It's not rocket science but your life might depend on it.

The best way to do this is get a rim and spoke kit from Buchanan Spoke and Rim in CA.  They will custom drill the rim and make custom spokes for the application.  It will be expensive.

A less expensive option is using MikesXS.  The XS650 rear hub is nearly identical in diameter to ours.  This was confirmed by Buchanan, and the spokes Mikes sells are within a millimeter of what they would make for the LS650.  The rims are predrilled for the this angle but they are not drilled always drilled perfect so you may have to make adjustments.

I used MikesXS and the drilling on the rim I got was terrible.

But I'm still alive and the wheel is still semi-round.  



I think the point is that you get what you pay for.  Buchanan is probably twice as expensive as MikesXS.  But it will go together in half of the time and the end result will be much better. Plus you'll get exactly what you want.

Tire needs to stay just under 26" unless you are modifying the swingarm.

gtenginerd wrote on 09/23/20 at 08:38:39:


I have attached a fitment chart that shows what tire size is suitable for each rim width.  If you install a wider tire the tread surface will become rounded and wear out the center faster, and there will be tread on the sides that you can never lean over far enough to use.  If you go with a narrower tire the tread profile will be flattened out.

For the Ryca Cafe I believe the best combination may be a 120/90-18 tire on a 18x2.50 rim for the rear....and a 90/90 tire for the front on a 18x2.15 rim.  You can use the stock 19" rim as well....I like the reduced diameter and quicker handling of the 18" diameter front rim and tire.  The 100/90 tire is wider, taller and heavier than the 90/90 tire and to me it just looks a bit bulky in comparison to the rear tire.

I am currently running a 130/70-18 tire on a 18x3.50 rim and it works and looks good - but the Savage really doesn't need a tire that wide for handling and the 120/90-18 tire would provide equal performance.

Here is a thread that was started when I was exploring the tires for the Cafe' bike - unfortunately all the photos that were attached are gone as TinyPic shut down.  The photos showed how a 130/70-18 tire tire is rounded excessively and creates a tread profile that wore out in the center in 4,000 miles (Pirelli Sport Demon).  I now get about 6,000 - 8,000 miles by using the 130/70 tire on a 3.50 wide rim.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1435340395