Topic: 400 wheel on a 550

[stereosilence]

Can I run a CB350/400 wheel on a CB550? You know, if you can't have the one you love, love the one you're with?

[crazypj]

Why?
Not a good idea as it's lighter construction, narrower and has smaller brake.
It's the same wheel as used on the 250/350 twin

[stereosilence]

Well, I happened to get one for really cheap...and by accident. You are probably right...get the real deal.

[crazypj]

550 front wheels are real easy to find, rears in good condition a little more difficult
I probably have one or two front's

[stereosilence]

Yeah, I have a rear hub laced to a (likely) HD rim with short spokes. At least one spoke is badly bent. Plus the thing is ugly. Why would you want to make a beautiful spoke wheel mostly rim?

[Bodi]

Getting a new proper size rim laced to your hub would be better (and a lot easier) than adapting a 400 wheel I think. And with new spokes and rim it would look a lot better than most used wheels I've seen.
I did find a perfect rear 750 wheel a few years ago: the bike was crashed (front end smashed) in 1976 with 318 miles on it (speedo broken but readable), the engine and a few other parts were sold then, and the remains stashed in a basement ever since.

[stereosilence]

I'm going to powder coat the wheel anyway. I don't know how to lace and true a wheel and I'm under the impression that spokes are expensive.

[crazypj]

If your powder coating you want to disassemble wheel to do it properly, doing a complete wheel is a Mickey Mouse way of doing things 
Spokes are around $40.00 off e-bay and $110 for stainless from Buchanan's (per wheel)
Building isn't difficult, many people have problems with truing though, that will cost from $20~$50 a wheel depending how long it takes (hint, old rims take longer to do, particularly when powder coated for some reason?)
 If you want black anodized rims they will get expensive, but, they will also look a hell of a lot better than any powder coated rim

[Jasondo]

My two cents on spokes... Spend the money on stainless. The cheap chrome plates eBay spokes will flake and look terrible real quick. Buchanan makes great spokes. Very helpfull guys over there.

[stereosilence]

I'm not sure what a "Mickey Mouse way of doing things" is, but if I take it apart, buy new spokes, buy a new rim, powder coat all the pieces, put the wheel together, and have someone true it, I'm up in the $200-$400 range. Whereas if I just get a true, but cosmetically inferior wheel and have it powder coated as a whole, I may be able to come in under $100 and still be able to sell my old setup. It would be nice to be able to go the awesome way on everything, but I can't afford it and I'm not sure there is a reason to start now  . Thanks for the advice.

[crazypj]

If you don't have cash you have to learn how to do things
 If your doing it for a quick turn over to make some money it's a different matter.
 If your doing it to keep,  may as well do it right