cast wheels?

was wondering if anybody here ever used cast wheels on their commando so as to be able to use tubeless tires.
probably a dumb question but i'm too old to worry about looking dumb anymore.

thx,
goo

Been wondering how these would look on my commando for a while now, but I'll never have the cash

several people here have them, there were a few sets offered for sale in the day. A set could be adapted to work fairly easily. Something off of a metric bike would be close. Axles, spacers etc would need to be made or modified.

Anything recent tends to be quite wide though, unless you get them off a small bike.
Look at the width on the back of that Victory !!
What would a 21" front do to the steering on a Commando ?

And tend to be heavy, surprisingly heavy, so may not improve the suspension action too much unless modified to suit....

I was thinking yamaha xs650 cast wheels. There are many others out there. something from a 500-750 class bike.

Do these take tubeless tyres ?
Lot of those early skinny mags still took tubes, so you haven't gained much ?

I used RD 400 Yamaha wheels on mine. I used them mainly because a friend of mine gave them too me. The Norton wheels I got with my basket case needed new rims and spokes. They were fairly easy to fit because the axle size is the same as the Norton. I think the 19" SR500 front wheel would have been beter than the 18" front from the RD that I used. I use tubless tires which makes the tires easier to fit. Tubeless tires seem to retain pressure longer than tube tires. I painted them gold. They look great.

I wanted to stick with the original tire width. I think Nortons handle really well with the narrow tires. Not many people can keep up with me around bends.

The rear sprocket on the RD wheel lines up with the gearbox sprocket within .040 when the wheel is centered in the frame. I ofset the wheel .020 to one side so the chain alignment would be within .020 which is about as close as I can measure anyway.

I have the MKIII rear swing arm so I use the Norton disk caliper. The RD disks are the same size as the Mk III ones so that part was easy too. I just put some spacers behind the disk. I used the RD speedo drive gears so I didn't have to use the smiths ones which don't last long. I had to use a ND speedo to match the Japanese drive gears. I found a nice black face one that looked right.

Everything on the front of the RD must be wider than the Norton because a lot of parts had to be narrowed to make them fit.

Nigel

Although I have never attempted it, I have been told that cast wheels from a Yamaha SR500 (19 inch front, 18 rear) are quite easy to adapt to a Commando.

I've seen a couple cases where Kawasaki cast wheels were adapted to Commandos, but I don't recall the year and model of Kawi. At least one of them was drum brake in the rear. Nicest would be if you could find a set of the original Morris Mag wheels that were sold for the Commando back in the day. As I recall, you had to convert to a disk rear to use them, but I could be wrong.

Ken

You can seal spoked rims with ordinary silicone caulk, install a valve, and run tubeless. Did it on a 72 Guzzi Eldo 6 or 7K miles ago, no issues whatsover. Loses air a lot slower than with a tube.

Yeah, I know the safety precautions. But I was running the same tire before the switch. If it didn't have the right bead profile to fit the rim, getting rid of the tube isn't going to increase the danger that I can see.

lcrken said:

Nicest would be if you could find a set of the original Morris Mag wheels that were sold for the Commando back in the day. As I recall, you had to convert to a disk rear to use them, but I could be wrong.

Ken

Click to expand...

crankshaft-t2741.html?hilit=eagan
second shot down. He bought them when he bought the bike new in the seventies.
My project is using 18"-19" Morris Aluminum mags" for 70's sportster.