Ask Woody About Your Wheels

Hey Woody,

I just bought this Dnepr sidecar, which is in very good shape, but I'm not horribly fond of the wheels (19"). The hack will be mounted on this GSPD Classic in pristine condition.



They are 'chrome' spokes, with painted rims and very ugly cast hubs.

Questions:

- Can these be reconditioned and chromed to match the PD wheels, and still look good?

- Would I be better off buying new wheels?

Cheers,

Brad

I have a CR80 that we just bought and the front wheel seems to be egg shapped, out of round but straight, and not dented and the spokes are in good shape all seem to be tight, to my untrained eye I am wondering if the previous owner may have adjusted the spokes wrong, is there a way to re set this wheel and see if it may be the spokes pulling it out of round, If I have to change the rim what is the method to insure the hub is properly centered in the rim and this does not happen again

brad,,,call toll free 1-866-936-0232,,to discuss it,,or all me at my farm in vermont 1-802-368-7149,,if ya want to talk direct,,have done many sidecar projects over the years,,,,you want a very tough wheel because of all the lateral loads placed upon it.same goes for the front and rear of your bike!!!
have done 15'' rears to handle the small citroen car tire,,wire and tubeless,,we have many options depending on your vision of where ya want to take it on/off road,,,etc

BTW,,,nice lokin rig,,,we'll trick it out together!!

Hi Woody,

I have a set of your 19/17 tubeless wheels and have a couple of quick questions...

1. Will using products like Slime, the spray in flat repair stuff, compromise the epoxy or whatever it is you apply to make the wheels tubeless?

2. Can you lace (new/custom/etc.) spokes from a BMW rim to a KTM hub?

BTW, I absolutely love my wheels!

Jacqueline

yes,,,the slime is just good for a quick emergency and should be thoroughly washed out at the soonest convenience....

sorry,,,the BMW x-laced rims need to be used on bmw hubs...that's just the way it is,,,we can lace up regular rims to all GS seies BMW hubs

thanks for the kudos/warm fuzzy

The slime will not compromise the tubless sealant then? Any recommendation of what to use to wash it out with (again, just so I don't compromise the sealant )? I've never used the slime, just considering it as an option.

Thanks Woody's! Oh, BTW, did I tell you I love my wheels

Woody,
I have a set of BMW Cross Spoke wheels off my 1100GS that I want to send up to you for anodizing and respoking.
Any chance that you have an extra set laying around that you could fix the way I want and take mine in exchange?
If not, how long are we looking at for a turn around time?

Regards,
Vettster

Hey Woody!

I've got an '03 640 Adventure that is just begging for black wheels. I spoke to Chris about the project several months ago but got sidetracked. I understand that the front wheel hub is considered under-sized (20mm I think) and that an aftermarket hub would beef things up, along with the Superlace job.

I want to stick with 18" rear 21" front and ride the bike 80% dirt/20% road and intend to ride it in offroad rally events. I'm using the Dunlop 908RR Rally Raid tires. What width wheels do you recommend?

Thanks for sharing your wisdom on this site!

how much to lace up some fancy colored rims to my f650? 17/21

How much to sell me the rims and spokes?

my son chris and i are already scheming on having extra wheels...some with new,,and others with 're-conditioned' hubs,,,when we have the stuff unbuilt i have greater latitude to 'build as needed/on demand',,,the BMW stuff is just sooooo expensive to have lots laying around ...it's amazing what people want,,, for example: woody gimme,,,,

a new hub BUT get it powdercoated or polished or beadblasted...no i don't want a reconditioned hub:huh ,,which would be much less expensive

use my old hub,,BUT use chrome or ss or MONZTER spokes and anodize/podercoat/polish my rim,,,

so right there ther are 20-30 combinations..

if you call in,,and tell us what you want we'll build em and try to get as close to what ya have to get a fair trade-in,,,when we get yours they'll get a fair inspection and analysis and we'll work out a win-win deal...so many GS wheels come in with bent rims,,,the dilemna is the x-lace pattern does an incredible job of masking the extent of the bends,,,so we HAVE to straighten em first,,,BECAUSE itis IMPOSSIBLE to do this wit traditional spoe tweaking/truing techniques...and that's where the crux of the problem lies

call my son chris,,,he's got the answers,,,sorry i'm in vermont getting my mom out of her re-hab center,,,w

i'd go for 1.85x21 and 2.50/2.75 x18rear,,,superlace it,,,and if ya want an inside tip,,,nows the time to convert your rear wheel assembly to the KTM cush drive set up!!!!!

