Anyone ever use a zx7 rear wheel?

[great white]

I'm having a devil of a time dealing with the guy who says he has a gsxr wheel for my FJ. It's cheap ($50), but I'm not sure if he's going to actually get around to selling. Issue is shipping it. Says he'll ship it but nothing I suggest seems to suit him. I'm sure if someone showed up at his door and picked it up he'd be fine with it, but that's going to be as expensive as all get out. After spending nearly 140 bucks on a front fzr750r front wheel ($30 for the wheel, $75 to ship and exchange rate killed the rest), I'd like to keep costs down on the rear.

The local wrecker doesn't have any gsxr wheels he's willing to part with. But he is wrecking a zx7.

The wheel has the three spoke curved look and its 17x5.5 with a 170 tire. He wants 150 bucks for it with sprocket, spacers, axle, etc. Not sure if he'll move any on that, but it does come with a good radial already on it. It would do for rolling the bike around the shop in winter if nothing else.

I know I can make the zx7 wheel fit (have lathe and milling attachment) but I'd rather just bolt in the gsxr wheel.

Has anyone used a zx7 rear wheel before?

Any "gotchas" waiting for me if I go with the zx7?

[great white]

Used the forum search and nothing came up.

Used Google site search and found this :http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=3388.15

So its been done before and doesn't look too hard.

I think I'll keep it as a fallback plan to the gsxr wheel....

[Derek Young]

I have one on my 91 FJ. It was installed by the previous owner. He modified the FJ brake caliper bracket and used stock FJ caliper and torque arm. Not sure what he did with the axle spacers.
When I switched over to the FZ1 swingarm I had to make all new spacers. I had a GSXR caliper laying around, so I made a caliper bracket and modified the torque arm to suit. It was quite a bit of work, but it is a close match for the YZF600R front wheel.


Derek

[great white]

I have one on my 91 FJ. It was installed by the previous owner. He modified the FJ brake caliper bracket and used stock FJ caliper and torque arm. Not sure what he did with the axle spacers.
When I switched over to the FZ1 swingarm I had to make all new spacers. I had a GSXR caliper laying around, so I made a caliper bracket and modified the torque arm to suit. It was quite a bit of work, but it is a close match for the YZF600R front wheel.


Derek

Yessir, saw your posts on it.

But I think I'm going to wait to find a GSXR rim to match the front FZR front rim a little better.

The ZX7 isn't a bad match, it just seems like the GSXR is closer.

I did a little time just up the road from you in Comox.

[great white]

So I grabbed a couple pics off the internet and did a little photochoping.

GSXR rear with FZR front:



ZXR rear with FZR front:



I'm almost thinking the ZX7 rear is a better match for the FZR than the GSXR....

[FJmonkey]

Consider that the wheels will be partially hidden by a sprocket & chain (rear) and or rear brake rotors (front & rear) and only seen when standing still. They both look good, but are you displaying your FJ or riding it? Do what feels good to you, then ride it!!!

[Country Joe]

Good comparison of the wheel spoke profiles. And in my view, the more swap options that we have for 17" wheels, the better.

Joe

[great white]

Consider that the wheels will be partially hidden by a sprocket & chain (rear) and or rear brake rotors (front & rear) and only seen when standing still. They both look good, but are you displaying your FJ or riding it? Do what feels good to you, then ride it!!!

riding it.

But I'm also one of those guys who know in the back of my mind something isn't just how i want it or that it looks just a little off.

color matching front and rear will also make the small differences less obvious.

I think I'm going to do a 360 and go for the ZX7 rim. It has the added bonus of it being local and being able to pull it right off the swingarm so I can have all the bits and pieces that get lost otherwise.

I'll also be able to get the matching brake caliper bracket, brake stay arm and caliper.

I think it's worth paying a bit more than the 50 buck GSXR wheel to get those matching pieces. Sure, it's 100 bucks more, but I know what I'm getting and no shipping costs or hassle. Heck, even if I was to drive to PEI (where the GSXR wheel is) I'd have to pay 45 bucks for the bridge/ferry toll. Add in gas and maybe a hotel and it's actually cheaper to buy the ZX7 rim.......

[FJmonkey]

Consider that the wheels will be partially hidden by a sprocket & chain (rear) and or rear brake rotors (front & rear) and only seen when standing still. They both look good, but are you displaying your FJ or riding it? Do what feels good to you, then ride it!!!

riding it.

