Alloy Rims on a Scrambler?

Neducati

Neducati

Two Stroke
Has anyone switched out their chrome steel rims for alloy rims on their Scrambler? Were you able to retain your stock spokes or did you have to replace them? Where is a good place in the USA for alloy rims? Has anyone used Excel rims? Did you retain the stock sizes?

Thanks.

Ned
 
DIRK

DIRK

750cc
bmw has used alloy rims on the air head and oil head series for many years with no ill effects. and ice is correct buchanan's are the people to work with. you can change your rim sizes to take advantage of a wide variety of aggressive off tarmac tyres.
 
sweatmachine

sweatmachine

moped
A guy on Trat swapped his stock Scrambler wheels for Thruxton aluminum wheels. It looked great, and he said it handled much better. The Thrux has 17/18" wheels vs the Scram's 17/19" which would lessen the rotational inertia and make it steer quicker. If you want to keep dual sport tires, you might have to stick with the 17/19" combo though.
 
A

Aussiebikerdave

Scooter
I fitted Excel alloy rims front and back to our 09 Scram using the standard spokes. The weight saving was approximately 1.3kg per rim (2.86lb). This might not seem like much but if there is any place to remove weight off a motorcycle, the best place is the unsprung parts including the wheels. But... if there is anyplace on the wheel to reduce weight it is at the outer edge, which is either the tyre or the rim because this also has the benefit of reducing the gyroscopic forces which effect the ease of directional change as well as reducing the effort required to accelerate the wheel to top speed and conversely, to slow the wheel from top speed. Therefore fitting lighter rims has much the same effect as increasing the engine power by a small amount. I saw some adjusted dyno calculations done with a CBR1000RR fitted with carbon wheels and the equivilent power gain was in the order of 10hp on this motorcycle.
BTW, the 45T alloy rear sprocket also reduced the weight by exactly .5kg. My wheels were rebuilt by Link International in Brisbane. Cost was approx $800 Australian dollars.
Scramblerpics004.jpg

Scrambler019.jpg
 
Last edited:
Neducati

Neducati

Two Stroke
Dave, the Excels look great on your Scrambler. Thanks for your post.

Did you stay with the stock size rims and use the stock Scrambler tires? Did you reuse your stock spokes, or install new ones?

Ned
 
F

Fire Escape

moped
Maybe

GuyM said:
With aftermarket alloy rims can we go tubeless?
Click to expand...


Usually any spoked wheel will still require running a tube. There are exceptions, some companies can/do offer sealing to make them tubeless, BMW makes tubeless spoked wheels but I have no idea if they can be laced to Scrambler hubs without lots of redesign/machine work. Trials bikes generally have spoked tubeless wheels but not usually being street ridden they may not mind needing to add air pressure on a regular basis, or may not need to since they use 5 - 10 psi anyway.

Bruce
 
blacktiger

blacktiger

Scooter
Fire Escape said:
BMW makes tubeless spoked wheels but I have no idea if they can be laced to Scrambler hubs without lots of redesign/machine work.
Bruce
Click to expand...

The odd thing about the BMW system is that the spoke tension is adjusted at the hub end. So to fit them onto the Scram would involve completely new hubs.
Also strange that they don't fit this system onto the new F800 series. Or, indeed, any of the chain driven bikes. weird.
 
Last edited:
D

davenoseyparker

moped
Scrambler rim options

I spoke to reputable BMW agent on this subject and he said that the GS outside spoked rims were to heavy and over engineered for the F800 range.
Of course what he probably meant to say was they cost to much to fit to a budget bike.

Knees in the breeze:wave:


blacktiger said:
The odd thing about the BMW system is that the spoke tension is adjusted at the hub end. So to fit them onto the Scram would involve completely new hubs.
Also strange that they don't fit this system onto the new F800 series. Or, indeed, any of the chain driven bikes. weird.
Click to expand...
 
A

Aussiebikerdave

Scooter
Neducati said:
Did you stay with the stock size rims and use the stock Scrambler tires? Did you reuse your stock spokes, or install new ones?

Ned
Click to expand...

Ned, we used the stock spokes on the same sized rims and replaced the Bridgestone Trail Wings with Mitas EO9 knobbies. Works great.

As we speak I am having some new 17" wheels made up for roadracing. We are using a 5" Excel rim (rear) on a spare set of EOM Scrambler hubs and will be fitting up 160/70x17 and 120/70x17 Conti race tyres.
 
A

Aussiebikerdave

Scooter
Aussiebikerdave said:
Ned, we used the stock spokes on the same sized rims and replaced the Bridgestone Trail Wings with Mitas EO9 knobbies. Works great.

As we speak I am having some new 17" wheels made up for roadracing. We are using a 5" Excel rim (rear) on a spare set of OEM Scrambler hubs and will be fitting up 160/70x17 and 120/70x17 Conti race tyres.
Click to expand...

Re the above, here's the 3.5" on the front fitted with a Conti 120/60x17 Race Attack (street).
2009_1221Scrambler0008.jpg
 
em_dot

em_dot

Street Tracker
Looks great. How'd you get that front fender to work?

I would have expected a big ole' gap.
 
DIRK

DIRK

750cc
the bmw rim tightens at the rim. they are built by machine and use 40 not 38 spokes. you might get bucannans to lace them but they are not a quick and easy job.
 
DIRK

DIRK

750cc
bmw did not go with the tubeless as the 800/ 600 gs series is more off road oriented, you want to be able to run lower pressures without popping the bead as on a tubeless. there are guys running tubes in the tubeless rims to resolve this issue.weight is not an issue. retail for the 800gs wheel =1268.00 1200gs rear =972.00
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top