags on the XS650 were 16 inch. Some years disc, 81 had a drum brake.
All 18 rears were spokes with drum brakes. I think 79 was a 16 spoked wheel.
Leo
 
XSLeo said:
The only mags on the XS650 were 16 inch. Some years disc, 81 had a drum brake.
All 18 rears were spokes with drum brakes. I think 79 was a 16 spoked wheel.
Leo
Click to expand...

Thanks XSLeo. Are there any compatibility issues if moving from 16" mag w/ disc to an 18" spoked wheel w/ drum?

edit: after searching for a while I think I found my answer, although I do wish there was a way to get 18" spokes without the swingarm modification: (thanks 5twins)

"The switch is simple if you use a 650 18" wheel - it swaps right in. If your "Special has a rear disc, it gets a little more complicated. You'll need to mod your swingarm (move the brake torque arm mount from top to bottom side) or swap in a drum brake swingarm. You'll also need the drum version of the foot pedal pivot shaft. The brackets on the back are totally different between the drum and disc versions."
 
Last edited:
Swapping the drum in where the disc was is fairly easy compared to the other way round.
Getting the brake strut mount put on the bottom of the swing arm isn't hard, most any competent welder should be able to do it in a few minutes. It will take longer to build the mount than get it welded on.
Getting the complete wheel with the brake and all the correct spacers and the brake rod and pivot shaft will be the important parts to get. The brake pedal is the same, just everything from there back is different.
Leo
 
The bike's already built. I wanted mags to be able to run tubeless tires and I like the way they look. The XS500 wheel did everything I wanted, except it's sorta hard to find XS650 gearing sprockets for but thanks to someone else on this forum, I was able to locate a Honda CB550T rear sprocket that could be modified to fit so that's done. It's also the only sprocket I was able to find! I mean like after ten days of searching I found exactly 1 in the US of A. If I need another one I'm in trouble.

I was thinking that if there was a stock XS650 18" rear disc mag, I could get it since the smaller sprockets are much more readily available in the 6 bolt XS650 pattern.
 
1974jh5 said:
The bike's already built. I wanted mags to be able to run tubeless tires and I like the way they look. The XS500 wheel did everything I wanted, except it's sorta hard to find XS650 gearing sprockets for but thanks to someone else on this forum, I was able to locate a Honda CB550T rear sprocket that could be modified to fit so that's done. It's also the only sprocket I was able to find! I mean like after ten days of searching I found exactly 1 in the US of A. If I need another one I'm in trouble.

I was thinking that if there was a stock XS650 18" rear disc mag, I could get it since the smaller sprockets are much more readily available in the 6 bolt XS650 pattern.
Click to expand...

sprocket
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=1-1980-34&catname=powerTrans
p1-1980C.jpg


quick instructions
http://www.thechopperunderground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50089
 
1974jh5 said:
The bike's already built. I wanted mags to be able to run tubeless tires and I like the way they look. The XS500 wheel did everything I wanted, except it's sorta hard to find XS650 gearing sprockets for but thanks to someone else on this forum, I was able to locate a Honda CB550T rear sprocket that could be modified to fit so that's done. It's also the only sprocket I was able to find! I mean like after ten days of searching I found exactly 1 in the US of A. If I need another one I'm in trouble.

I was thinking that if there was a stock XS650 18" rear disc mag, I could get it since the smaller sprockets are much more readily available in the 6 bolt XS650 pattern.
Click to expand...

rebel gears made me a sprocket for $65 and it works great 30 teeth and up
 

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