A long, long project.

[willis]

As clean and tidy as everything is looking, you should think about running your wiring internally through the bars and exit straight down between the risers. I have always been a firm believer in this and done it on all my bikes. Just makes for a tidier looking setup. This is looking great though. Wish I had that kind of skillsets for machine work.

 

[Team Junk]

I would go with the 16. There are some pretty racy tread patterns in 16 inch tires now and I have a hard time telling the 16 inch tires from the fat ass 17's on the go fast bikes.

 

[stinky78]

have you thought about using a mag off a different model? an sr500 would work, 17mm axle though, the front wheels off the SR and XS share the same part number, so they look the same, but SR rear is 18”, I’ve got one you can have if you can work out how to get it to Adelaide, it’ll need a bit of a polish too.

 

[gggGary]

Allison's Radian runs on 16"s and it works for a low slung set up.

 

[gggGary]

Spoon some low profile scooter tires on the rims and you'd practically have to shovel a trench....

 

[Rasputin]

I read somewhere Mikes XS did reasonably priced Stainless spokes.
I took my wheels apart and had the spokes and nipples bright zinc plated, £20.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Learnt something today: When I bought this POS it had aluminium mags on it, plus it had a spare set of spoked wheels. I was going to use the spoked wheels on this build, until I discovered the price of stainless spokes, $250. So in an effort to save some money I thought I'd use the mags, so pulled out the front wheel and polished up the bared aluminium prior to painting it black. When I pulled the rear wheel out to polish, I thought, hmmm that looks really small, so I checked on the sidewall - 16". Grrr, no good for a cafe racer, so I wasted all that time polishing the damn wheel. So, $250 for spokes it is, damn, damn, damn!

https://xs650direct.com/products?make=22&year=14&model=80&search_query=spokes

 

[Rasputin]

Before and after.

 

[Mailman]

Before and after.

Wow! I didn’t know you could replace spokes, those came out nice!

 

[bosco659]

Allison's Radian runs on 16"s and it works for a low slung set up.
View attachment 191123

That’s a sharp looking bike. Maybe I’ll see what they’re going for around here.

Quick search says $1000-$3000 Cdn. Not bad.

 

[gggGary]

That’s a sharp looking bike. Maybe I’ll see what they’re going for around here.

Quick search says $1000-$3000 Cdn. Not bad.

You don't want to know what I paid for it.
Hint I bought the whole bike to take the swing arm and use it on an XS650 project, then Allison got all Hey I like how that looks.
They are really nice bikes. But be very careful with removing the float pins. the towers are extra fragile.

 

[Rasputin]

Wow! I didn’t know you could replace spokes, those came out nice!

Yes, stripped down the wheels, took a load of stuff to the platers, quite local, 30mls, the more you get done it’s cost effective.

 

[Rasputin]

Comes out nice.

 

[Mailman]

Comes out nice.

That’s terrific info! That stuff looks brand new!

 

[Rasputin]

I use a similar thing, only linked to a buzzer.
Things one makes when bored.

 

[Jim]

And the rear rim, came out better than I expected.

 

[gggGary]

Think of all the grams you ground, sanded, and polished off those wheels!
Never mind the aluminum dust you inhaled.............

 

[Mailman]

That’s some really nice polishing! They look like chrome!

 

[bosco659]

The wheel looks great though. I’m sure if you put it up for sale you’d get some $ back for it.

 

[Rasputin]

And the rear rim, came out better than I expected. I used an air belt sander to try and even out the area between spoke holes, doesn't look too bad now. It has a couple of damaged bits still evident which I'll try and resolve with a nylon fibre wheel. I may just use these I think, will look good once spoked up to polished hubs with polished spokes. I'm polishing the exposed edges on the aluminium wheels also, once I've painted them and exposed the polished edges I'll compare them. Still not keen on a fat 16" at the rear though.

As you pass at 50+mph nobody is going to notice a few blemishes. Look good enough to me.