Hi guys. For many years I have looked at newer bikes (I have a 1987 model) and wanted their rear wheel width. Now it was time to change tyre and I took a quick look at www.blocket.se (where everyone is selling everything in sweden) and found a Kawasaki ZXR750 rear wheel for sale. It was sold wearing a Pirelli Diablo 180/55-17 tyre in good shape for only 2000skr (about 300$ or 20€). I managed to include break calliper, rear axle with all bushings and a good 45 tooth sprocket in that price.
In advance I checked that the Kawasaki had the same bearings which means that I could use the stock CBR rear axle. And that it uses 530 chain as the CBR does. I also made sure that it had the same offset for the sprocket for the chain to align correctly.
The mounting was quite easy. I machined the outer bushings because the Kawa swingarm were about 5 mm wider.
The stock CBR brakes can not be used because of the smaller size of the Kawa disc. The rear calliper on the ZXR is mounted hanging so an new torque transfer rod had to be built and an new mounting point had to be welded to the singarm.
A couple of hours of work and the fat 40mm wider rear wheel were in place.
I even had it to the annual inspection (which in sweden is every 2:nd year for bikes) and they had nothing to say about my rebuild.

 

Thanks for posting this with the pics H_H. This is exactly the kind of swap I've been looking for on my '88. It looks awesome, let us know how it rides. Others seem pretty concerned with the lean-ability, since the engineers at Honda new best which tire size to use back in '87 & '88.

 

Nice, very nice fitment ! You'll feel the difference in the handling - a bit "heavier" than before -
the steering geometry changes a bit, but you now have ALL THAT RUBBER he he (looks good too)

 

One more thing H_H. What year Kawa was it on?

 

It was from an 1989 Kawasaki ZXR750.

 

The question I should have asked to begin with is what made you think to look at a Kawasaki zxr 750? I have the Honda manual for my bike, but it seems at times that most folks on here have a vast library. Concidering how many bikes have been built, and how often each model changes from year to year it seems overwhelming. Or did the neighbor just wreck his Kawa, and you thought to yourself "you know self I think that wheel may fit my bike"?

 

Go to www.Blackbears.ru - they have a vast library of bike manuals you can download - ignore
the cyrillic writing - most are in English.
also www.mrcycles.com - full microfiches for all Hondas, with part numbers, other bikes too
Get busy.....................

 

Hey HH, what's with the twin tail pipes under the tail light there? Photoshopped?? Looks sweet!

 

Reply to liquidengineer:
Something like that. As I said I needed a new tyre and thought "hmmm, maybee I should go for a wider wheel". I found the ad for "ZXR750 parts for sale" and that included a rear wheel with good rubber.
You can say I bought the first wheel I found with the right sprocket aligment, axle diameter and 530 chain. And as a bonus it was already the right colour.
It could have been a Suzuki wheel or some other wheel. I wanted it to look like the stock CBR wheel wich the ZXR did.

 

Reply to tallenuf:
No the pipes are for real. It is the same story as with the wheel. I needed a new exhaust because the stock were falling apart inside.
Why not a underseat I thought and bought some 2" exhaust parts and built it.