The wire wheels are going on my second Vision when it get here. I will put them on the 83 just to make sure everything fits and I'll be sure to post a picture. I think I just got lucky with my wheels. My friend Charlie is visiting from SF CA and when I mentioned I was going to lace up gold rims he said, "I think I've got 2 gold rims you gave me when you moved to Mexico." I knew I had some but I didn't remember who got them in the move. He's taking the hub home with him and he's got a wheel smith who will make the spokes and lace it up for me for a lot less than Buchanan. When I get the front I'll figure out the disks etc and let him take the hub back and get it spoked up. One less job for me.

I don't know where the writer gets his info but I've had as many slow leaks on tube type tires as tubeless and, as I said, I've never had a total blowout. I like tubeless because they're easier to repair on the roadside but I don't see any difference safety wise. I don't think I want to try sealing up the nipples myself until a lot more people have tried it. I've read several accounts of people with good results but it looks risky to me.

Are you going to put the wire wheels on the '83 restoration?

Mine doesn't have a metal plate. It has what looks like plastic glued on to the headpost. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't stand up to the heat of powder coating. I had to rebadge one of my Norton's and couldn't find to correct rivets so I just tapped the holes and used 10-32 (I think) round head screws. I later found a supplier for the little rivets but I've forgotten where I found them now. Ain't getting old fun?

We're lucky down here that we only have to worry about this stuff once. After you get anything registered it never gets checked again. True Story. I sold a V Strom to a guy and went with him to get it registered. He didn't have the right paperwork (a common problem down here) and was going to have to come back in a few days. He asked the young lady who was processing his paperwork, "So I can't ride the bike until I get this done?"

She said, "Oh no Senor. This is Mexico. If you get stopped just explain to the officer and they'll let you go."

Can you imagine an official telling you that in the US or NZ? I love living in a free country.

I've got the week off, so I installed my new stator with my middle daughter this afternoon.  She wants to be a motor machinist's mate in the Navy, so she did half of the work, which was really nice, actually.  Everything went well except removing the Philips screws from the old stator, which took my impact driver to get done.  We bought new screws to replaced the buggared screws that came out.  The rest of the repair went by the book.  I'm also pleasantly surprised to see I have no leaks too, despite having to use the gasket.  All in all, a success, and the battery was charging strongly afterward too.

Thanks, everyone!

Scott

There is a way to powder coat a frame without damaging the VIN plate.

I don't know what it is. I've seen the results but was too dumb to ask how how they did it, or I did ask and the owner could't tell me.

But, you can remove the plate, powder coat the frame, and order a new VIN plate here...

http://www.vin-plate.co.uk