Spoked wheel conversion for ?82 GS450L

[Guest]

Hi, my name is Chris. I?m brand new to the group✋🏻
I am restoring a 1982 GS450L that I bought two summers ago. The bike was already converted to a cafe racer by someone else. Lots of things were done kinda half-fast, so I decided to give the bike its due, and go over much of the bike. The one thing that is really something I?m having a hard time looking past is the alloy mags. Definitely not a fan. I?d like to swap them out for some spoked wheels, but I can?t find any resource that will give me a good donor bike to get the spoked wheels from. Any suggestions...?

[GregT]

Try the GN250 for the front. Not sure of the rear brake diameter on the GN but it may be an option too.

[Gorminrider]

There should be quite a few ...I'm not supre-interested in spokes but I'm sure I have seen them that fit your bike somewhere...The GS425 also came with the spoke option and there were even some 450s with spokes too...might have been the later versions I seem to recall.... 18" wheels I do believe, and these would probably suit nicely though likely narrower than the alloy 17 or 16 rims .... but you can do the Digging around CMNSL, or some other parts site--- they say there are 67 models that can use the pictured front wheel...

https://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gs425-1979-n-usa-e03_model16012/partslist/BLCK0025.html

www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gs425-1979-n-usa-e03_model16012/rim-fr-wheel_5531118420/

[LAB3]

You can find plenty of rims on eBay and if they're close by you'd save a bunch on shipping. I'd looked into going with different rims on mine, mainly to open up my choices for tires. One of the things you'll need to consider is the rear brakes, you'll need to swap out the entire brake assembly off the old bike not just the rim. Cross reference the part numbers off the fische, it's going to take a bit more effort to do that it first appears.