Hi All,

Finally got my 17" rear wheel conversion installed. What a great mod/farkle!! To mix things up I did a GSXR 17 wheel with a c10 hub welded in. How about that for an alternative to the Kosman or Mean Streak wheel…

Out back, I am running a Conti Road Attack 2 in 170/60/17. These are the tire the cops are running out here on the RT's.  I have 30 miles on them from my test ride and so far here are the results.

I am running a HUGE Givi 55 liter top box and with the old pizza cutter 150 rear I got a lot of wiggle, the thing is so big it's a like a sail on the rear end.
But I use all the storage so I was hoping the 170 would improve the handling characteristics. That is all but gone with the a 170 17

“The Silver” can move around  in corners now with improved handling. More lean in stability with wider rear.

I am running an Avon 2 Storm ultra in the front with 3k miles on it and the rear has 30.

Of the line traction and acceleration seem improved at first test ride.

So far, so good with this combo.

and RPM's dropped from my normal 4,250 at 70 to 4,100 at 70


I need still have it powder coated. I just wanted to get it on an run it for now.

I will strip it down and have it powder coated to match my lowers of my 2002 when I change the tires next time.

Here are some pics. And the best thing as you all know, Hello new Tire selection!!! Conti Road Attack 2!


Here are some pics. And the best thing as you all know, Hello new Tire selection!!! Conti Road Attack 2!

Sorry rear shot is a little blury.. phone camera.. will repost later but you can the tread pattern and wheel on bike.

Me like!
Who did the work?
Price?

I for one am impressed, I am IN first and for most, I put a lengthy response out some time back for some competition to Kossman In these trying economic times.   I would think to gain more customers the simle economic plan of a litttle money off of a lot of people is better rather than a lot of money off of a few people.  In this day and age but not to kossman so your plan might possibly offer up and whole lot cheaper plan than the Kossman, when you get is sorted send me the leading particulars and I would definately be interested in doing the conversion,. Thx Steve   s_roby@bellsouth.net

As to the markiting of such a project the most important thing to keep in mind here can be summed up in one word "Liability"...... As while I have no reservations as to the machining and welding skills possessed by many machine shop craftsman or even some backyard artisans as I planned on doing the same thing so that I could mate a Meanstreak front wheel on my ZRX front end without loosing the speedo or doing weird stuff to the brakes. But this is the most dangerous type of welding work that a person can do; there are no do overs here if the weld or welds fail.....


BTW Nice work! I've seen this mod only once before and that was in Father Elvin's picture gallery.....

I'll bet it is a whole lot lighter than the meanie wheel.  And it will match the zx-9 or zrx front wheel a whole lot better.  The welds look good.  As long as runout and balance are good, I wouldn't lose any sleep.

The welds look good.  As long as runout and balance are good, I wouldn't lose any sleep.

Ever saw a welds on the GoldWing frames that failed? They LOOKED absolutely like artwork.

Jeez T Cro you gace me a good chuckle. My 2004 Wing was in the recall and the factory welds did indeed look good. I did the tear down on the bike to Honda specs then had the dealership pick it up and take it to the welder.

About a year later I needed some welding done on a front fork caliper mounting tab that had been damaged in shipping. I didn't realize it was the same welder that had done my wing until I was talking to him and out of the hundred or so he did he remembered mine as it was the only one done entirely to the Honda instructions. Dealers were doing minimal removal of parts to save time. Bikes had to be laid on their sides to be worked on.

When I compared his Tig welds to the pictures I had of the factory welds they didn't look near as nice but my confidence in his welds was much higher. Factory had tried to get away with Mig welds after the 2001 models which had been Tig welded.

But looking at the welding and work that went into this conversion if I had to pay what the places around here charge it would easily top the cost of a mean streak wheel and machining. Probably higher than what Kosman charges as well. Jigging that assembly up and keeping it within tolerances.......not a production line proposition.

This might be just an urban legend, I heard that all the weld failures on the wings were welded by humans. None of the plants that were using robotic welding had failures. Sounds like passing the buck to me. Anyway, thats what I heard.

That's a slick weldup. probably took a bit of Jigging to get the inner and outer hubs perfectly centered, eh? Steve

Hey Snarf this link will give you some info on the recall procedures. All these welds were hand done, either by mig, tig or a combination of both. No robots doing these welds as far as I know.

http://www.ridersrally.com/sb/sb17r.pdf

Now back to regular programing.

Snarf, did you do the machining/aligning/welding?

Looks good.....

Ride safe, Ted

Hi All,

I can't take full credit here for the fabrication, well actually no credit what so ever LOL. I stumbled across this wheel when chatting with buddy who is a mechanic. He made this wheel several years ago for his 3rd connie. He now rides a Vstrom 1000. When I found out he still had the wheel in
his garage you can imagine how I started to salivate when he said it was for sale. I punted to different topic so I could do some research
before trying to close the deal.

The first thing I did was call Kosman. I won't quote there prices here and I am sure they do great work however moving to a 17" rear has to have
a value and cost associated with it. Let's just say sending the wheel there would have cost way too much, over a third of what the bike is actually worth.

Found 1 meanstreak wheel on ebay for $425 (plus you would have to have the machine work done).

Either one of these is a little to rich for my blood, I would rather just sell the silver and go to a modern bike. But I didn’t buy it to sell it.
I love it too much and the bang for the buck can’t be beat!

The Facts on the wheel

Off of Suzuki GSXR
He told me he had $200 bucks in the welding alone but he would sell it to me for $200
He ran through 3 tires on it so let’s call that 30K miles. That helped me feel better about the safety of the wheel.
I bought the wheel from him for $200 and he mounted and balanced my new Road attack for free.
I took my old wheel off the bike, took it to him he helped me get the rotor off the wheel (impact hammer) and put it on the new wheel.
I then took it home and installed.

So far so good I only have 30 miles on the thing but I think I got a great deal for a proven wheel compared to the alternatives.
He said he had the welder really do it right with multiple passes.

If it runs good when I change the tire again I will have it powdered coated to match my gun metal gray lowers and change the wheel bearings out.

Maybe I  will post update after I go on a real ride.

Did it happen to look like this when you bought it? Found this years ago but never knew who did it.

Snarf, did you do the machining/aligning/welding?

Looks good.....

Ride safe, Ted

I can only wish.  Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door

Elvin I believe that is it!! I was told the wheel was white and the bike was green. He took off the paint off before selling it so you could see the whole wheel and the weld quality. Thats the same wheel I now have. Scary! He also has a 17 wheel in the front to match it but he says I would have to redo all my brakes upfront.

Well that sure explains why it looked familiar...

That looks good - and has stood the test of time - so far!
I would prefer a Meansreak wheel - even though it is heavier - I have never heard of one failing.
No slight intended to the peron/ persons who did the job - it does look good. 

It looks good to me too. Over 3' of actual TIG on that wheel and with no paint you'll see if it ever cracks. Just keep it under 70mph.