Hybrid rear wheel - the VR1 17 x 6"

[Onequickpuck]

So I started down this path a couple years ago when I was racing my RED winner V-Max LOL
Things got pretty good, but the need for better gearing was still obvious.
I flew to Florida to ride another V-Max a couple years back, and it had an optional hybrid 17" rear wheel. This wheel had been on this bike and run 8's with a mob of nitrous rammed down it's throat!
I got a good personal look at it, and it was fine. Perfectly acceptable to me.....well, particularly since I knew the history LOL
The person running the show had no business, so we had to keep the giant 18" slick on there "so the bike would stay upright" LAMO!!
Anyhow, when we came to a break, my old man and I jumped in to swap out the rear wheel to the hybrid 17" with a Shinko Hookup Pro 190/50-17 on it.
The first pass was an immediate improvement in gearing, handling and most importantly E.T.
We let a tiny bit of air out of the tire and hit it again, still only a little harder off the line, and it was dead smooth and the best E.T. ever! The gearing WAS the obvious answer - duh! A few more harder launching passes and we would have killed the 8 second barrier, but the big dick runnin the show went bonkers when "my idea" worked and went way off the deep end. He got disrespectful and I told him to stick it in he ass, and me and the old man packed up and left.
Immediately after coming home I hatched the plan to make my own 17" hybrid wheel. I had studied the one in Florida. It was good, but there was room for improvement. The spokes were attached at the rim, so the original V-Max spokes were still intact, and welded to a heavy billet rim. Certainly acceptable, but not as light as it could be.
I dreamed. I sketched. I studied........then I started buyin stuff!
I bought an R1 wheel, and another stock V-Max wheel. I measured, schemed, designed, made jigs.
But I got busy drag racin my Harley instead, and the V-Max started collecting dust LOL
A few weeks ago though I got the bug again. I dusted her off, drained the fuel, replaced the battery and dug out the old R1 wheel.
I made a plan and went for it. I won't give all the trade secrets here, but it's not rocket science. Go ahead and call me crazy, stupid, idiot, death-wisher, whatever. I have been fabbin for 30+ years and I know what works and what don't (trust me, I have learned a lot the hard way LOL).
With all the bits machined to shear perfection, they fit together with a light press. In fact, they fit so good I could have put the wheel on the bike and rolled it around......without welding!
Instead, I put it on a trueing jig and made sure nothing was more than half a millimetre out either way. The factory used R1 rim was not mint, but then again, none of them are. They are however better than the naked eye can see. The whole time I tacked and welded the thing with a 350amp Miller Dynasty I kept spinning it on the jig to test for true. It stayed exactly where I had put it!
The icing on the cake....... I got the rim alone balanced at a local shop. It took only 40 grams to make it perfect! Even better than that. I spooned on a used Shinko 190/50-17 and took it back for a re-balance. This time she came up with only 20 grams Hell, that was less than half of what is on my regular rear wheel! Annnnd.... the whole wheel weighs 1.2 KILOS less than a factory 18" wheel!
Now, despite my own confidence(or lacking fear of death), I decided it would be most prudent to "Stress Test" this bastard wheel in an environment that would at least minimize the casualties
Behold - Dyno Day was approaching at the local Harley shop!
So a quick $100. got me a spot on the test bed. I didn't bother to tell the operator what was going on, or he might have been gentle on the thing - and wouldn't that just defeat the purpose?
Well, he strapped it down and put the power to it! Surprise!! Just noise, exhaust fumes and horsepower!!
No carnage. No cracks. No wobbles. No issues at all. And of course no Harleys that could even touch it on the dyno LOL - and they have some pretty tough Harleys around here!
Anyhow, I used to share all my crazy fab crap on the StarVmax site, but somebody from Florida is running the show over there now......LMAO! So here I is.
Enjoy. Make fun. Say prayers. Buy life insurance on me. Say your hail Marys. Do what ya gotta do.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to have her at a track again soon so I can "Collect more data". I'll keep ya posted when I do.

 

[[email protected]]

Nice work.
What were the dyno results?

 

[Onequickpuck]

It didn't blow up LOL
The guy ran it in fifth gear (despite me asking him to run it in 4th), so it only showed 180HP in his dyno. His is pretty soggy though. I have been on it before and only seen 178 in 4th gear with the 18" setup.
Bike has been on a professional tuner's DynoJet 250 down in Brissy and made 209 on pump Gas.
I'll try to get it back to the track next month so I can get some real numbers. Gotta get a couple tanks of fuel through it too since it sat so long

 

[jdeitz1979]

Nice work! Looks great, how far offset is the rear wheel?

 

[one2dmax]

Nice looking work but as I recall the events in Florida unfolding a bit differently. And, the StarForum isn't owned (yet) but anyone in Florida either.

