Spoke wheels for your XJ

They do if the bike has any sort of real power. Rear spokes on my Norton regularly turn up loose; I had a buddy back in the day whose H2 almost completely unlaced its rear wheel due to all the extended wheelies.

And those bikes came with wire wheels.

I imagine that fitted to an XJ, they would require some rather regular attention. There's a bit of a power curve difference between an XS or a Virago and an XJ.

We've also got to be careful about extreme weight differences between the "donor" bike and the bike the wheels are going on; I've been having second thoughts about an XT/TT500-to-550 Seca rear swap for just that reason. I'm concerned that (nearly) all of the donor bikes being discussed are "lighter" in both weight and performance than the XJs.

I guess it all depends on the intended end-use for the bike. If it's going to be an occasional-rider/cafe hopper, then OK I guess; but as a serious mount racking up real miles, I'm concerned about reliability and therefore safety, long-term.

 

i'm curious as to what attention the mag rims require?

there's nothing on there to come loose. other then the valve stem.

 

That's something I have also thought about with weight being more of a consideration than power as I reckon a 4 cylinder will be easier on them due to a smoother power deliver than a single or a twin

 

None, that's the point. Wire wheels DO require regular attention.

 

Hey, sometimes you feel like a spoke.....some times you don't.


:wink:

 

What do you consider regular?

 

I give the rear on my Nort the "musical test" every couple thousand miles or so; maybe every third or fourth chain-lubing session.

I spin the wheel, and drag a screwdriver along the spokes as it spins; ting-ting-ting-ting-CLUNK-ting-ting... and then attend to the "clunkers."

I check the rear for "trueness" (out-of-round and lateral runout) after any spoke-tightening; and the front whenever I think of it.

I was thinking about what you said about power delivery of a four vs. a twin, but it raised a question: why do our XJs have a cush-drive system built into the rear hub that the XT/TT and XS rear hubs do not? Do those bikes have a cushioning system elsewhere in the drivetrain, like the old Triumphs had in the center of the clutch hub? I don't see one in the fiche...

Or is the flex inherent in a wire wheel enough? My Norton has a cush-drive in its rear hub too, why don't the XS's?

 

There's an additional "cush" mechanism in the final output shaft (just before the middle gears) that seems to have a spring loaded 1/4 turn.

I noticed this on one of my "burn" engines that is locked up.

 

I always assumed it was because given that they were offroad bikes there would be slippage on loose surfaces so the cush drive wouldn't be as important

The later larger dual purpose/offroad bikes have cush drives in the rear hub

 

Good assumption, but how does that explain the XS650 street bike?

 

No idea, doesn't it have one?

 

Not that I can find. It does have a circle of compression springs built into the clutch basket, like an automotive clutch plate, but that's it and I would think that's more for the clutch than cushioning the final drive.

Nothing in the final drive or rear wheel.

Fascinating. Now I'm going to do some more research: weight and HP of the bikes we've talked about to get a power-to-weight ratio. Maybe compare peak torque and gearing as well.

 

Q - is this cushioning needed for smooth shifting, or so the individual engine impulses aren't transmitted as vibration??