But I'm also one of those guys who know in the back of my mind something isn't just how i want it or that it looks just a little off.

color matching front and rear will also make the small differences less obvious.

I think I'm going to do a 360 and go for the ZX7 rim. It has the added bonus of my being able to pull it right off the swingarm and have all the bits and pieces that get lost otherwise.

I'll also be able to get the matching brake caliper bracket, brake stay arm and caliper.

I think it's worth paying a bit more than the 50 buck GSXR wheel to get those matching pieces. Sure, it's 100 bucks more, but I know what I'm getting and no shipping costs or hassle. Heck, even if I was to drive to PEI (where the GSXR wheel is) I'd have to pay 45 bucks for the bridge/ferry toll. Add in gas and maybe a hotel and it's actually cheaper to buy the ZX7 rim.......

Getting all the bits in one shot is worth a little extra. I had to shop for my GSXR rear bits and got lucky, no off year parts and return shipping, but it cost extra as I was paying a la cart. Sounds like an easy decision. Post up when you have it installed.

[great white]

Well, the deed is done:



1989 ZX7, 17x5.5, has a 170 on it but it's at the end of any useful life. It will do to keep the bike mobile in the shop though.

Turns out he wanted another 30 bucks for the caliper. I was going to say stuff it as I have lots of rear calipers on the shelves and something would likely fit. But then I though for another 30 bucks and a guaranteed fit it was worth it.

I got everything that hangs off the axle and the bracket stay to the frame. Took the brake hose just because it was easier to pop it off the master. Kept it from leaking all over the van on the way home too.

So $180 all in. Sounds expensive for an old used part, but I'd pay that much and more if I were to piece it together and pay for shipping over and over.

I did get one pleasant surprise though. Everything I could find online was saying the ZX7 had a 25MM rear axle. Rather than hunting down what could be odd sized bearings to make it work on a 20MM axle, I had just resigned myself to having to take the FJ swingarm adjusters off and ream them to 25MM. I didn't like the thought of modifying the adjusters, but its a pretty minor thing to fit the larger wheels.   

Once back in the garage, I grabbed the vernier and checked the axle just so I could put the last nail in that coffin.

It's 20MM!

Should slot right in (with some custom spacers).

[Bones]

So $180 all in. Sounds expensive for an old used part, but I'd pay that much and more if I were to piece it together and pay for shipping over and over.

$180.00 is very cheap with everything included. I payed $100.00 just for a gsxr rim, then I had to source all the parts for it. Total cost fitted on the bike, $900.00.

[Country Joe]

I would have been thrilled to pay $180.00 for everything on the axle when I swapped  the GSXR wheel. I didn't have much more than $210.00 in the project, but there was a bunch of waiting on parts just to find out the vendor did not know what year bike they were parting out. Just wondering, are you going to go with a 170 or a 180 wide tire?

Joe

[great white]

I would have been thrilled to pay $180.00 for everything on the axle when I swapped  the GSXR wheel. I didn't have much more than $210.00 in the project, but there was a bunch of waiting on parts just to find out the vendor did not know what year bike they were parting out. Just wondering, are you going to go with a 170 or a 180 wide tire?

Joe

Probably a 170. That's 20 MM up on the stock size and the stock size has plenty of grip for my uses. A set of modern radials should be more than enough for me without having to go "fat". Larger tires are just more weight and rolling friction for me.

I'm eyeballing a set of Battlax BT20's on my VF750F that I put F2 rims on. I snapped those rubbers on the CBR/F2 rims a while ago and they're nearly new, mileage wise. Would be nice to use them and wear them out instead of them rotting out.

Front is a 120, but the rear is a 160. The largest recommended rim with for the 160/60 17R seems to be a 5.0

I know it will "work" on a 5.5, but I don't want to end up with too flat a profile and making the steering slow and fat feeling.

It's slow steering enough already, don't need to make it worse....

[FJmonkey]

I run a 180/55-17 on my 17" x 5.5" with no steering issues or chain clearance problems. The Conti Motions that I currently run seem narrow compared to the Dunlop Q2 rear, I needed a 170 Dunlop  to clear the chain. My front is 17" x 3.5 with a 120/70-17, when both are fresh the steering is very neutral and light. Here is my last rear tire... 2700 miles.

[X-Ray]

Ahh I see your last tyre had that trailing edge feathering going on Mark. My current one has it bad, and its only half worn, if that.