Back to the wheel. I think it looks like great work and i wasn't as worried about the wheel either but anytime you weld something you can induce stress fractures as well as returning the material to "O" condition. It will age harden a little but never get back to the original heat treat intended by the factory. Over time this will fail but that may be many years down the road. The bad thing is that you likely won't know until it fails catastrophically under use. I'd run it though! I do think it looked better then the UFO wheel.

I am in the middle of making a billet version but it still may not end up as light as yours when done.

I do need to get another rotor though lol. The one you made is getting pretty badly warped from the hard use!

Sean

 

[Onequickpuck]

Nice work! Looks great, how far offset is the rear wheel?

Wheel offset is factory. The distance from outer lip to the face of the hub is as factory. Because the spokes are not offset like the original V-Max wheel, they land on the left side of the hub. (as seen in pics).

 

[Onequickpuck]

Nice looking work but as I recall the events in Florida unfolding a bit differently. And, the StarForum isn't owned (yet) but anyone in Florida either.


Back to the wheel. I think it looks like great work and i wasn't as worried about the wheel either but anytime you weld something you can induce stress fractures as well as returning the material to "O" condition. It will age harden a little but never get back to the original heat treat intended by the factory. Over time this will fail but that may be many years down the road. The bad thing is that you likely won't know until it fails catastrophically under use. I'd run it though! I do think it looked better then the UFO wheel.

I am in the middle of making a billet version but it still may not end up as light as yours when done.

I do need to get another rotor though lol. The one you made is getting pretty badly warped from the hard use!

Sean

Thanks for the compliment Sean!
I wish you were actually there on that day. I suspect things would have gone dramatically different had you still been there.
I never implied any ownership of the StarVmax site.
I'm not an engineer so I can't really win a pissin contest about metallurgy. The heat affected zone may lose some of it's original strength, but being "less than original" isn't the same as fail in my experience. Many items are carefully engineered to exceed their required strength by 300-500%. I did however keep from coating the welded area - so I can carefully inspect it on occasion

Do you still have the 3mm rotor on there - running it on the street?
I make them in 5mm and 6mm for that Have put about 10,000 kilometres on my 5mm version with no issues.
I sorta save the 3mm for racing only - and try not to hit the rear brake LOL
Shoot me an email if you want one in 5mm. I have a couple arriving from the laser guy this week.

 

[one2dmax]

I do ride the bike where I want though it's only got about 500 miles on it currently. The thicker rotor will be more practical lol.

 

[YAMAHASAVAGE]

Wheel looks nice Mike, let me know when you mass produce.

 

[Onequickpuck]

Wheel looks nice Mike, let me know when you mass produce.

Thanks mate! It will look proper nice once I get it powder coated. Will run it a bit like this though so I can visual inspect for any signs of stress.

Will offer them one at a time - post testing. Essentially, you can buy the wheel after I have ridden on it for a while, then I'll make me a new one.
I ordered a used front wheel too so I can make a 17" match for the front. Won't need any welding. Just an ABS ring mount, bearing check, rotor spacing check. Real basics unless I discover anything odd.
Cheers!

 

[txfatboy]

As always, really nice looking work Mike. It's too bad getting a different final drive gear set is so difficult and expensive to get done. I bet it was fun flogging that Harley, but it's nice to see you back on the Max again.

 

[Bowaleed]

awesome, good job mike,

I hope it will work perfectly with your tests, and with your 30 year experience i’m sure this wheels will be the Best in the market.. good luck mate

 

[Onequickpuck]

Thanks guys!
I think I'll order the new Dunlop Q4 for it and see how it goes. Won't last long on the street, but will hopefully hook up at the track. I've long been a fan of the Shinko Hookup Pro, but the Q4 weighs a couple kilos LESS and is sticky as snot! It also has a better turning profile.

 

[Terry2015]

