Supermoto wheels for Husaberg

Semtexsam · Jun 29, 2004

Supermoto wheels for Husaberg

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Hi guys.Looking for a set of three spoke supermoto wheels for a 2002 Husaberg,have looked at sales and Ebay and there are ones for RGV and Honda CBR and was wondering if anyone has done this sort of thing before.I know these wheels are no good for racing with all the demands that puts on them,just a little pissing about on the way to work,ETC.This is a wee project for the summer and quite a bit of fun for little money.
Have no knowledge of spacers for the wheels and can i use the standard disks,any help would be great.

Vegard · Jul 19, 2004

My wheels are from a Suzuki something..

I'll get some pictures out...

surferguy80 · Jul 19, 2004

eastcoastwheels will sell you a set of wheels for $600 if you are a member of supermotojunkie.com...i think you get rims and spokes, then u lace them to your stock hubs or whatever hubs u want, i think that would be a better investmant than sportbike wheels that cost nearly the same, then have to make spacers and bearings etcetcetc

Vegard · Jul 19, 2004

Here are my wheels:

Have a look here to see details:
http://home.online.no/~lyngset/bergfe400.cfm

BundyBear · Jul 20, 2004

Vegard
I saw a motarded XR250 in Chile a while ago with, I think, CBR250 wheels & it got me interested.

Love your bike. I'd like to do similar to my FE600E. We have a parts swap meet coming up here soon & I want an idea what to look for in a set of wheels. Use would only be for fun - no racing. A mate has an RG500 rolling chassis - the engine went into a RG250 frame. :shock: He seems reluctant to part it out though as he reckons they are getting rare.

A few questions:
Would you do the conversion again if you had the choice?

What size are the rims? Do they seem to fit & work OK?

How did you work the speedo? I think I see a magnet zippied/glued on the front wheel.

Have you seen a probem running the rear wheel in the reverse direction to what it was designed? The spokes lean the opposite way, don't they? As far as I know all Suzukis have the chain on the LHS?

Anything difficult in fitting brakes to these wheels. What do you have for disks?

Vegard · Jul 20, 2004

I must admit that I didn't do the conversion myself. I bought the bike like this, but I haven't had any bad dealings with it so far.

I know that the bike was build of Norway's present leading supermoto-rider 4 years ago. I guess that must be a good point

The front wheel is a straight swap, and the rear only needs one small shim. Otherways it's straightforward.

Vegard · Sep 2, 2004

I've now found out what my wheels are out of. It's a Suzuki GRV(?) 250 from early 1990 to 94 I think. The chain boss needed a little machining, but that's done in an hour or so.

BundyBear · Sep 5, 2004

Vegard said:
... It's a Suzuki GRV(?) 250 from early 1990 to 94.

Thanks heaps for that info. Suzuki sell an RGV 250 here and there is lots of them around. Is this likely the bike you mean? If so, a friend has both the 250 and 500. I might see If I can measure up his wheels.

Vegard · Sep 6, 2004

Yes, RGV of course. If you get some wheels I'll tell you what you have to do.

BundyBear · Sep 6, 2004

Vegard
RGV wheels sound like an excellent option!

If it doesn't take too long, I be much appreciative if you could list as best you know what has to be done before I start heading down that path.

BundyBear · Sep 8, 2004

Got in touch with a bloke who is right into motarding & has various wheels he will sell. He has a set for about $600 Australian that might suit me (mostly due to price).

The rear is a 17" RGV wheel that has been modified to fit a Yamaha dirt bike of some kind. Don't yet know if it will need further mods to fit the 'berg.

The front is a 17" Yamaha road bike (not sure what model) 3 spoke cast wheel of similar appearance to the RGV. It only has a boss on one side for a single brake disc, unlike the RGV front.

He does have wire spoked wheels but they are much more expensive.

Some questions:
1. I only intend to use it for social riding. Is there any good reason to go for the spoked wheels over cast ones?
2. The front wheel is only 3" wide whereas the RGV & OEM Husaberg wheels are 3.5". Is this likely to be an issue?
3. Is the OEM Brembo front caliper up to the job?
4. Is it bad to use the standard FE front brake disc or does it have to be larger, with the calliper on an adapter plate? What problems are likely if I use a FE disc?
5. Does the price sound about right?

Thanx for any help or suggestions, BW.

