Rear-to-front wheel conversion

Hi - great site and some sweet bikes. Thought I'd post up on here as I thought some of you might be interested.

I make a conversion kit to fit a wider OE 16" rear wheel to the front for the 1st Gen XV/XJ (single disc front brake) - allows for a more muscular look than the OE 19" wheel. People who've bought and installed my kit report that it is easy to do and ride/handling hasn't been affected at all (even over The Ton!). Most of my kits have been on XVs (cafe, bobber, and chops, but I did have a buyer fit one to his XJ ... I've since added a drum-side cover that should fit a XJ wheel perfectly (larger OD).

Here is his XJ with the conversion





Here is what comes in the $130 shipped kit (48 States - $160 shipped anywhere else)

Hub adapter and drum filler cover are as-machined aluminum - so you can choose to anodize, paint, or powdercoat to your color choice. M10 bolts are grade 10.9 and M8 bolts are 8.8.

You need to supply a suitable '81-83 16" rear wheel. I snagged one off eBay for $4 with drive hub & trim, full brake hub, axle, and lousy tire! I suggest you remove the tire and degrease the wheel before starting on the conversion. If you are going to paint it, wait until you are done and/or put the tire on.

Here's a pic of my XV with the conversion and a Bridgestone Excedra 130/90-16


The OE front fender won't work, but you can run fenderless or fab up something custom.

Anyone interested in a kit? PM or e-mail me for details ... can even send you a PDF of the Instruction Manual (designed for DIY install).

 

Clever. This would provide a little more contact patch I would think.

 

Welcome to the site !!
Sounds like you know this guy -

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... t+rim.html

I was wondering if the XV crowd has the rear brake delamination problem.
Did you ever figure out a dual disc set-up??

 

WOW! This is exactly what i was imagining doing to mine! Is there any way to keep dual discs though? That looks so good.

 

That looks really cool. I wonder if it would work on a 550 Seca. I'm gonna be building a rigid framed bike out of a 550 Seca frame and motor I got for free. Wide tires front and back would look really mean.

 

Thats the same size tire thats stock on the front of the Yamaha Radian. The Radian wheel pattern looks to me just like the Turbo Seca which uses the 16" rear wheel.

 

Hey glad you made it over here, welcome. That bike looks very familiar in those first pics, lol. Man my stables were messy last winter!

 

Nice to see your finished bike - looks great!

I haven't worked anything out with a dual-disc setup ... I need a bike or at least the front forks with front & rear wheels to figure it out and I haven't expanded the lineup yet.

As long as the rear donor wheel is a 5-bolt spline drive my conversion kit should work. The smaller displacements might have a 4-bolt and the later bikes ('84-up) had 6-bolt I think.

 

Ya it was finished, haha. I have it tore down almost to the frame again. I have a monoshock and extended swingarm in the works. No rest for the wicked.

 

Parts have arrived ... kits will start to ship out the beginning of next week!

 

If anyone wants a conversion kit by Christmas, you need to contact me by Fri 12/17 to process for shipment.

I'm offline 12/20-24 and won't be able to ship kits.

 

hey
do you think this would work for a rear wheel off of a 400... it looks like it`s the same just my brake disk is on the other side... i could measure it out though

 

I might hit you up for a kit soon. I want to source a wheel first though.

 

From a pic of a XJ400 rear wheel on eBay, it is a 6-bolt drive ... that won't work with my conversion kit - sorry.

A XJ650 wheel does look to be a 5-bolt drive - so that should work.

 

does anyone know if i pick up a 650 wheel, if it'll fit on my front forks on the 400?

 

the 400's were chain drive, you might just be able to pull the sprocket and make some spacers to stick a rear on the front, assuming of course that the axles are the same size.

 

wicked... i know my rear axles are 17mm..so if someone's got a 650 and knows the size of the axle let me know please...

 

Pm sent.

 

I have 9x kits ready-to-go with the larger XJ drum cover ... who wants one?

Easy mod to get ready for the coming season's riding ...