So I started down this path a couple years ago when I was racing my RED winner V-Max LOL
Things got pretty good, but the need for better gearing was still obvious.
I flew to Florida to ride another V-Max a couple years back, and it had an optional hybrid 17" rear wheel. This wheel had been on this bike and run 8's with a mob of nitrous rammed down it's throat!
I got a good personal look at it, and it was fine. Perfectly acceptable to me.....well, particularly since I knew the history LOL
The person running the show had no business, so we had to keep the giant 18" slick on there "so the bike would stay upright" LAMO!!
Anyhow, when we came to a break, my old man and I jumped in to swap out the rear wheel to the hybrid 17" with a Shinko Hookup Pro 190/50-17 on it.
The first pass was an immediate improvement in gearing, handling and most importantly E.T.
We let a tiny bit of air out of the tire and hit it again, still only a little harder off the line, and it was dead smooth and the best E.T. ever! The gearing WAS the obvious answer - duh! A few more harder launching passes and we would have killed the 8 second barrier, but the big dick runnin the show went bonkers when "my idea" worked and went way off the deep end. He got disrespectful and I told him to stick it in he ass, and me and the old man packed up and left.
Immediately after coming home I hatched the plan to make my own 17" hybrid wheel. I had studied the one in Florida. It was good, but there was room for improvement. The spokes were attached at the rim, so the original V-Max spokes were still intact, and welded to a heavy billet rim. Certainly acceptable, but not as light as it could be.
I dreamed. I sketched. I studied........then I started buyin stuff!
I bought an R1 wheel, and another stock V-Max wheel. I measured, schemed, designed, made jigs.
But I got busy drag racin my Harley instead, and the V-Max started collecting dust LOL
A few weeks ago though I got the bug again. I dusted her off, drained the fuel, replaced the battery and dug out the old R1 wheel.
I made a plan and went for it. I won't give all the trade secrets here, but it's not rocket science. Go ahead and call me crazy, stupid, idiot, death-wisher, whatever. I have been fabbin for 30+ years and I know what works and what don't (trust me, I have learned a lot the hard way LOL).
With all the bits machined to shear perfection, they fit together with a light press. In fact, they fit so good I could have put the wheel on the bike and rolled it around......without welding!
Instead, I put it on a trueing jig and made sure nothing was more than half a millimetre out either way. The factory used R1 rim was not mint, but then again, none of them are. They are however better than the naked eye can see. The whole time I tacked and welded the thing with a 350amp Miller Dynasty I kept spinning it on the jig to test for true. It stayed exactly where I had put it!
The icing on the cake....... I got the rim alone balanced at a local shop. It took only 40 grams to make it perfect! Even better than that. I spooned on a used Shinko 190/50-17 and took it back for a re-balance. This time she came up with only 20 grams Hell, that was less than half of what is on my regular rear wheel! Annnnd.... the whole wheel weighs 1.2 KILOS less than a factory 18" wheel!
Now, despite my own confidence(or lacking fear of death), I decided it would be most prudent to "Stress Test" this bastard wheel in an environment that would at least minimize the casualties
Behold - Dyno Day was approaching at the local Harley shop!
So a quick $100. got me a spot on the test bed. I didn't bother to tell the operator what was going on, or he might have been gentle on the thing - and wouldn't that just defeat the purpose?
Well, he strapped it down and put the power to it! Surprise!! Just noise, exhaust fumes and horsepower!!
No carnage. No cracks. No wobbles. No issues at all. And of course no Harleys that could even touch it on the dyno LOL - and they have some pretty tough Harleys around here!
Anyhow, I used to share all my crazy fab crap on the StarVmax site, but somebody from Florida is running the show over there View attachment 69134 View attachment 69136 View attachment 69137 View attachment 69139 View attachment 69140 View attachment 69141 View attachment 69143 View attachment 69144 View attachment 69145 View attachment 69146 now......LMAO! So here I is.
Enjoy. Make fun. Say prayers. Buy life insurance on me. Say your hail Ma

