Looks nice but no ABS. You can read the 3 part article here.

Long Termer: V-Strom 650

Spoke wheels are a good thing. My wife and I, 2 up, hit a pot hole with the GS that had spoke wheels, no sweat. A couple guys with solid BMW rims had big dents in the rims.
Pricey mod but it sure looks good.

A great magazine article. I noted mention of the disadvantage that spokes have in the event of a puncture. It alluded to the wheel being removed for a repair of the tube and all the difficulty that incurred, particularly on the trail.

I recently restored my old Z650 Kwaka and re-spoked the wheels successfully myself. It occured to me after the job was completed and the wheel and tire were on the bike, that I could have made the rims air tight and thus operated the wheel/tire as tubeless.
Had I carefully sealed each nipple with silicone then adding the protecting tight rubber band prior to fitting the tire I think a tubeless tire would work, as the rim should hold air ok. If I had also fitted a tube, a puncture would have seen a slow loss of air instead as almost instant (and all the drama that causes) and a temporary repair would be the same for tubeless and much easier when on the trail.
If I were to have spoked wheels on my Strom ( I wish) I would try this route as I feel sure it would work successfully.

Saturn 5 ...... motorcycles, a balm for the soul.

Like it. Sealing spokes has been successful with some minor hiccups. If memory serves, the Super 10 has tubeless and spokes, since the spokes attach through a spine on the inside of the wheel. Bingo.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wp-c...crosser-05.jpg

Tubeless tires require more than an air seal at the spoke nipples. The rim has to trap the tire bead too. Without a bead seal, a sidewall hit by a wayward rock could drop a tire to 0psi in practically an instant. Tubeless tire setups need bead breakers for a reason.

__________________
Pat- 2007 DL650A was ridden to all 48 contiguous states. 2012 DL650A is just getting started.
Nicknames for posting ease on my part, Vee = all DL1000s. Wee = 2004-2011 DL650s. Glee = 2012+ DL650s

Interesting articles. Thanks for posting the links.

Both the BMW-GSA & the Yamaha Super Tenere have true tubeless spoked rims. It would be nice to be able to has these fitted on the DLs.

__________________
KJ

2012 DL650-ADV (Black), 2013 DL650-EXP (White), 2008 TW200, 2013 CRF250L (Member: AMA & IBA)

Ad-ven-ture: 1. an undertaking involving risk, unforeseeable danger, or unexpected excitement. 2. an exciting or remarkable experience. Trav-ell-er: 1. one who seeks to experience their world. 2. one who seeks to be immersed in other cultures.

Geez, $3k for some wire wheels?.....

I'll prolly just dump a bit of Stan's latex in my stock wheels and never worry about flats again.....mtb bike tech to the rescue!

__________________
"Side effects may include: Mild kidney explosions...Testicular cranberrying... And Rectal hallucinations."

What happens when it is time for new tires?

__________________
KJ

2012 DL650-ADV (Black), 2013 DL650-EXP (White), 2008 TW200, 2013 CRF250L (Member: AMA & IBA)

Ad-ven-ture: 1. an undertaking involving risk, unforeseeable danger, or unexpected excitement. 2. an exciting or remarkable experience. Trav-ell-er: 1. one who seeks to experience their world. 2. one who seeks to be immersed in other cultures.

Woodys wheel works has options for tubeless wheels. My personal pick would be Aprilia Caponard wheels. But Rad needs to sort out the ABS issue and make the hubs work with the stock rotors it if I'm even going to think about spending my money.

Woody has a thread over at ADV about the Rad hubs. I died shortly afer the ABS issue was discussed. I don't know if Rad will address this or not.

I enjoyed the article but I did notice that in part 2 they added $3345.19 in farkles. Part 3 saw an additional $3487.57. in U.S. dollars added to the MSRP of $8299 that brings the total to $15131.76 that is one seriously expensive DL650. and the ABS not longer works. Its nice but not that nice. For that kind of money I don't think a Suzuki 650 would earn my business.

__________________


States visited on L2 DL650A Adventure since 7-14-12