doing a trick talon or RAD hub looks nifty and yes it's stronger,,BUT the KTM cush drive from their Supermoto kit was built for a reason...the cush drive eases loads on the entire drive-train!!!!!

since the big-bore 4 stroke evolution hit,,,we rebuild an inordinate number of wheels from broken blasted apart rear hubs ....NO manufacturer is exempt,,,,,have NEVER seen a broken cush drive ....the sprocket carrier and dampening cushions add circa $150,,the oem rear hub circa $215...about the same as a Talon

HEY:eek1 ,,,does'nt your 640 Adventure already come with a cush drive:huh ,,,well,,,everything i talked about holds true,,,'cept it's really addressed to the solid rear hub crowd,,,hey it's been a loooong day,,,woody

Yep, the '03 already has a cush drive. So would you recommend going to a bigger front hub to beef things up, or is it overkill.

BTW, I will be ordering a supermoto wheel set from you shortly for a 450MXC and WILL want the cush drive for that bike.

Hey Woddy & Chris,

Still haven't managed to as much as scratch the wheels I got from you last year, but I do have a question.

Before I high sided in the weekend and dislocated my shoulder I was riding sand with two ther 950's, both with standard '05 rims, while I am running the 1.85 up front and 2.5 rear....we are running a mix of tires but are all running 140/80 & 90/90's

I noticed everytime that I was immediately behind either of them that I seemed to need a little extra speed to stay in on top of the sand. All carrying similar fuel load and not hugely different in weight.

One of my fellow ADV riders has also ridden both my bike and the others and has commented mine seemed more inclined to carve the sand and wash out.

This got me to thinking.... when I ordered my bullet proof wheels for rocks etc, have I short changed myself in the sand area by having rolled my tioes into a rounder profile and hence less 'flat footed' for the sand?

If this is the case, simple, I get my stock wheels and bring them over for you to re rim with standard width, heavier duty rims klater in the year....but I am looking for imput on if this may be a contributing factor.

Thanks Woody.
That's about what I figured.
I will be in touch with you to talk about getting the work done.

Ride Safe,
Vettster

folks i'm out of town,,but will be back in denver on the 19th,,,and check on this matter,,,,,up until now we have had zero problem with the abs not working on any bike that we've modified,,,the main error derives from speedo/odometer errors caused by the varying circumferences,,,some models actually can reconfigure the computer for the new rim diameters,,,unfortunately on mechanically drven speedo/odometers will require new facias,,,

most riders can easily figure BWOE that 60 mph equals 3.000rpm with their original wheel configuration,,,then they mark their speedo at the new spot on the speedo when they ride at 3,000 rpm= 60mph,,,the new reading will be higher or lower depending upon if the new rim is larger or smaller in circumference

in the meantime,,,i'll give a money back guarantee to anyone that is willing to solve this issue,,,woody

Thanks Woody, your confidence is making me think hard about doing the swop. I could always pull the ABS fuses if things get confused.

What do you think Rob, is it time we stopped thinking about it and ordered some wheels ? ( You first )

your analysis is spot on,,,,,<label for="rb_iconid_24"></label><label for="rb_iconid_24"></label><label for="rb_iconid_24">

</label>a bigger footprint in the sand allows you to float on top easier,,,also lowering the tire pressure allows the tire to widen and spread the load to the sand in a manner that minimizes sinking in,,,and picking the right tires becomes important to the point that the 'sand specialists' even only buy special thread styles and paddle tires for increased grip and flotation,,,

we build wheels/rim tire combinations for a broad spectrum of special interests,,,i DO NEED to KNOW your intended application,,,,i know customers that have 5 different sets of wheels for their bike:eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1:huh

IF you have the old hub similar to the one they are recalling i'd get the upgraded one,,,,or a RAD/Talon,,,,

the newer '95 on LC-4 Adventures share the same double disc set up used on the LC-8s ,,,,, these have the beefier style already