I need Help, Identifying These ???

[Benno #03]

Hey Guy's,
I need some help to identify these wheels.
All, I know so far is that they may be called Starlites.
If anyone know's who made them, who stocks them, etc.
Any info will be greatly appreciated.
Cheer's Benno...



tz stroker rep.jpgTZ replica.jpgcole2006.jpg

[BlackFZR]

They are similar design to the ones Dubs has/had on his Busa I think........

[D.J]

called Astralites, riveted wheels, commonly used early on TZ racers and other race bikes and later were made for a variety of bikes, early ones were weaker than later due to style and number of rivets used. I see them come up every now and then on ebay UK or Europe.

[Benno #03]

Hey D.J,
Thanks for the info, I checked ebay.uk and they had 2 auctions running.
I appreciate the knowledge.
Cheer's...

[D.J]

No worries, Forgot to add that I'd love a set for an upcoming purchase/project .

[Rastas]

They look a lot like the early cb 250 superdream rims, I have a set somewhere, I'll have a look later an post a pic.

[Benno #03]

Thanks Rasta's,
I would like to check em out.

[orangeflash]

looks a bit like these

[edmands_3]

cx500 rims are also similar - probably the same as the cb250

[D.J]

Hi Benno, this is from a guy that was involved in making them, the honda rims are probably not astralites as they were quite an expensive rim in their day.

"The Astralite wheel began life with twenty rivets as it was initially designed for the TZ250/350. As time went on and demand for the wheels grew especially for the TZ500/750 and Formula 1 P&M Kawasakis and Suzukis the number of rivets increased to 25 with the addition of an extra rivet at the top of each spoke.

Tyre sizes kept on getting bigger and the rim width to accomadate them increased so the next step was to increase the number of rivets to 40.

The very last modification made to the Astralite wheel was to increase the number of rivets to 45 for rear wheels only in the sizes 4.0" and above. This was mainley due to the increase in weight and power of modern road bikes (c1991/2).

Production of the Astralite wheel ceased in July 1992 and none have been made since (I know because I put the last batch together which went to Austria), if you've got them look after them because I really don't think there will be anymore made.

As regards the width of an Astralite Wheel, measure the inside of the rim wall where the side wall of the tyre sits. Very early front Astralites were 1.85" x 18 later this was superceded by the 2.0" x 18 as this size fits the tyre better. Astralite never made a 2.15" this was always 2.25" x18, again because this is a better fit for the tyre.

Sizes then go 2.5", 2.75", 3.0", 3.5", 4.0", 4.5", 5.5", and 6.0" all 18" diameter.
17" wheel widths were 2.5", 3.0", 3.5", 3.75", 4.0", 4.5", 5.0", 5.25", 5.5", and 6.0".

On the very latest wheels the rim width was stamped on the top of the spoke near to the valve hole and it includes the thickness of the material the wheel halves are made from, i.e. 3.53, this means it is a 3.5" wide wheel made from 3.25mm material, any other markings are purely batch numbers and pairing numbers for the wheel halves."

[brethren22]

i believe the honda rims which were similar were called 'comstar' rims. might be a cheap alternative if you're just after the look

[Benno #03]

Thanks heaps for the info guy's. I appreciate it.
I've checked out the Honda Comstars and they are an option. More like the poor cousin I suppose.
They may have to do as Astralites are proving hard to find. Persistence will have to be my friend for a while I think.
If anyone spots a set, please let me know.

[Rastas]

I have a set of these off the honda but im not sure if i want to part with them as i was saving them for a project. I think i might know where theres another set. Ill see what i can dig up

[Tbird tracker]

Brethren22 is right about the comstar rims, I had 2 of the CB250N's when they were new, the same wheels were also fitted to the CB250/400T's and CB400N's and various other Honda's of the time.
They don't look quite as trick as the ones your after but they are a good solid wheel.
Thats then in Rastas post above.

[rod]

Astralites look to be all the same, whereas the Honda Comstars have a few variations. The early Performance Machine spun wheels looked like them too, with that three double arm spoke design (without the rivets).