So I started down this path a couple years ago when I was racing my RED winner V-Max LOL
Things got pretty good, but the need for better gearing was still obvious.
I flew to Florida to ride another V-Max a couple years back, and it had an optional hybrid 17" rear wheel. This wheel had been on this bike and run 8's with a mob of nitrous rammed down it's throat!
I got a good personal look at it, and it was fine. Perfectly acceptable to me.....well, particularly since I knew the history LOL
The person running the show had no business, so we had to keep the giant 18" slick on there "so the bike would stay upright" LAMO!!
Anyhow, when we came to a break, my old man and I jumped in to swap out the rear wheel to the hybrid 17" with a Shinko Hookup Pro 190/50-17 on it.
The first pass was an immediate improvement in gearing, handling and most importantly E.T.
We let a tiny bit of air out of the tire and hit it again, still only a little harder off the line, and it was dead smooth and the best E.T. ever! The gearing WAS the obvious answer - duh! A few more harder launching passes and we would have killed the 8 second barrier, but the big **** runnin the show went bonkers when "my idea" worked and went way off the deep end. He got disrespectful and I told him to stick it in he ***, and me and the old man packed up and left.
Immediately after coming home I hatched the plan to make my own 17" hybrid wheel. I had studied the one in Florida. It was good, but there was room for improvement. The spokes were attached at the rim, so the original V-Max spokes were still intact, and welded to a heavy billet rim. Certainly acceptable, but not as light as it could be.
I dreamed. I sketched. I studied........then I started buyin stuff!
I bought an R1 wheel, and another stock V-Max wheel. I measured, schemed, designed, made jigs.
But I got busy drag racin my Harley instead, and the V-Max started collecting dust LOL
A few weeks ago though I got the bug again. I dusted her off, drained the fuel, replaced the battery and dug out the old R1 wheel.
I made a plan and went for it. I won't give all the trade secrets here, but it's not rocket science. Go ahead and call me crazy, stupid, *****, death-wisher, whatever. I have been fabbin for 30+ years and I know what works and what don't (trust me, I have learned a lot the hard way LOL).
With all the bits machined to shear perfection, they fit together with a light press. In fact, they fit so good I could have put the wheel on the bike and rolled it around......without welding!
Instead, I put it on a trueing jig and made sure nothing was more than half a millimetre out either way. The factory used R1 rim was not mint, but then again, none of them are. They are however better than the naked eye can see. The whole time I tacked and welded the thing with a 350amp Miller Dynasty I kept spinning it on the jig to test for true. It stayed exactly where I had put it!
The icing on the cake....... I got the rim alone balanced at a local shop. It took only 40 grams to make it perfect! Even better than that. I spooned on a used Shinko 190/50-17 and took it back for a re-balance. This time she came up with only 20 grams
Hell, that was less than half of what is on my regular rear wheel! Annnnd.... the whole wheel weighs 1.2 KILOS less than a factory 18" wheel!
Now, despite my own confidence(or lacking fear of death), I decided it would be most prudent to "Stress Test" this ******* wheel in an environment that would at least minimize the casualties
Behold - Dyno Day was approaching at the local Harley shop!
So a quick $100. got me a spot on the test bed. I didn't bother to tell the operator what was going on, or he might have been gentle on the thing - and wouldn't that just defeat the purpose?
Well, he strapped it down and put the power to it! Surprise!! Just noise, exhaust fumes and horsepower!!
No carnage. No cracks. No wobbles. No issues at all. And of course no Harleys that could even touch it on the dyno LOL - and they have some pretty tough Harleys around here!
Anyhow, I used to share all my crazy fab crap on the StarVmax site, but somebody from Florida is running the show over there
View attachment 69134 View attachment 69136 View attachment 69137 View attachment 69139 View attachment 69140 View attachment 69141 View attachment 69143 View attachment 69144 View attachment 69145 View attachment 69146 now......LMAO! So here I is.
Enjoy. Make fun. Say prayers. Buy life insurance on me. Say your hail Marys. Do what ya gotta do.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to have her at a track again soon so I can "Collect more data". I'll keep ya posted when I do.