Taffy · Sep 8, 2004

Brad

i know you're going to want to hear this from 20 sources but let me just say that the wheel rim size won't make any difference for your purposes and cast over wire on the road of course is fine coz that's where the wheels started life of course!

as for the caliper well one caliper is fine, if i can stop from 150mph with one caliper so can you but i had a four pot caliper and these have twin pots!

the brakes are going to be the fun bit!

Taffy

jimmydean · Sep 8, 2004

I have been thinking the same thing

I have a light kit on order to make my FC400 street legal in Oregon. I just don't want to run my dirt tires all the time, so I was looking at cast wheels on ebay off ricer types for $200 or so.

I wanted to know if the was any type of spacing issues, but it looks like it might work well enough for my needs. I commute 2 miles to work and would love to take the bike a few days a week. So it would be mostly for tooling around town.

Maybe run a smaller rear sproket (seeing the rear would be 17" rahter than 19" for a little more top end)?

BundyBear · Sep 8, 2004

Taffy said:
i know you're going to want to hear this from 20 sources....

On the contrary, you told me what I need to know so far, except for one thing:

you also said:
....the brakes are going to be the fun bit!

By "fun bit" do you imply that the dirt bike disc is not large enough to work OK, or that there will be mechanical problems getting it to fit or there other issues that I have not even imagined yet?

Thanx again, BW.

Taffy · Sep 9, 2004

yep, the brakes are too weak. i think you'd stop fine with a good strong squeeze, a good set of pads but in an emergency you wouldn't be happy! also the pressure required may even give you brake fade and worries like that.

if it was me i'd get an alloy block made (you may even be able to buy one or someone who has already been down this road could knock out another) and puchase a brake disc to suit the supermoto wheel.

they may not be "quickly swoppable" though!

my feeling is someone is going to come a#long here and give you an even better answer-hope so....
regards

Taffy

Simon · Sep 9, 2004

IMHO, you have no worries about using cast road wheels for road use only - actually, you'll find them of slight benefit because you can run your tyres tubeless.

As for your brakes, the master cylinder and caliper (yes the 2 pot Brembo) will be fine - just make sure you get yourself a big front disk. The twin pot only becomes an issues under really heavy duty conditions while racing.

Regarding the rim width, I would, if I were you try to find a 3.5" rim - why? because of the selection of tyres available for that width. With a 3" your choice will be more limited or , for example, you may have to squeeze 120 tyres onto them, not the best thing for your tyre profile.

With regards to making them fit, it is normally simply a case of jiggling/machining hub and/or spacers, including bearings to fit the axle diameter etc. Sometimes this does mean that wheels already made up for another bike may require more work that you starting off from scratch. - you need all the measurements and data before making the decision really.

HTH
Simon

BundyBear · Sep 10, 2004

Thanks heaps Taff & Simon. Sounds like a big brake disc is the go. I knew there had to be a good reason why every motard you see has a whopper of a front disc but my tightarse side made me ask the question. :wink:

With regard to tyres, the bloke with the wheels suggested a 110 tyre. Apart from a limited range available is this not OK? Any likely problems?

Simon · Sep 10, 2004

Hi Brad,

You should find no problem using 110 tyres - Dunlop even provide their GPR70 tyres in a 110 17" size, so you can get some pretty decent road rubber suitable for motard use.

Handling wise I really couldn't say as i've never tried the thinner tyre/wheel on the front and would only be able to comment on the differences between rear rim widths. However, I would assume that for road riding you really shouldn't have any issue.

Cheers,
Simon

Semtexsam · Sep 15, 2004

TA for all the help

Everyone has been great and i appreciate all the help that has been posted,going ahead with this project over the winter months and sourcing all the parts througe our friend Ebay

One of my other threads is regarding my trip to Australia in November,if anyone has any information that would be great.

Regards Alan.

BundyBear · Nov 23, 2004

The motard setup is up & running with 17/44 gearing & it purrs along at 100+ km/h. Thank you all for your advice.

Taff, you were right about the brakes being the "fun bit". About 5 minutes into the test ride I grabbed a handful of front (I used the FZX250 disk as per your advice). It went into a huge stoppie which scared the crap out of me. The bit of the frame below the air intake into the carb must have been full of oil from a previous lie-down. This oil must have slopped forward into the carb & turned to a huge cloud of blue smoke. I thought she was on fire again!

Good luck to anyone considering a conversion (eg semtexsam) - it's well worth it. It has made the bike a pleasure on the road & the dirt. Even with the motard wheels the bike is good for the fire trails from home to work & back.

Supermoto wheels for Husaberg

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