Finding a used set of wheels

[Wintersdark]

I'd like to get a used set of compatible wheels so I don't need to change rubber twice every year and instead can just swap the whole tire and wheel assembly.  How can I tell which bikes use the same wheels?  Is there any easy way to figure that out?

Anyone have a good source for an inexpensive set?   

[BBB]

Only Tracer/FJ09 use exactly the same wheel according to parts directories, but that probably only refers to that specific design of spokes etc. There may be other bikes that use a compatible wheel, but I don’t know how you’d find out.

I bet the MT09 would fit, and there are plenty of those around.

[Wintersdark]

14 minutes ago, BBB said:

Only Tracer/FJ09 use exactly the same wheel according to parts directories, but that probably only refers to that specific design of spokes etc. There may be other bikes that use a compatible wheel, but I don’t know how you’d find out.

I bet the MT09 would fit, and there are plenty of those around.

Yeah, I'm wondering if that's the case.  FJ09/Tracers here are *extremely* uncommon bikes, but there's a decent amount of MT09 wheels kicking about (presumably when people upgrade to carbon fiber wheels?  Or just trash their bikes?  Who knows) ... But they're not cheap, so I'm fairly reluctant to spend that much to find out they don't fit.  

A new set of wheels is painfully spendy, particularly for something that's ultimately just a labour saving thing. 

[Guest]

It seems pretty ridiculous.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Guest

[Wintersdark]

Just now, chesterburnet said:

I t seems pretty ridiculous.

What does?  Getting a second set of wheels to swap back and forth?

 

[betoney]

25 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

What does?  Getting a second set of wheels to swap back and forth?

 

If it wasn't so expensive, I would like to do the same thing.  Many times I have used a set of tires to within  the last 1,000-1,500 miles of  their life and had an upcoming road trip coming in a week or so.  Once I have swapped a tire, I don't want to swap an old tire back on just to use the last 1,000 miles of tread, it would be nice to simply swap wheels when the need comes, or have one set of wheels with sport tires and one set with S/T tires.

[Wintersdark]

9 hours ago, betoney said:

If it wasn't so expensive, I would like to do the same thing.  Many times I have used a set of tires to within  the last 1,000-1,500 miles of  their life and had an upcoming road trip coming in a week or so.  Once I have swapped a tire, I don't want to swap an old tire back on just to use the last 1,000 miles of tread, it would be nice to simply swap wheels when the need comes, or have one set of wheels with sport tires and one set with S/T tires.

Exactly.  I mean, I get most people aren't going to be into the winter tire thing, but even with normal summer riding, I'd like to be able to have some high mileage touring tires and some sport tires.  Changing tires yourself is *hard* work, extremely labour intensive, and paying someone else to do it (at least here) starts at about $100 for both, with the wheels off the bike.  Makes it kinda prohibitive to swap tires just for a given ride... And is why I never have pure sport tires, though I'd love to give them a go.  

[koth442]

I'd love to have a second set of wheels. Super convenient. 

[trevinator]

i would love to see what a set of blurple wheels would look like on my galaxy blue fj. but there is only one on ebay right now and it has a pretty good gouge in it.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=fj-09+wheels&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=fj-09wheels

 

[Guest]

I can buy tires, remove my wheels, get them mounted and back on the bike within the same day. A 2nd set of wheels still takes the same amount of time to remove them, have them mounted and then reinstall on the bike. Except for people that put on 8 - 10 K miles annually, it gets done maybe once a year, excepting of course if you get sport touring tires that last 10 - 12 K which would make it every year and a half. You're not doing pits stops. It's still the exact same amount of work. You're riding skills are so refined that you need to go back and forth between sport and touring tires? For that I need to tie up money and space? I would use that money to buy suspension, heated grips, exhaust, cool mirrors, flash my ECU, different pegs, spools, better windscreen, sliders, custom seat, luggage, tank bag, luggage rack, wheel stripe decals, new rear set, better levers, track day, strobe tail light, led signals, carbon fiber body panels, tidy tail, cruise control, self cancelling turn signals, high performance brake pads, rear wheel adjusters, helmet lock, different handlebars, a common sense consultant.................... or I have a set of wheels sitting in my garage waiting for my annual tire change.  

