Not at all! The parts from Mikes XS are fine. For me, one of the good things about motorcycles is their minimal nature. There is only the hardware that is absolutely essential there. So it doesn't take much of a failure to produce very unpleasant results. Fortunately, most of the hardware has evolved into reasonably foolproof machinery that even handled poorly seldom results in a serious problem. Building wire wheels is a whole bunch easier than most people think, but they do need to have all the correct parts to be put together as a reliable and safe assembly. I think it may not be obvious to a first time wheel builder that an unsafe condition may be present due the components not being correct. The problem is trying to assemble wheels and specifying the parts yourself if you lack the experience and expertise. Fortunately, this only happens if you actually design your own wheels. If you have wire wheels to start with, you can fearlessly replace the rims and spokes as long as rims are the same diameter. Nearly all 18" rims will use the same spokes, and the ones that don't will be pretty obviously different. The only difference is the angle the holes are drilled, and in the main, most rear drum brakes are close enough in size that a rim drilled for a rear drum will work for most other rear drums. Likewise for rims drilled for much smaller disc brake front hubs; most hubs are very close in size. So for example, a rim drilled for a rear 650 Yamaha will work great for a CB350 rear hub. But you have to have the spokes for the CB hub because the slightly larger Yamaha hub will use spokes that are slightly too short. But the drilled angle will be so close it won't matter. You would have problems if you wanted to say, lace up an old GP drum brake in the front because the diameter is so large even a typical rear rim won't have enough angle on the spokes. So go ahead and do it yourself. Just make sure you get a "rear" rim for the back, and a "front" rim for the front if you have a disc. If you buy spokes that are not specific to your application, just make sure they are EXACTLY the same length as stock. If you had an XS650, you know you would be getting the exact parts from Mikes. For a different bike the rims are easy enough, but researching the spokes is tricky considering Mikes does not give spoke dimensions. I guess that is part of what you pay for from Buchanan's - they will spec any wheel there is. If you buy stock replacement spokes from Honda and the appropriate rims from Mikes, I think you will have no problems and probably really enjoy building your own wheels! One last comment though - if you end up with stainless spokes AND nipples (many aftermarket nipples are not stainless even shipped with stainless spokes) religiously put anti-sieze on the threads or you can have a really REALLY bad experience!
