Chalo
100 TW
Ellou said:I got the bike in a trade and didn't do my research for how difficult it was to switch to moto rims. I've been seeing a lot of people in here do it and multiple youtube videos of people doing it so it didn't seem like a big deal.
It's not that big a deal-- if you're already familiar with building either bicycle or motorcycle wheels. It's a fairly high skill operation that even many pro bike mechanics hand off to specialists.
Consider for a moment that the angles, ground clearance, and steering geometry of a bike aren't accidental, and all those things change if you switch wheel diameters because you don't like the look of what you have. Maybe the effects are benign or even desirable, but likely they are not.
Can you fit a suitably fat tire in the rear swingarm of your bike? How similar is the outer diameter of the wheel you want to use to what the bike was set up with originally? How much ground clearance would you have with the new wheel when the suspension is fully compressed?
If your misgivings are only aesthetic, maybe you can switch your 26"x2.n wheel to 24"x3.n, while keeping bicycle rims, tires, spokes. Moto wheel parts usually weigh 5 times or more what the corresponding bicycle parts weigh. That will not only make your bike a heavy pig and shift its balance, but screw up your suspension tuning by multiplying unsprung weight.
If you want your bike to look more like a motorcycle, are you mentally prepared to register and insure it as a motorcycle if it attracts the wrong kind of attention?