Miyata Details - Wheels/Tires

As if some of the details on this Miyata weren't weird enough, guess what I discovered when I started tearing down the wheels? It doesn't use a conventional 17" or 18" motorcycle wheel/tire. It uses some strange 1960 bicycle style setup. The tire and tube are marked "22x2.25" and the tire has a protruding lip that fits into a corresponding groove in the wheel mounting surface.

Proof:

So here is the problem. The original wheel rims are horribly pitted chrome. Also the tires look to be originals, and are dry cracked. I was assuming I could replace the rims with new/spare 17" rims like used on the Honda Cubs I have so many of. Or the 18" rims from the Honda S90s I have. Not quite. The stock rims measure somewhere in between a 17" and 18" rim.

That means the wheel spoke length won't be ideal. too short for 18" rims, too long for 17" rims. I could cut about 1/4" off the spokes, but the threads won't be deep enough. So I would need to re-thread 72 spokes. And I'm sure it is a very small, fine thread that I might not have a die for.

But the land of Bangkok came to my rescue. When I ordered new spokes for the Kawasaki project, I noticed some vendors offered generic spokes in different lengths. So maybe I could get a set of spokes that were longer or shorter, without paying a custom spoke shop to make me new ones at $3 a spoke.

The stock spokes measure roughly 192mm long. I found the same joint that I got the Kawi spokes from have 184mm sets, with brand new nipples. I did some measuring, and it looks like these will work just dandy in conjunction with the 17" wheel rims. Which is great, because I have two very nice 17" rims, two 17" tubes and rim strips. All I need are two new tires.

So I spent the afternoon stripping down the stock wheel assemblies so I can clean up the hubs. And I'll place an order for my new spokes once I get a full price for two sets with shipping from the land of Bangkok.

Hopefully this grand plan works.