Rear wheel backward compatibility - 6th,5th,4th gen to 3rd gen

Hi, I'd like to locate a summary of backward compatible rear wheels that will fit a 3rd gen 90-93. I'm sure this has been previously discussed, so if you can refer me to an earlier post I would be grateful. Got a '90 and a '93 and I see a lot of newer 4, 5, &6th gen rears for sale on Cl and eBay at very reasonable prices, but the supply of '90-'93 rears seems to have dried up. Thanks in advance.

Douglas

New member

1990 VFR750
1993 VFR750
2003 RC51
1992 Ducati 851

PS - I'd really love to buy a 90-93 center stand as well - seems like unobtanium these days... I'll post it in "wanted to buy".

 

You can still buy those wheels from a dealer as NOS but the last time I price checked it was close to $900 for a factory new one.

Keep looking in ebay, CL, and the forums they turn up. Took me less than a year to find mine. When you do find one don't hesitate or it will be gone.

 

Here you go: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/49611-rear-wheelstires-the-end-all-discussion/

1998 - 2013 VFR800 5 spoke wheels are all the same, just color changes. They don't bolt up to the '90-'93 without some small mods as described in the thread. The weights are not correct though, I know the 8 spoke is lighter than the 5 spoke.

Oh yeah, and I've been looking for 2 years for a c-stand on my '93, still looking.

 

Take note of the hub in the pics in the first post on the VFRD link. The 5/6 Gen hubs are flat, other than the wheel lugs. The 3/4 Gens are not, they have the nuts that protrude and their wheels have notches on the mating side of to accommodate them (see pic in VFRD post #37) So even though the bolt pattern is the same and that the older wheels work just fine on newer Gens, the opposite does not apply. In order for a 5/6 Gen wheel to work on your 3 Gen, you'd have to either notch out the wheel where it meets the nuts on the hub, or change the hub so that it does not have the protruding nuts on it. Also as noted in the post, the 4 Gen wheel is only 5" wide not 5.5" like the other Gens.

 

You do know that the 8-spoke wheel from the 3rd gen is highly coveted don't you? Owners of 4/5/6th gen bikes will pay $350+ for them. So if you've got two of them, well, let's just say that they will gladly trade you even up for it.