Bent My Front Wheel Yesterday

[ThomWV]

West Virginia roads are hard to beat, unfortunately they are great at beating motorcycles. I hit a pot hole yesterday that bent my front wheel. The tire didn't blow out, which was good because I was about 100 miles from home at the time. This is annoying as hell. Good thing its going to rain for the next couple of days; that will give me time to find a wheel, get it here, and get it on, hopefully before the weekend.

The one thing I have noticed after spending a couple of hours searching around on the web, that is that there are a lot less custom wheels available for bikes than you might imagine. The only ones I've found that don't look like they belong on Ben Hur's Chariot cost more than my first house. Fortunately take-offs are cheap on E-Bay.

If anyone's got any suggestions for a nice clean custom wheel, no skulls, daggers, or sculpty-scoopy shit allowed, I'd be interested is hearing about it. I want to stay with a 21" and keep my stock front fender which pretty much mandates it be a 2.15" rim.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. You could try Craigslist

in addition to ebay.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcy/668850106.html

[HamstersFromHell]

2. I was just daydreamin' of "old school" wheels after reading your post...

Used to love 2 different wheels...

Invader 5 spoke mags for custom choppers and Lester wheels for bikes which tended to look closer to stock. (Used to have Invaders on my massively long Triumph chopper ages ago.)

Did some Googling and lo and behold, there's a company making old school Invaders again! But damn, they are proud of 'em. :(

http://www.jpcycles.com/productgroup.aspx?GID=2C48B7DD-5E93-4354-AD08-230E0F00E3A8&brand=chica

I see Performance Machine bought out Morris Mags, so if you prefer something that looks like the old Harley mags from the mid to late '70's/early '80's you might like them. Supposedly PM is still making them for a lot of different bikes.

[ThomWV]

3. I like them pretty simply myself

I have a Deuce with the solid aluminum (17") rear wheel. I think the 19" satin finish spoked aluminum (10 spoke I think) wheel they used on the Sportsters would be a nice match, but that would mean relocating my fender down but that paint cost me way too much to be drilling holes in.

Here's the paint, see what I mean?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Great paint job. Is that the front wheel that got bent?

How much is a new rim? It's not a huge job to lace a wheel. It is a job that I'd "farm out" to a mechanic. I relace wheels for my bicycle, I don't think I'd try it for a big scooter, way more stress.

[ThomWV]

15. I think you can pick them up for around $30

Its been a lot of years since I laced and trued a wheel and truth is I've only ever done one of them. I'd have someone who knew what they were doing true it but it wouldn't bother me to lace another one. As it works out I won't have to do either. There are always a few low mile used wheels for sale on E-Bay at very reasonable prices; take-offs from guys who went to custom wheels. I was looking pretty hard at a custom 80-spoke fully chromed wheel, then it occured to me that the extra money would be better spent on gas.

[Haole Girl]

4. When I say I know how you feel, well...

I think I do. Hope you find a new wheel, at a reasonable cost, soon!

:hi:

Here's what I did to mine:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. I did exactly that to my wheel.

I deflated the tire, took off the wheel, laid it on a block of wood, hit it with a sledgehammer til it was pretty straight.

Then I rode on it for a few more years. It never seemed to affect the ride. Eventually I got a new wheel.

Did you get a new wheel yet?

[guitar man]

8. GMTA

:hi:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. I don't know about "great minds"

"cheap som'bitch" may be a better description.

Or, as I like to think of it, "fiscally responsible"

:rofl:

edit to add: If I had a "great mind", I'd have gotten wheel and tire insurance, like KC2. That's smart.

[guitar man]

13. hehe

Guilty as charged on the cheap SOB thing. Or just broke :(

I think you have to buy a brand new bike to get that wheel and tire insurance, I've never had one of those.

Hell, until I bought this sporty I'm riding, I don't think I've ever bought a bike that ran at the time of purchase,not that I remember right now. I always had to haul 'em home and fix 'em up. :D

[Haole Girl]

9. Luckily, we have the wheel & tire insurance...

it hasn't come in yet. But I might try that... to keep it as a spare! Thanks! :hi:

[guitar man]

7. you might be able to straighten it out

mine looked almost that bad, here's what it looks like now:



It still has a bit of a flat spot, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't affect the ride. I've had it up to about 105 and no wobbles :evilgrin:

I dismounted the wheel, let the air out of the tire, supported the rim on wood blocks and went to work on it with a rubber mallet, and a hammer and wood block. I just had to take my time and flip the wheel over often since both sides of the rim were bent.

[Haole Girl]

10. I can't even tell!

Thanks... that is very encouraging! :hi:

[guitar man]

11. it's hard to see in the pic

but the wheel still has a pretty good flat spot. Damn railroad tracks :(

I'm going to run out the tire I have on it and when it's time for a new one, I'm going to go from a 21" to a 19" wheel anyway.

[ThomWV]

14. Rail Road Tracks! Maybe that's it. I've been calling it a pot hole but I really didn't know

Now that I think about it I hit a set of RR tracks real hard somewhere just west of Romney. I was thinking it was a pot hole because I hit plenty of them too, but the truth is I was stopped for personal reasons when I noticed it and wasn't really sure where it happened other than that it wasn't that way when I left the house several hours earlier.

That picture with the dent could have been taken of mine - exactly the same degree of damage. Like I said, I rode it 100 miles on home like that and was giving a lot of thought to the sledgehammer method of straightening myself. I've got two wheels lined up, one from a guy on another web site and one that I have a bid in for on E-Bay. One way or another I'll have a new wheel next week sometime. I took the bike to my son's house because of the heavy rains that are passing through. I guess I'll go bang the hell out of the rim tomorrow. I suppose proper decorum dictates that you lay a block of wood on the rim before you unload with the 10-pounder. Jesus, this is gong to hurt; William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson will either turn over in their graves or stand and applaud - not sure which.

[guitar man]

16. It wasn't that hard

it wasn't that hard to straighten mine out. After I removed the wheel from the bike, I put it up on the work bench and supported the wheel from underneath with some blocks cut from 4x4. I deflated the tire, but didn't dismount it. As I remember, I started straightening with a large ball peen and a wood block, I didn't hit the rim directly with the hammer, and finished it off with a rubber mallet.

I got taken sort of by surprise when I hit the tracks. I had crossed at the same place about 30 min before in the southbound lane and it was smooth going that way. When I crossed going northbound in the oher lane, oh boy...BIG surprise :(

good luck!

[HamstersFromHell]

17. They'd applaud...

Owning (and using) a BFH has always been the hallmark of a Harley owner. :)

[guitar man]

19. no shit

...especially if you ever owned a Shovelhead. The BFH was tool #1 on that tool list :D

[ThomWV]

18. Happy Ending: Got a wheel on E-Bay

Found a 1,000 mile take-off in Ohio. The guy said he would get it to UPS tomorrow, that means its actually possible for it to make it here by friday. One can only hope. I went ahead and ordered a new tire for it too, a Metzler 90-90 this time. The tire that is on it (Avon Elite III) was about 2/3 gone anyway and I doubt that the big bang did it any goood. I've been meaning to give a Metzler a try, so I figured now was about as good a time as any.

I'm still going to bang it straight tomorrow. You never know when the sun might come out.