Dear forum members,

I am a new member, but I have been reading this forum and learning from it for more than 6 months. Thanks for all the valuable information. I have never seen a straight - swap front wheel guide showing how to fit an easy to find 3-spoke wide 17 inch front wheel on a K, so I decided to develop my own method.

Choice of model:

Why Kawasaki Ninja 636? - This bike has 25mm front axle. Not very common. Actually I even used the BMW original axle at first! It sticks out to the right (when you are on the bike) but still works.

By choosing a 25mm axle wheel I eliminated the need for converting the axle, or bearings or fabricating spacers for the new wheel to fit the axle, or if the diameter of the axle is less than 25mm - fitting it to the forks.

Only one problem left - brakes. The method I developed retains the original brake rotors, calipers, front end and their position.

All you need for the conversion:
Kawasaki ZX636 Front Wheel, with the original bearings and axle.
2 custom spacers to fit the BMW rotors and the new wheel. 5 hole pattern for the wheel, 10 bolts to fit the disc to the spacer. You need an additional small 3mm spacer between the wheel and the left fork leg.

Pictures:

Thank You for a straight forward swap to suit modern rubber.

interesting! What wheel have you got on the back?

88KE wrote:interesting! What wheel have you got on the back?

18x4.5J BMW wheel

Awesome mod! A bit of filigree wouldn't be out of place there, either.

Another way to go is to use a 292mm diametre Japanese brake disc (mid-'80s Suzuki), drill four new holes at correct spacing from the original five holes, and fab the appropriate 8mm offset spacers. The calipers are 4 piston Brembos from an R1100GS, the master cylinder is a 20mm unit from a K1100RS along with the Throttle Bodies. This IS an 18" wheel using a 110/80ZR18 tyre, however.

Two Wheels Better wrote:Awesome mod! A bit of filigree wouldn't be out of place there, either.

Another way to go is to use a 292mm diametre Japanese brake disc (mid-'80s Suzuki), drill four new holes at correct spacing from the original five holes, and fab the appropriate 8mm offset spacers. The calipers are 4 piston Brembos from an R1100GS, the master cylinder is a 20mm unit from a K1100RS along with the Throttle Bodies. This IS an 18" wheel using a 110/80ZR18 tyre, however.

Mine is a 17 inch 3.5J wheel with a 120 wide Michelin Pilot Power.

Yeah, that's good rubber. I've a 17" K1100RS 3 spoke front wheel and Marzocchi fork assembly which one day will make its way onto the front end of the old girl. For now the two 18"-ers do the job. My vintage bike, as you prolly know, had the narrow Y-spoke wheels initially and while they were adequate, modern radial rubber makes it a whole new handling game, as well as having a far wider (pardon the pun) array of tyres to choose from.

Nice, thanks for the info. I've been wanting to put on beefier tires myself