 

I am interested in one of your kits, what else would I need for this conversion? I have an 82 xj650j, please send me a price quote shipped to 19403. Do you take paypal? THANK YOU!!!

 

What he said but to 91766?

 

yup 96002 for me

 

beings it looks the same, will a rear wheel from a 83 xv920 (rim and tire size are the same it seems) fit on the front of my 82 maxim xj750?

 

I PM'd you a message. I really hope you get it. I see you haven't been busy on here in awhile still hope you see the PM.

Anyone know the original posters Email address?

 

I have 81 xv750 and i'm down for ordering your conversion kit. zip is #98662 email me with total and i'll pay by any means needed. Thx, Dan

 

Just sold the last 1st Gen kit ... so nothing to immediately sell at this time.

Anyone seriously interested should PM/email me to submit a small deposit to reserve one from the next batch - that is assuming there is enough interested in the next couple months. If not enough interest, then I'll refund deposits.

Currently no plan to look into a 2nd Gen kit - single or dual disk. Just don't have the resources at this time.

 

Hi....

May be a silly question, but will it work on an '80 XJ650? Ive 2 rear wheels and like the idea of using a rear wheel on the front.

My email is proud2bbass at hotmail.com

Im finally getting back into building my XJ after not being able to do anything for a couple of years...YAY!!

 

I'm kicking-off a new/smaller batch of kits - hope to be able to start shipping in mid-June.

Please PM/email me for kit cost and payment details.

 

if your still making these kits my bike would really like one

 

As above very interested shipment though would be too Australia 4305 cheers Al

 

Hey Cafe XV,

I'm VERY interested in what you have going on there! Currently, the ride I'm building is a father daughter project for her... Used to be my old bike in the 80s and she wants to rebuild what was a Seca 750 factory sport tourer into a cafe style bike. I'm liked her idea since the Yamaha full up sports touring pkg is a bit dated. So we're just getting started...

I see you are pretty much the subject matter expert on this area. I really like the look and performance profile, improved handling by the beefed up front end that your kit will afford. However, knowing that my daughter has inherited my heavy handed throttle I also want to give her all the stopping ability a bike can have. This girl has crazy riding experience in the mountains of Japan and Germany. Now the 83 Seca 750s had a dual front disk so given her love for pushing the envelope this dual disk is an advantage that I feel is a requirement for this build.

So my questions are... One - Do you have any more of these kits available? Two - Can you fabricate or include additional parts to keep the dual front disk capability? If so let me know how much for such an additional request. R&D vs $ might even be worth it as it may open up a wider market around here for you as well.

Again, I'm very interested in this concept so please post back here if you want to go to pm or a phone conversation on this matter.

 

There isn't an easy way to add the RH disk to a rear shaft drive wheel - would require some precision machining on the wheel ... which is large and could end up expensive to do at a machine shop.

The conversion kit right now is very DIY and only requires commonly available tools.

What size is the Seca 750 front wheel? I've had customers interested in putting a (shaft drive) Seca 18 rear wheel on the front ... with LH disk only of course.

 

Seca is set up for 19 on the front and an 18 on the rear. I like the idea of going to a 16 & 16 though.

Looks like Streetbrawler is using an 18 & 18 set up?. Which is ok by me too. Just wanted the dual disk set up. What I may do is pick up your kit for now, run with a single disk for a while. Then as I become more familiar with what needs to be moded then work with a local shop to accomplish... Do you still have a kit at the moment?

 

Hi, I might be purchasing a 1980 xj650 Maxim.

Would this kit work with a stock rear Maxim wheel?
Also I'm assuming the kit is designed to keep the mounting of the front caliper
stock?

Finally, are you still selling these?
Thanks

 

I'm interested in purchasing one of these for my 82 xj650 maxim. Are you still producing/selling these kits?

Also, does anyone have a pic of their xj650 after doing this?

 

Thinking about going through with this too but have some questions about the handling/safety of the kit etc. Pm if you are still making these kits and if not maybe just let me know that too. Thanks

 

Who do I need to contact to order this kit?

 

Cafe-XV750

 

I hope these kits are still offered

 

r front an back axels same size??