Edited January 18, 2020 by Guest

[betoney]

1 hour ago, chesterburnet said:

I can buy tires, remove my wheels, get them mounted and back on the bike within the same day. A 2nd set of wheels still takes the same amount of time to remove them, have them mounted and then reinstall on the bike. Except for people that put on 8 - 10 K miles annually, it gets done maybe once a year, excepting of course if you get sport touring tires that last 10 - 12 K which would make it every year and a half. You're not doing pits stops. It's still the exact same amount of work. You're riding skills are so refined that you need to go back and forth between sport and touring tires? For that I need to tie up money and space? I would use that money to buy suspension, heated grips, exhaust, cool mirrors, flash my ECU, different pegs, spools, better windscreen, sliders, custom seat, luggage, tank bag, luggage rack, wheel stripe decals, new rear set, better levers, track day, strobe tail light, led signals, carbon fiber body panels, tidy tail, cruise control, self cancelling turn signals, high performance brake pads, rear wheel adjusters, helmet lock, different handlebars, a common sense consultant.................... or I have a set of wheels sitting in my garage waiting for my annual tire change.  

You missed the entire point of my reasoning that I stated previously.  If I am currently 3/4 through a set of tires and am leaving on a 3,000 mile road trip, I swap them out for fresh tires, what do I do with the tires that have 1,500 miles left on them? dispose of them.  If I had a 2nd set of wheels then I could swap back to the previous wheels for the remaining 1,500 miles of tread life.

An extra set of wheels doesnt take up much room, I already have a few sets of tires waiting, why not have them mounted and ready to go on a spare set of wheels?

[Guest]

I guess if you have the extra money.... go for it.

[Wintersdark]

3 hours ago, chesterburnet said:

I can buy tires, remove my wheels, get them mounted and back on the bike within the same day. A 2nd set of wheels still takes the same amount of time to remove them, have them mounted and then reinstall on the bike. Except for people that put on 8 - 10 K miles annually, it gets done maybe once a year, excepting of course if you get sport touring tires that last 10 - 12 K which would make it every year and a half. You're not doing pits stops. It's still the exact same amount of work. You're riding skills are so refined that you need to go back and forth between sport and touring tires? For that I need to tie up money and space? I would use that money to buy suspension, heated grips, exhaust, cool mirrors, flash my ECU, different pegs, spools, better windscreen, sliders, custom seat, luggage, tank bag, luggage rack, wheel stripe decals, new rear set, better levers, track day, strobe tail light, led signals, carbon fiber body panels, tidy tail, cruise control, self cancelling turn signals, high performance brake pads, rear wheel adjusters, helmet lock, different handlebars, a common sense consultant.................... or I have a set of wheels sitting in my garage waiting for my annual tire change.  

Here in Canada anyways, having a shop remount my wheels is $100+.  Yes, I could pull em, have the wheels changed, and reinstall them in a day - swapping wheels is very fast, and a shop can remount much faster than I can.  

I ride 15k+ per year.  That's a good set of touring tires.  I'm fond of Road 5's personally, and they're good enough for my summer riding.  However, I ride year round.  I have winter tires, so I need to swap tires twice a year *minimum* because if I run my winters above around 7c I'll burn through them extremely fast, while running the road 5's in -20c is pretty damn sketchy.  So, assuming changing tires twice a year that's $200/yr in cost.  

Now, yeah, buying a new set of OEM wheels for my Tracer is prohibitively expensive, but if I could find a low cost pair of say used MT09 wheels (assuming they're physically compatible) for say 300-400cdn?  That's two years of changes, and allows me to swap tires types quickly and easily.  I'd even go with marked up (if straight of course) wheels for the winters because they don't need to be pretty. 

So, yeah, that's the thread.  Hoping to find some cheap enough that it's practical.

[chitown]

I remount the partially used tires when the trip tires are eventually done. Less room and weight to store than a full set of rims. Have had spare rim sets for street+track as I use dot race tires on track and though legal on the street not a great idea. For the DRZSM had knobbies on 21/18 set plus the 17s with street rubber. Spare set just for a street ride would be a new one for me but why not? Would probably just keep an eye on ebay salvage yard sales.

Edit: I change my own tires so if it's the trip to the shop that's the issue would look into  doing my own changes before spare rims. The money saved on installs and rims is not insignificant if you go through a lot of tires. 

Edited January 19, 2020 by chitown

[Buggy Nate]

Then you need to have a set of discs on the wheels as well, or swap them over each time. Pads will take some time to wear in again to the different discs. They don’t all wear the same.

It really isn’t that hard to change tyres at home. It is all technique. I do both ends under a couple of hours taking my time on a manual tyre stand.