Kz 1300 rear wheel on a 750 Spectre

Fred... the only difference is the Spectre has a gold painted rim, all others were black. So he'll still have to do something about the color, if matching is an issue. (just sayin')

Although the shaft drive does complicate matters, there are some VMaxs out there running some insanely wide tires. Perhaps a VMax rear drive could be modded to fit the KZ, though I seem to remember that the early ones were 16 and the later ones 17.

Did early Gold Wngs have 18 in rims?

fred1r wrote: Hi rons z, check out the kawasaki GT 750. They are definitely an 18" rear wheel shaft drive.(lots for sale on ebay).
failing that, if you did want a 17" wheel( as on the z13,) then the z1000 ST is the one.
both bikes had the standard 7 spoke mags, so will match your front.

I did a search on ebay and found a shaft driven 18" wheel in good condition. Thanks Fred!

TexasKZ wrote: Although the shaft drive does complicate matters, there are some VMaxs out there running some insanely wide tires. Perhaps a VMax rear drive could be modded to fit the KZ, though I seem to remember that the early ones were 16 and the later ones 17.

I would rather keep it simple and do as little as possible. The 18" shaft wheel I found in the U.K. will work. To fit a 130 or maybe a 150 rear tire will be determine if I can remove enough material from the shaft tube where the tire would make contact on the shaft.

fred1r wrote: Hi rons z, check out the kawasaki GT 750. They are definitely an 18" rear wheel shaft drive.(lots for sale on ebay).
failing that, if you did want a 17" wheel( as on the z13,) then the z1000 ST is the one.
both bikes had the standard 7 spoke mags, so will match your front.

Well, I found and purchased an 18" shaft wheel from Hairy breakers in the U.K. Once it was delivered and I unpacked it from the box I noticed two things. 1) It was 3/4 inch narrow than my wheel and 2) It was a DRUM BRAKE wheel. :ohmy: and my bike has rear wheel disc brake. I was so excited to find a 18" shaft wheel I failed to notice or ask if was a disc brake wheel and the width of the wheel? Well that wasn't a $150 well spent. So I'm going to look into having a wheel fabricated. I found a local CNC machining company that makes custom wheels for cars and motorcycles. wheelrepairtn.com/cnc-machining/ I want to keep the look of the original wheels, but have a one of a kind 18" shaft driven/ disc brake wheel 3.50 /4.00 inches wide. I will have to massage the swing arm and brake stay to make it all work.

The latest update.... The Kz1300 rear wheel will not fit . Although the wheel is a 17" the hub diameter is a about a 1/4 bigger and the brake disc will not align with the bake caliper. Having a custom wheel made at a local wheel fabrication shop is not an option since they don't have the capablility :blink:. So for now I'll continue to look for that elusive 18" shafty disc brake wheel :dry:

I think unless you happen to find that one guy who has done this swap, you are going to have to take your existing wheel off and make some comparisons.

Check wheel bearing kit numbers. These will tell you if they use the same bearings an thus shaft sizes. They may be the same OD and you can maybe swap in the correct size.

Next compare spline size and count. Use pictures on EBay to compare with the KZ1300 wheels.

Use Kawasaki.com parts diagrams to compare some of the drive line components and see where else they were used. They could carry over to your bike or to another bike that has more documentation for you to use for comparison.

Lastly look at brake rotor size and bolt pattern. Some aftermarket manufacturers and sellers on EBay give those dimensions so you could see if the OD and bolt patterns are the same or similar.

Then it simply comes down to opening your wallet and buying it if it looks close to try.You gotta pay to play as they say.

Either way, good luck and thank you for your service.

EDIT: Somehow I missed all your other replies!!! Ignore my info then....

Cory

Ronz, you've been sent a KAWASAKI GT550 wheel from the breakers (drum brake).
As I stated earlier, I've done an opposite swap years ago.
So I've checked this out for you.
The 'spectre' was the factory custom/cruiser for the American market.
The GT ( Grand Tourer?) was for the UK market.
the KAWASAKI GT 750 back wheel is a straight swap with the 750 spectre back wheel.
Order a GT 750 back wheel

fred1r wrote: Ronz, you've been sent a KAWASAKI GT550 wheel from the breakers (drum brake).
As I stated earlier, I've done an opposite swap years ago.
So I've checked this out for you.
The 'spectre' was the factory custom/cruiser for the American market.
The GT ( Grand Tourer?) was for the UK market.
the KAWASAKI GT 750 back wheel is a straight swap with the 750 spectre back wheel.
Order a GT 750 back wheel

Thanks Fred! I finally found a seller with a GT750 on ebay that provides international postal. The seller is in Bradford, West Yorkshire of the U.K. This time I made sure it's a GT750 shaft disc brake wheel. I should have it in about two weeks.

Bumping an ancient thread but whave ever happened with this Rons?

I'm also going down the shaftie road and switched my 18" gt750 rim to a 1000st/1100 shaft rim. It's 17" but only 2.5 wide vs 2.15 for the stock 18".

Reason for the swap in my case is I wanted to run the longer kz1000 swingarm (30mm longer) and it just bolt up better using the kz1000/1100 final drive. The final drive on the 1000 is bigger than the 750 so you need to run the one that matches the wheel you're using.

Now, the KZ1300 wheel would be nicer even though it's still 17, but it's 3" wide. So I'm wondering, did anyone figure out if the 1000/1100 shaft hub will bolt up to the 1300 wheel? Their hubs look the same size, but only a test fit will verify.

That being said, At 150 wide, the tire is already pretty close to the swingarm inside edges. I don't think you can go too wide on these swingarms. Perhaps an early goldwing or vmax swingarm can be used if it's the right length but wider. Then you run the kz driveshaft and match the final drive 4 bolt flange to the new swingarm bolt flange.

Any update on this?