So I started down this path a couple years ago when I was racing my RED winner V-Max LOL
Things got pretty good, but the need for better gearing was still obvious.
I flew to Florida to ride another V-Max a couple years back, and it had an optional hybrid 17" rear wheel. This wheel had been on this bike and run 8's with a mob of nitrous rammed down it's throat!
I got a good personal look at it, and it was fine. Perfectly acceptable to me.....well, particularly since I knew the history LOL
The person running the show had no business, so we had to keep the giant 18" slick on there "so the bike would stay upright" LAMO!!
Anyhow, when we came to a break, my old man and I jumped in to swap out the rear wheel to the hybrid 17" with a Shinko Hookup Pro 190/50-17 on it.
The first pass was an immediate improvement in gearing, handling and most importantly E.T.
We let a tiny bit of air out of the tire and hit it again, still only a little harder off the line, and it was dead smooth and the best E.T. ever! The gearing WAS the obvious answer - duh! A few more harder launching passes and we would have killed the 8 second barrier, but the big dick runnin the show went bonkers when "my idea" worked and went way off the deep end. He got disrespectful and I told him to stick it in he ass, and me and the old man packed up and left.
Immediately after coming home I hatched the plan to make my own 17" hybrid wheel. I had studied the one in Florida. It was good, but there was room for improvement. The spokes were attached at the rim, so the original V-Max spokes were still intact, and welded to a heavy billet rim. Certainly acceptable, but not as light as it could be.
I dreamed. I sketched. I studied........then I started buyin stuff!
I bought an R1 wheel, and another stock V-Max wheel. I measured, schemed, designed, made jigs.
But I got busy drag racin my Harley instead, and the V-Max started collecting dust LOL
A few weeks ago though I got the bug again. I dusted her off, drained the fuel, replaced the battery and dug out the old R1 wheel.
I made a plan and went for it. I won't give all the trade secrets here, but it's not rocket science. Go ahead and call me crazy, stupid, idiot, death-wisher, whatever. I have been fabbin for 30+ years and I know what works and what don't (trust me, I have learned a lot the hard way LOL).
With all the bits machined to shear perfection, they fit together with a light press. In fact, they fit so good I could have put the wheel on the bike and rolled it around......without welding!
Instead, I put it on a trueing jig and made sure nothing was more than half a millimetre out either way. The factory used R1 rim was not mint, but then again, none of them are. They are however better than the naked eye can see. The whole time I tacked and welded the thing with a 350amp Miller Dynasty I kept spinning it on the jig to test for true. It stayed exactly where I had put it!
The icing on the cake....... I got the rim alone balanced at a local shop. It took only 40 grams to make it perfect! Even better than that. I spooned on a used Shinko 190/50-17 and took it back for a re-balance. This time she came up with only 20 grams Hell, that was less than half of what is on my regular rear wheel! Annnnd.... the whole wheel weighs 1.2 KILOS less than a factory 18" wheel!
Now, despite my own confidence(or lacking fear of death), I decided it would be most prudent to "Stress Test" this bastard wheel in an environment that would at least minimize the casualties
Behold - Dyno Day was approaching at the local Harley shop!
So a quick $100. got me a spot on the test bed. I didn't bother to tell the operator what was going on, or he might have been gentle on the thing - and wouldn't that just defeat the purpose?
Well, he strapped it down and put the power to it! Surprise!! Just noise, exhaust fumes and horsepower!!
No carnage. No cracks. No wobbles. No issues at all. And of course no Harleys that could even touch it on the dyno LOL - and they have some pretty tough Harleys around here!
Anyhow, I used to share all my crazy fab crap on the StarVmax site, but somebody from Florida is running the show over there View attachment 69134 View attachment 69136 View attachment 69137 View attachment 69139 View attachment 69140 View attachment 69141 View attachment 69143 View attachment 69144 View attachment 69145 View attachment 69146 now......LMAO! So here I is.
Enjoy. Make fun. Say prayers. Buy life insurance on me. Say your hail Marys. Do what ya gotta do.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to have her at a track again soon so I can "Collect more data". I'll keep ya posted when I do.

Let me know I love making the max quicker my familys passion is a 2015 Vmax that we are slowly making quicker . I bought a rim for 1880 from a good guy from Germany 17 inch cast aluminum rim same size tire you have and I'm going to weigh it after tire and its balanced but that idea sounds amazing. If you ever want to sell one or if you ever give up which I hope you don't let me know Im interested on making bike as fast as possible at strip. I'm definetly not the fastest but I just need help learning some knowledge how to get bike into low 9s or my dream 8s one day. Thanks Terry Taylor. Ultimategamer623. on youtube which has most of my runs.

 

[Vmaxrrr]

Great to see you're back into it, keep us posted on results!
Malcolm (NZ)

 

[Vmaxrrr]

Go the red ones!

 

[Onequickpuck]

Let me know I love making the max quicker my familys passion is a 2015 Vmax that we are slowly making quicker . I bought a rim for 1880 from a good guy from Germany 17 inch cast aluminum rim same size tire you have and I'm going to weigh it after tire and its balanced but that idea sounds amazing. If you ever want to sell one or if you ever give up which I hope you don't let me know Im interested on making bike as fast as possible at strip. I'm definetly not the fastest but I just need help learning some knowledge how to get bike into low 9s or my dream 8s one day. Thanks Terry Taylor. Ultimategamer623. on youtube which has most of my runs.

Thanks Terry!
The first VR-1 wheel is already spoken for. I am currently gathering components to make the next one I will post up some more pics of my first VR-1 in the coming days. It has been powder coated and looks brilliant
Cheers!

 

[Onequickpuck]

Great to see you're back into it, keep us posted on results!
Malcolm (NZ)

Sorry I missed your call the other day mate! Was actually Race meeting director at our All Bikes meet - so I was spread pretty thin for about 2 weeks. Just now getting caught up.

 

[Onequickpuck]

As always, really nice looking work Mike. It's too bad getting a different final drive gear set is so difficult and expensive to get done. I bet it was fun flogging that Harley, but it's nice to see you back on the Max again.

Hey Tex..... you aint got an old 6" back rim layin around the shed do ya? Is so let me know mate

 

[txfatboy]

Hey Tex..... you aint got an old 6" back rim layin around the shed do ya? Is so let me know mate

Hey bud. Yeah I still have the stock rear but I'm keeping it for now. If I ever loose my mind and sell my max the new owner will have a huge lot of pristine stock parts so they can turn it back to factory stock or keep it the way it is. BTW, how ya been?