 

Research the term "unsprung weight" is my only comment on this subject.

Fitz, out.

 

If I raced my XJ on the track I would surely pay attention to "unsprung weight". Heck, if I needed a perfect bike with amazing performance and handling, I wouldn't go for an "83 XJ...

Also, I am not sure a skinnier 19" wheel weight a lot less than a 16" wider wheel.

 

I have not seen this before, so I thought I would give the topic a bump in case others missed it.

 

My bike had one of these conversions and honestly I feel that the bike handled better than before. Felt a bit slower though.

 

So I have finished the conversion on my 1983 XJ650 Maxim and I would like to share my thoughts on this.

I must say that the bike handles a lot better now. It is easier to control the bike especially when getting in/out of curves. Two other people have tried my bike before and after the conversion and thought the same thing - it does handle better.

Now, for the actual kit... oh boy, that took about 6 hours to install - I was lucky that I was in a shop where I had access to different size grinders, whole bunch of bolts and spacers, lifts, jacks, some other machinery and helping friends...

1. As per instructions, I needed to re-drill the holes in the wheel to accommodate the new hub - and it appears no one owns a 7/16" drill bit. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I asked 3-4 people who had drill kits but no 7/16. I was lucky we found one at the shop.



2. The instructions are not clear on how much material needs to be cut on the brake side. I did what I could:


Now, the filler cover goes on the brake side of the wheel and needs a 1-2mm clearance (as per instruction). This clearance is crucial. If there is no clearance - the wheel would be very hard to turn. The cover stays still (with the fork) while the wheel turns.

When I test fitted the cover I didn't have any clearance.


I didn't want to spend hours re-cutting the wheel again and again so I just made a spacer to go between the wheel and the cover.

3. a) The original spacer (from the right side of the front wheel) is also too long and needs to be cut and tested and cut and tested and... On this picture I already cut more than half of the spacer. This spacer is also very important because it "determines" if your wheel will be centered or not.


3. b)You also need a spacer front the original front wheel that goes between the 2 bearings. This spacer also needs to me measured and cut to fit properly between the new bearings in your "new" wheel.

4. One of the 6 bolts in the kit that hold the brake rotor was different from the other bolts, it was longer and had wrong threads so I had to find a new one. Of course I didn't want 1 bolts that looks different from the other 5, so I got 6 new bolts.


5. When you test fit everything, make sure you are doing it with the speed sensor - it does change the fitment a little.

6. Instructions say it might be easier to fit the wheel if the caliper is removed. It SHOULD say: "There is no way of fitting the wheel unless you remove the caliper from the fork".

7. Instructions say to use 120x90x16 or maximum 130x90x16 tire. In my case the 130 tires was a little too big and it rubs on both forks. Very lightly, but it still rubs. Stick with the 120 - just in case.


... it's not an easiest thing I've done. If I didn't have access to the shop, all of the tools and a friend's help - i'd probably give up on the conversion.

Total damage - 175$ and about 6 hours of labor.
It looks better. It handles better.
Final result:



- Alex

 

Looks good. I think a 18 inch Seca rear wheel would look better.
7/16ths drill bit isn't a common size, most drill bit kits skip over that one so you have to spend more for the full range kit or just buy the missing sizes you need later.
My son in law put a 110/90-19 on his 86 Max (had to space the fork brace/fender 1/8th up from the fork mount), he likes the way it looks/handles better. BTW: it was a cheaper mod: tire-$120, 4-1/4" lock washers that were 1/8" compressed that I had in the shop. 8)

 

HI ARE YOU STILL DOING THE KITS I AM VERY INTERESTED IN USING ONE IS IT POSSIBLE TO USE THE DRUM BRAKE INSTEAD OF THE SINGLE DISK

 

HI ARE YOU STILL DOING THE KITS I AM VERY INTERESTED IN USING ONE IS IT POSSIBLE TO USE THE DRUM BRAKE INSTEAD OF THE SINGLE DISK

 

hi would it be possible to use the virago 535 rear wheel as its a spoked wheel and would look good