Who here swaps between two sets of wheels

I bought a set of cast wheels a little while back with the idea that when my Tourance's on my wire wheels were ready to be replaced, I'd put a set of TKC80's on the wire wheels and have some streety tires on the cast wheels and swap back and forth depending on what sort of riding I wanted to do. Well, the Tourance's are just about done, but I'm second-guessing my approach now. I'm wondering if swapping wheels will prove to be too big a PITA, and I should just go for a decent 80/20 or 90/10 tire and call it good enough. Most of my regular riding is rough, goaty (supposedly "paved" ) backroads in the Santa Cruz mountains, but I want to have the ability to ride some non-technical dirt when time permits.

In the interest of not turning this into a tire thread, I'm not looking for tire advice so much as I'm looking for input on the practicality of swapping wheels. I'll cross the "which tire" bridge if I decide to stick with one set of wheels.

I'm kinda in the same boat. I just bought a set of spokes and pre-ordered a set of Karoo 3's for "camping trips", so I can get further from the pavement.

But I do a majority of my riding in the paved twisties and have been thinking of something even more road worthey than the Anakees I've been using on the cast wheels.

There's no way I'm going to enjoy riding the roads nearly as much with the Karoos, and certianally not going to give it up.

Maybe I should just sell the spokes w/karoos and spend the $ on a WR250 , and trade the GS for an SM-T? Naaah!

Ive got 2 rear wheels

one wears a knobby , used to be tkc80, now its a kenda Big Block- this wheel goes on when its really muddy, or when I know Ill be offroad for the majority of a ride.

other wheel has ran a shinko 705, and now a Vee rubber VRM 163- this wheel is on 80% of the time, commuting, traveling, weekend rides, basically anything but riding in the woods, or in mud.


on my 95 1100gs it takes about 10 minutes to swap the wheels, biggest PITA is getting the brake pads spread back apart to slide the rotor back in, I often just remove caliper after a couple of tries.

the next PITA is lining up the lug bolts, a tool has been posted on here to fix that, its simply a stud that screws in and you slide the wheel on, and install the other 3 lugs, then remove the tool and install that lug bolt, I need to buy or make that tool!

tkc80 on the front always, it works good everywhere.

I've had two sets of wheels for my 2007 12GS for 6 years now. one set spokes and one set alloy. Once you get used to doing the swap, it's not too bad. I've gotten it down to less than 30 minutes to swap. You'll learn a few tricks like you only need to take one caliper off the front to do the swap, not both.

I have to admit when I first had both sets, I was swapping back and forth all the time. That does get a bit old. However, it is still very nice to have a "street" set of wheels and a "dirt" set of wheels. Part of the big expense of knobbies, is that they don't last too long. Great to be able to run them for some dirt special event or ride, but then easily go back to your street set for commuting and general riding. Plus it's just plain good to have a spare set of wheels. I put a large hole in my street rear tire the other day, and was able to put my dirt set on to commute that week and then order a new tire at my convenience without any down time. GS is my everyday transportation, so spares are nice.

I am actually looking for a 2nd hand set of rims so that I don't need to swap tire each and every tome but just change the full wheel.

I mainly do that cos I know I cant enjoy dirt riding on street tire and I cant enjoy road riding on knobby.

The 80/20 and 70/30 tires are actually still pretty poor performance-wise on gravel and mud.

Low pressure knobby turn the big GS into an (almost) unstoppable tanker off road (I also carry a cyclepump to restore proper pressure once back on tiremark..)

Ive got spare set of fat 17"/19" wheels for my DR650,the knobbies stay on the stock rims and some mostly street tires on the others.
Ive ended up using the 17/19 settup most all the time so far,I can change them out in a leisurely 45 minutes or less as I have brake rotors on both sets.
It does save my knobbies.

have 2nd rear wheel.... TKC on one, Tourance on the other.

the front has a TKC all the time

works good

got an Excel for sale 17x3.5 BLACK and *NEW (front) that will fit the GSA if anyone is looking for a new rim on a good deal..sorry to jack

I noticed last night Beemerboneyard.com has cast wheel take offs for sale. No idea how competitive the pricing is.

I think ultimately this may be a route I go and that's why I was looking at the rims last night. 30 minutes to change out rims is not bad at all if you are planning on riding a set for a few days.

I have two sets of wheels for my 2007. I run Anakees or Road Attacks on the cast wheels and TKC80s on the spokes. The spokes are on the bike most of the time but if I'm gonna lay down some serious road miles I slap the cast wheels on. This system works very well for me. The swap takes minutes and is nothing to sweat. Go for it!

Work Shoes



Dress Shoes

I have two sets of wheels for my R1150GS, all spoked.
Quick and easy to change, even if its only for a day ride.
It used to be a PITA before I had discs on all wheels though.

One thing to be aware of is that you need to be really diligent keeping track of mileage on each set if you want to know how many miles you are getting out of your tyres when you are changing back and forth like that.

Swapping the wheels is very easy. Strap the extra set of wheels on the back, head over my house, and I'll show you how easy it is. I live in Campbell.

Sell the spoked rims and get a set of heidis. Unless you are doing the gs challenge, this is all the tire you will ever need. Don't over think it. Use the extra money on a great trip and send me a pm to thanke

Yea exept the K60 is awful in the rain, terrible in the twisties even in the dry, and not as good as a TKC or more aggressive knobby in dirt. So they sure don't do it for me, not at all.

I'd love to have a 21" front, then at least I could run Anakees on my cast wheels, and swap the front out for a 21 with a knobbie for more aggressive adventure rides, etc. that would pretty much cover the gamut of my riding.

I have two sets of spoked wheels on my GSA. I can switch over in less than 1/2hr. I run Anakees on one set and TKCs on the other set. I agree with the above post that said get the disks and ABS rings on both sets, it makes things much easier.

It is so easy to swap that I am on the lookout for an RT set of wheels to mount up some more street oriented PR3's for when I tour and I'm thinking of converting the dirt front to a 21" Woody's.

I have 2 disagreements with this concept.

1. If you enjoy a sporty ride, either in the twisties OR agressive off road, those tires have NO grip when compared to REAL knobbies or sport tires. They're all about comprimise and milage and nothing to do with performance.

2. Cast rims dent more easily than spokes. I've dented one and I never air down.

IMO! Having a second set of wheels is always a great idea. Even if you don't use them for strictly different tire application, you have a set mounted and ready to swap out and don't need to rely on waiting for new rubber to be ready to ride. You can always have a set ready to go for whatever reason

I used to have two sets and do not any longer.


It was a pain, a small one, but still a pain and street tires sucked off road and I don't ride hard enhoug to over ride my K60's. So I run K60's and sold the other set of rims.

I've been considering doing this exact scenario, good to see both sides of the coin. Looks like I might start looking for an extra set of spokes, at least the rear to start out