spoke wheels from other bikes to xs?

[Robbo]

G,day... I have been wanting to change the wheels on my 79 special from mags to spoked rims for my rebuild.. My question is are there other bikes with wheels that will fit on the xs with same axle size etc or at most needing spacers etc???
Surely some of you guys have experience with this and have done the swap before?
Also I was wondering the same thing about front ends from other bikes that can be fitted to the xs??

Huge thanks to all who offer comments and knowledge about the subject it will really save me some major head aches if its a possibility!

.. Chris, aka Robbo ..

 

[jamesgs4]

This is one of the most commonly asked questions, however there hasn't been any easy answers. There are many different ways to adapt other bike's wheels to the xs, and the method used varies on which wheel you choose.

 

[plane_ben]

I used a set of spoke rims from a KZ650 Kawasaki. The rear was adapted to a TCBrothers hartail that is made for the XS650. For the front, I made my own girder fork.
Here are a few pics of the rear adaption.

This one shows where I cut down the sproket hub to align the rear sproket to front sproket.

This one is the brake drum. I remove material down to the blue line.

These last two show the two final spacers. You can just make them out on the outboard side right up against the inner axle plate. I did this for two reason. One, I deceided to use push adjusters instead of the pull type. Second, because the Kawasaki axles is smaller diameter, I made the spacer extend into the axle plate to take up the slop of the smaller dia. axle.

 

[Robbo]

Thanks so much James.. And Ben you Rock! thank you sooo much for taking time out to share your knowledge..

 

[wesleyonoel]

Can't supply specifics but my TX had a Suzuki rear wheel when I bought it. Not sure why or which model it came from. Was a direct bolt-up though.........with a cushioned sprocket. I replaced with the correct wheel when rebuilding the rear of the scooter...............Wesley

 

[xander18]

I've heard that Kawasaki KZ (1000, maybe more) spoke rims are good for doing a rear spoke with a disc brake.

 

[Robbo]

Thanks Wesley and Xander, I will check with my local motorcycle wreckers/recyclers and see if they may have something I can try..