Suzuki K10P - Wheels and More Assembly

I received my packaged of new chrome wheel spokes and nipples from Thailand, so I got busy assembling both wheels.  A bit time consuming, but I had a pot of french press and some great tv on the History channel to keep me entertained.

New chrome spokes and nipples getting installed

I then mounted up new rim strips, tubes, and 2.75x17 Michelin Gazelle tires.  This is the second time I've used these Michelins, and I really like them.  They are way easier to mount up than the similar size IRC and Chang Shin tires I've used.  Not sure why, but the Michelins just spoon on real easy.

After that, I mounted the wheel assemblies on the bike, making it a roller for the first time.  That also let me mount the rear brake lever, rear hub stay, and chain cover (not pictured.)  Overall a very productive day.

The chain cover was installed right after I snapped the pics

El Guapo - Rear wheel

I was up and going first thing this morning, to take advantage of morning temperatures. I built several brackets to mount the seat, cleaned up the rear wheel spokes and nipples, and polished up the hub and wheel rim. After a late brunch, I settled in on the couch and watched some Indycars while I assembled the rear wheel. The stars were aligned, as this was the most true wheel I have ever assembled. I simply didn't need to do any truing at all. I just got everything snug, and it was spot on.

Wheels for El Guapo

I needed a wider rear wheel rim for El Guapo, and I found a local selling some on ebay. I ended up purchasing an Aluminum DID 2.15x18 rim, and picking it up from him. He has a little side biz selling parts for 1970s big bore Euro dirt bikes. He commented that the market is big oversees for these bikes. And because of that, he tends not to worry about the smaller parts that a guy like me covets. So by the time I left his place, he told me to take some extra chrome wheel rims, and a pair of shocks for free.

He invited me out afterwork or on a weekend day to grab more parts. He said it would just go to the scrap yard, so anything in that pile over there you can have. There was lots of stuff in that pile.

My bounty:

Miyata Details - Paint and Wheels

I took advantage of the good weather we've been having lately, and got a bunch of the Miyata parts painted. That means I might be able to do some assembly this weekend! Which is always the fun part.

But before that, I managed to get the bastard wheels fully assembled. Bastard, because as mentioned before, the Miyata used a bicycle size wheel and tire. I wouldn't be able to reuse the original wheel rims because the chrome was knackered. I had a spare set of good 17" rims, and ordered a set of shorter 184mm wheel spokes from the land of Bangkok. It all managed to come together quite nicely, after an evening of lacing.

C'

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.