1981 XS650H wheels/tires tube/tubeless

[happydaze]

That's interesting. My rear wheel is 3" wide and I have a 140/90, which is not on that chart. Clymer says it should be 130/90 (narrower and not quite as tall).

Oddly enough Clymer lists the front tire as 3.50 S19. I guess they couldn't decide whether or not to go metric. Mine is 100/90-19 which is .44" wider but seems to be what other people are running on these bikes.

 

[gggGary]

The OEM fronts were still inch sized, this goes back to the first bikes, the front rim, stock, stayed 1.85 through out the run 70-84. The chart I put up is a compilation done by a university Prof IIRC he used various manufacturers recommended rim widths for their tires. As handling and cornering speeds increased, racing showed that wider rims improved stability, this became gospel in auto and MC tire/rim fitment. As we got away from needing high clearance and rough surface absorption, lower profile tires came into much greater use. Offroad bikes continue to use high profile tires to help absorb shock and sharp edges.

The fat 16 rears on the specials were chosen for the look, NOT performance. Nothing wrong with that as long as you understand the tradeoffs.
I guess a simple example would be standing on a 2x4 flat, or on edge, which is more stable? A thin rim allows the tire to move sideways with less effort applied.

See my thread about fitting 2.5X18 rims and pilot power tires, I'll be adding pics today and tonight. I will be Jonesing to try these out, but it's going to be two months.......

 

[happydaze]

You said in the center stand thread that a wider tire (my 140) makes the bike less stable. I can see where it would impede cornering but how does it make the bike less stable?

 

[happydaze]

I think the answer to all of my questions here is that I'll buy some kind of jack/dolly that I can leave the bike on, as long as I can roll the bike out of the way to get the car out, and I'll send the wheels to Buchanan to be relaced. I'm reading lots of threads about this and people are saying that relacing is not all that simple. I think I'd like to have it done professionally.

 

[gggGary]

from the bicycle world but the principle's the same.

 

[happydaze]

I see. Thanks. Wide tires on narrow wheels = bad.

 

[happydaze]

So, now I'm looking to see if I can use the hydraulic floor jack from my car to lift the bike and get some kind of dolly under it so I can roll it while it has no wheels on it. I looked at jack/dollies and they don't seem stable enough to roll the bike around on the dolly. I might just have to build some kind of jig on a furniture dolly or something.

 

[gggGary]

Motorcycle lifts work "fairly well"

but they don't really fit the bottom of the XS650 all the that well. the side stand is one problem area. I have done pretty good with a ratchet strap and a board shim or two to stabilize the set up. Works better once both wheels are off. Hint drop the jack down low as possible to reduce tip over tendencies. Gotta have clean concrete to roll them around.

Can you get the bike in front of the car for the extended layup?

 

[happydaze]

I can probably get the bike in front of the car if it's on casters. I have never tried it.

I might be able to adapt my existing floor jack and save $120 or more.

These also look pretty cool but I have never used them.

 

[5twins]

Those wheel lifts really aren't for moving a bike around once up on them. The little wheels are just to roll the stand up under the bike wheel.

 

[happydaze]

Yes but once you get it off the ground you can roll a dolly under the center of the bike and drop it onto the dolly.

 

[5twins]

By the time you get done buying all that stuff, you could probably just get a spare set of 650 wheels, lol. If you're lucky, you can sometimes grab them up for $20 or $30 each. Sometimes even a nearly complete parts bike will come along for not much more.

 

[figure8]

My suggestion is to give lacing a try. It seems intimidating but it's not to bad once you understand it. Buchanans will do a great job, but it's gonna cost ya. Get some spokes from mikes and give it a try. I used mikes spokes to lace a 21" to a front xs hub. Local shops around me wanted $200 or more to lace and tru a rim. So I used these instructions and did it myself.
http://www.xs650chopper.com/2009/12/how-to-lace-a-wheel-from-scratch/
Truing is more difficult but I was able to get it pretty close, then I paid a local shop to tru it up good in a stand. Only cost me $25 to have that done. Diy will save you a lot of money and it's satisfying to accomplish something like lacing a rim.

 

[5twins]

Yes, it's not that difficult and the more you do, the easier it gets. I still remember the 1st one I did years ago. I was really intimidated by the job so I replaced one spoke at a time so I won't get the pattern screwed up, lol. I was able to do that because this was a BMW wheel with straight "nail" type spokes. You can't do it that way on a 650 wheel. At least all the outers would have to come out.

 

[figure8]

Yep, once you understand the pattern the wheel just comes together. If you look on my rim you'll see where an inner and outer spoke criss cross there is always 6 spaces between the spokes on the rim, never deviates from that.

 

[happydaze]

By the time you get done buying all that stuff, you could probably just get a spare set of 650 wheels, lol. If you're lucky, you can sometimes grab them up for $20 or $30 each. Sometimes even a nearly complete parts bike will come along for not much more.

I think the venom jacks are a handy thing to have, but I will most likely not buy them. A furniture dolly rated for 900 pounds costs about $25 and can be used for other things. It doesn't look like it would be difficult to get something under it and lift it enough to get both wheels off. I think it's going to come down to wood blocks/wedges and simple physics. Roll the bike onto wedges, get the dolly under it, pull the wedges type of thing.

Since I only own one MC these are probably the only two wheels I will ever need to have laced in my lifetime. So, the idea of "the more you do it the easier it gets" doesn't really apply to me (I hope). I don't really have tons of free time. I think the adventure of getting the wheels and tires off and doing the front brakes while that's apart will be enough fun for me.

 

[gggGary]

I'll toss out that there are many dirt bike shops qualified to do rim lacing. The mikesXS stainless spokes are high quality and $$ reasonable. AFAIK their stock size rims are plug and play also.

 

[happydaze]

I live in NYC so there are no dirt bike shops here, but there are several MC shops. So far I'm hearing them say that they either send them out (which I can do myself) or that they don't have time for such a small job right now.

Is everybody doing gravity leveling on a stand? Is anyone using this type of level? Just curious. I am going to have to balance the wheels when I get the tires back on.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

A lot of the members here endorse "Dyna Beads". Try a forum search on that...

 

[weekendrider]

You have room for the car and the bike, but have to move the bike to get the car out.
Can't you park the bike in front instead of behind the car?