Bent wheel

ktrsd · May 2, 2007

I recently bent the front rim on my 06. The dent is on one side of the rim and about an 1/2" indentation. The tire bead stayed on and I was able to make it home ok. Question is this - After bending a wheel should you replace with a new one or have the old wheel re-trued. A new wheel runs $340.00 while I can have the wheel trued for $150.00. Any sage advice would be appreciated.[/size][/size]

Silent · May 2, 2007

My dime says replace it. It's one of 2 contact areas you have with the ground. Hate to see a break because of stressed metal.

My 2 cents

Barabus · May 2, 2007

Agree with Silent. Replace the wheel with new is what I would do.

kaitsdad · May 2, 2007

ktrsd said:
I recently bent the front rim on my 06. The dent is on one side of the rim and about an 1/2" indentation. The tire bead stayed on and I was able to make it home ok. Question is this - After bending a wheel should you replace with a new one or have the old wheel re-trued. A new wheel runs $340.00 while I can have the wheel trued for $150.00. Any sage advice would be appreciated.[/size][/size]

I agree with Silent and Barabus. Replace it.

Contact Mike Kolstad at University Motors - reference the FJRForum discount. You may be pleasantly surprised.

m_kolstad AT yahoo.com.

Geezer · May 2, 2007

+1 on U Motors.

If you replace the wheel you should also consider new wheel bearings.

FJRMGM · May 2, 2007

it's up to you but many a mile has been driven/ridden on a repaired wheel.

J.P. · May 2, 2007

I couldn't disagree with replacement more! No way would I replace it if I were you. I know a ton of mototcycle RACERS that use straightened wheels, and they ride the bike much harder than any of us may ever dream of riding the FJR.

There's a guy named Will Babb in South Carolina that straightened a wheel on my R6 with better than stock spec runout. As long as it isn't all kinds of cracked, he should be able to fix it for ya. And talk about reasonable!!!

I shipped my wheel to him, (10-15 bucks without the tire mounted to the wheel) and if I remember right, he charged me 65 bucks to straighten the front rim, and then he shipped them back to me with the same cost included. There were a couple bare aluminum spots on the rim from where it was repaired, but if you're worried about looks, you could afford to re-powdercoat it for the cost that you would pay for Will to straighten your wheel. I guarantee you that it will be worth your time to look into straightening the wheel.

Give him a call, and tell him that one of the guys from Minnesota sent ya.

Will Babb

Will's Rim Repair

5000 Old Buncombe Rd, Box 282

Greenville, SC 29617

864-787-1351

P.S. here's a couple searches from a couple other forums with all kinds of praise for Will...

Minnesota Sportbike Riders forum:

CLICKY

WERA racing forum:

CLICKY

radman · May 2, 2007

Sounds like you bent the lip, not the wheel, in which case I would repair in a heartbeat, and not worry a whit. A bent wheel, on the other hand, with excessive runout radially, or laterally, or cracking, is a different story.

Rogue · May 2, 2007

I would have no problem riding on a repaired wheel (Have done it, not on my FJR though).

luvtoride · May 2, 2007

I just ordered a new front wheel from University Motors. Their charge for the wheel... $241.60 & $20.00 shipping. By the time you finish w/ shipping costs to send your existing whell off, have it fixed & refinished & then sent back to you, you can have a new wheel w/o any chips, scratches, etc. for the above price. (don't forget to mention that you are from FJRForum) My mechanic told me that they remove bearings all of the time & don't necessarily need to be replaced... but if you've got considerable miles on the bike, it doesn't hurt to do it. Being that I have over 37,000 miles on the bike, I opted to replace the bearings & seals, also.

abarron576 · May 2, 2007

I agree with concensus. Replace the wheel. I had one straightened on a HOnd several years ago. It last about 200 miles before metal fatigue got it and I ended up trilering home.

J.P. · May 2, 2007

luvtoride said:
$241.60 & $20.00 shipping. By the time you finish w/ shipping costs to send your existing whell off, have it fixed & refinished & then sent back to you, you can have a new wheel w/o any chips, scratches, etc. for the above price.

I disagree... If he were to send his wheel off to Will, he could get it fixed for around $80.00 including shipping both ways, and then have it powdercoated for less than $100. That would cut at least $80.00 off the price of a new wheel. In no way am I trying to take business from U Motors, (I know a few people in Fargo that are frequent customers, and they rave about them) but repair will definitely save you costwise.

luvtoride · May 2, 2007

JP, I added some info... nothing more. If I didn't have the money to replace "my own" wheel, I suppose that I'd be looking into having it refinished.

In my case, I decided not to leave my front wheel to chance. This way there isn't any doubt of stress cracks or whatever could possibly happen.

I guess this topic is left up to personal opinion... like riding a plugged tire (which I've done more than once)

J.P. · May 2, 2007

luvtoride said:
I guess this topic is left up to personal opinion... like riding a plugged tire (which I've done more than once)

Absolutely. In no way did I mean to discredit your opinion.

:thumbsup:

mehaffydr · May 2, 2007

Last year I bent both front and rear wheel. I was not aware that they could be fixed. I got lucky and found a set of new wheels that someone on this board had purchased to get chromed and then changed his mind. So then I heard something about getting repaired and thought a extra set of wheels would be good to have. So I did some research and found this company. CLICK They were able to repair the rear buit the front was not repairable. The repaired rear wheel now a few thousand miles with no problems. Also there was no need to redo powdercoat as you could not hardky even see were it was bent.

So they only charged for the rear wheel repair so with shipping my total cost was 130.00

mdisher · May 2, 2007

If it's just the edge/bead area, this is easily fixed...

Last year during the BMWMOA rally both my dad and his buddy hit a pot-hole that was at least 3 feet across and a foot wide. Both bent the proverbial **** out of both their fronts and dinged the back.

(it was amazing the tire still remained on the rim if you ask me)

A local place sent his front out and it was fixed and looks like new for $55.00.

The rear still has a little ding in it and he'll have that fixed later.

ktrsd · May 2, 2007

[SIZE=12pt]The input on this site amazes me at times. My decision is to take the wheel to a reputable wheel straightener in Portland area that was recommended by one of the guys I work with. A few of you may know him, he races out at Portland International Speedway and his name is Shawn Roberti. He stated that he has raced many a lap on trued up wheels and has had no problem with them. He did state that if the rim had a crack in it to go ahead and replace it. I swear the yamaha dealers in this area are Mafia run. If they talk to you, its like they want to open your wallet and take there pick. the quoted price I got for the wheel was 340.00. another reason why I am going to check out having the wheel trued. My thanks again to all those who put there 2 cents in. Doug[/SIZE]

Heber Guy · Jun 3, 2007

Guys,

Check out this link. I have used them and they are great.

https://www.framestraightsystem.com/

Al

Bent wheel

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Bent wheel

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Who said FJR's don't do dirt?

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