Can I take my stock (16x3? {1992 Heritage Classic"})rear rim's hub and spokes off and swap them onto rim that is 16x4 or 16x3.5? Or will that difference in width screw the whole thing up? Let me know. Thanks guys

 

Yes you can change your rim for a different diameter and/or width, however I would expect a wheel builder will use new spokes and nipples, not the old ones. You want a 'new' wheel after all!

I am not sure there is much advantage to going to wider rims. The stock front tyre is MT and as happy as can be on a 3" rim. As for the rear, the widest tyre you can get in with your belt is an MU or 140/85. An alternative is a 140/90, but when I used a 150/80 (next size up) on my own bike I had to go to a narrower belt.

 

Yes I want to run a 150. I was going to put a chain and sprocket drive on it and do away with the belt all together. Let me ask you, when you put the 150 on with the narrower belt, did you have to get narrower pullies? And that 150 will fit on a stock 16x3 rim?

 

Glenn, we're talking to each other on two threads here! You don't need a different front pulley. That is much wider than the belt and will drive the belt from anywhere across it's width. The rear pulley does need to match the belt width, as it locates the belt on the front pulley.

I haven't ridden a bike with an exposed chain since the 1970s and regard them as dynosaurs! The merits of a belt are well worth sticking with IMHO. You may be able to get a narrow pulley for your early hub. The only difference between early and later pulleys is the diameter of the central hole, that locates it around the bearing housing, which is bigger on later wheels. The bolt hole pattern is the same.