I’m halfway through the process, with the front wheel done.
The rear will be a little more work.
One day long ago while installing these BMW inverted forks and Brembo brakes on my Valk, just for fun, I put a GSXR rear wheel with a 180 tire on the floor between the fork legs.
I’ve always thought the Valk is so beefy, so burly, that it deserves bigger tires and wheels, and that big fat GSXR wheel and tire looked way more appropriate to me than the stock setup.
I’ve been racking my brain for months, scouring ebay, forums, and the rest of the internet for measurements of rear wheels, their bearing sizes, the max gross weights of the bikes those wheels were from, etc.
Then, a few weeks ago, an as-new set of Performance Machine Merc spoked wheels popped up on eBay for about 1/4 of their new price, 18x5.5 front, and 17x5.5 rear, PLUS 180 front and 200 rear tires and front brake rotors!
That’s a deal!
If you’re not aware, some Harley guys have been putting 180mm wide rear tires on the front of their bikes, and that’s what this wheelset is for.
So, I didn’t set out to put spoke wheels on my Valk, I was only looking for bigger and wider wheels. These spoke wheels are not traditional spoke wheels, they’re actually forged aluminum rims with 40 fat stainless spokes each. They’re so nice I knew right away I’d found my wheels.
I’ve been riding it as pictured for a couple weeks, and I was prepared for the handling to be atrocious, but it’s actually not!
The main difference from stock in how it feels is that once the bike is leaned over and cornering, the handlebars require more effort to adjust.
The overall diameter of the new tires is very similar to stock Valk tires.
I’ve always been a sporty rider, even doing some amateur road racing for several years, and I quickly got used to the new handling characteristics.
Even with the BMW inverted forks and new brake calipers, the spacing between the brake discs is the same as the stock Valk fork and brakes, and I’m still using the stock Valk front axle. So, my work will transfer to anyone who wants to convert to a similar fat wheel and tire with their stock Valk forks and brakes.
The front fender brackets are from a BMW and the fender is an aluminum piece meant for a rear fender from Blue Collar Bobbers.
Both mag and spoke Harley wheels up until recent new models, have commonly used front and rear wheels that are modular. The hub center and rim are one piece, and the hub sides that brake discs, pulleys, or sprockets bolt to are separate pieces that bolt to the hub center.
There are endless spacers available and most brake rotors, pulleys, and sprockets use the same bolt pattern except for 3/8” bolts for brake rotors and 7/16” bolts for sprockets and pulleys, so drilling brake rotors from 3/8” to 7/16” to bolt on where a pulley or sprocket existed would be easy.
I was prepared to use a rear wheel for my front, but my new front wheel was actually intended to be used as a front wheel, and I only needed a .2” spacer on each side of the hub to get the brake rotor spacing perfect. I made simple axle spacers from aluminum tube, and replaced the Harley bearings with 52x20mm wheel bearings to fit my stock Valk axle.
Note that stock Valk brake rotors have a 17mm dish, and the rotors I used (and most others) have no dish.
The 13” rotors I used with Brembo calipers from a 2018 Kawasaki ZX-10R, and braided brake lines is awesome braking overkill!
Adapting the rear wheel meant for a Harley to the Valk’s shaft drive is a little more complicated, but I think I’ve got a good plan, even though the Valk’s final drive housing comes quite far into the center of the bike, so there isn’t much room for a cush drive.
We’ll see.
I’ll keep you guys posted, even though a new-to-me sweet red 1800 Valk is taking up my time now, too.
Sherm
