Lester wheels and 20mm axle search

I have a set of Lester wheels on my '75 Z1 (19" disc front and 18"drum rear) . Just wondered what they might be worth. I've already replaced the front and want to replace the  rear with an Akront spoke rim that I have. A bit lighter. The bike has been modified for vintage racing. KZ1300 forks, frame bracing, and a Suzuki swingarm. I need a 20mm axle for the Akront and outside dimension of the swingarm is 11 1/4". any suggestions?
  Jerry

They can go for silly money to the right buyer, mostly in Japan they are hot property over there , i own a set of kz900 and am holding on to them for a bit, here is a an early set for a Z1 (even more rare as the rim lip is broken in seven sections and not continuos in later Z1 rims) yours could fetch a bit south of this on a good day, slap them on ebay with a high reserve and shipping world wide, if you get north of a 1000 then good times.

Thanks for that. I had no idea. Every year at Mosport a Japanese fellow has asked me if I wanted to sell the Lesters. Back in 2003 I did some stone work on a buddies house and he gave me the Z1 and $600 and the Lesters were on it. I changed the front Lester for something lighter but the rear has been on for over a 120 races. Seven Canadian tracks , mid Ohio ,Roebling and Daytona. Been a great bike with a bullet proof motor.
   Thanks. Jerry.

Youre welcome, im not sure what stone work you did but im sure the 600 bucks and the lesters alone may have covered it and the last 120 races and 19 years on the bike was a bonus.

I got rid of all of this stuff in January. It did sell for $1100 on ebay, But with everything? It was quite the deal. But I had all of it for years, so it was all profit for me. It was a Japanese fellow that bought it in Florida, I shipped it to FL, but his account was in Japan! So the evil bastards at eBay nipped me for another % due to International fees transaction! WTF? again.
I was still ahead of the game!
www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/923252688556654

Wow Kzonly thats a hell of a deal for the Japanese man, a lot of meat on the bone for him, like the deal that could pay his mortgage for a month and feed his family to boot, to put it into perspective the wee set below are going for $4890 (he may or not get it) and thats just for the wheels, add the cost of a complete set up and he could take his family on a wee holiday too. Amazing that in the states they are not in that high regard and Japan they are gold plated (and coloured gold too).

Does anyone know if the 18" rear drum Lester wheels were ever available in a 3" width?  Or were they only ever available in 2.15"?  What about the 16"?  Weren't they available in 3"?  I think I saw the 16" X 3.00", but for disc brake.
 

16 x 3.5 on my Z900 drum brake lesters mate, thats a 150/80 rear tyre on there comfortably.

We have a 16" Lester w/drum that measures 3" bead-to-bead.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

I believe "DOHC" Jim, might still have a Lester double weld rim welded up by the Infamous "PUPPET" from Buffalo from his Dad's old drag bike. Not sure. We talked about a few years ago.

Does anyone know if the 18" rear drum Lester wheels were ever available in a 3" width?  Or were they only ever available in 2.15"?  What about the 16"?  Weren't they available in 3"?  I think I saw the 16" X 3.00", but for disc brake.

The standard Kawasaki wheels were 18 x 2.15" and 16 x 3", and most of the Lester Kawasaki wheels I've seen (I watch Ebay a lot) match those OE sizes.  I have seen some 18" x 2.5" wheels for sale, so Lester did make wheels that were wider than stock.  I don't recall ever seeing a 18 x 3" wheel for sale, but I will say that even if Lester did make that size they must be pretty rare and it would be hard to find one.  Also, the drum brake wheels seem to be less common than the disk brake wheels.  It seems like sales really picked up for Lester in the late 70s.  Most of the wheels I've seen are stamped '77 or later, and by then the current KZ1000 models were using rear disks.  So finding a wide drum wheel would be needle & haystack territory.

I believe "DOHC" Jim, might still have a Lester double weld rim welded up by the Infamous "PUPPET" from Buffalo from his Dad's old drag bike. Not sure. We talked about a few years ago.

Yes, my dad had his Lester wheel widened. Puppet did just one side first, and my dad ran it that way for a while. Eventually he and a buddy did the other side. It's about 5.5" wide now.  I believe this was done by removing the flange and part of the center section of a donor wheel, and then welding that wide section onto the original Lester center. So I think three wheels total were combined to make this one. If you happen to have three Lester wheels, and don't mine cutting up two of them, and also have a really good welder buddy, you too can have a wide Lester.   

 

good evening, have 18x3 Lester drum with this TT100 Dunlop, on 74 Z1 bought in 1977, form Orient Express