jd666

^^ your ignorance is pardoned, but again, comparing bike alloy wheels to car wheels has a difference.

a bike alloy wheel will crumple in the event of a crash which wouldve otherwise transferred the force of impact thru the front suspension to the rider via the handlebars.

and i already mentioned, it was told to me by an engineer in yamaha, so thats the source. no literature available.

__________________


My offerings to the gods of speed -

- KTM Duke 200
- Yamaha RXZ 5 speed

gixxer_junkie_m

The points made by Pinaki and Burnyourrubber are very valid and true .A simple explanation would be to ask yourselves as to why dirt track bikes use wire wheels instead of alloys .As far as stiffness is concerned till recent ,even after the advent of alloy wheels ,most of the pro racing teams in our own road racing championships were using spoked aluminium wheels for the group B bikes.Ask an engineer he'll tell you that structurally the spoked wheel is much stronger than a alloy wheel.
Yes alloy wheels do have their advantages ,but in our indian context ,they are there for the "cool" factor than any practical reasons .Ofcourse alloys do make sense when combined with tubeless radial tyres.Then again in our indian context and purely for practicality with regard to their usage with our bikes ,wired wheels win hands down.
Regarding the claims made by yamaha i am sure its nothing more than a spin-doctoring effort to explain away the thinness of their wheels .Rather than saying they are thin for their performance aspects ,they have said it as being crumple zones Like the other things we get to hear from the indian bike makers ,it'd be wise to take it with a pinch of salt.It's pretty much the same as the claims heard before about the tank shrouds on Fiero and CBZ being designed to keep the engine cool and what not.

nx1vir

My new FZ-S which is not even month old and has covered just 700kms. NOw i see Tyre pressure loss and bend in back alloy. My local dealer says it is not covered under warranty. Anyone experienced same issue?

Pinaki

".A simple explanation would be to ask yourselves as to why dirt track bikes use wire wheels instead of alloys ."

Also you'll see that all Indian manufacturers are pushing alloys only in cities and urban areas with good roads . In rural areas they don't dare because they know they'll get too many warranty claims and complains . I was told this by HH official when I insisted on wire wheels for my new bike in July .In fact he was finding it difficult to have wire wheeled bike shipped to my dealer in the city , so he even suggested I collect it from a rural ( far from me ) dealer and he'll have my booking money transferred , no problem .
In the end I pestered HH so much they shipped two wire wheeled bikes to my dealer after two months wait . The dealer admitted that it was the first spoke-wheels they had sold in last two years !
In fact they are profiting from the demand of cast wheels because they are cheaper to make , plus they sell the cast-wheel bikes for few thousands more money than spokes , moreover they are almost certain of a few spare wheels sales within the lifetime of the bike .

Where I live in Calcutta/ Salt Lake city , come monsoon and all roads turn into dirt-track with hard huge slushy potholes only .

@ NX1VIR , tubeless wheels retain air insides while the tire edge merges perfectly with the two rim lips . If its leaking , this seal is gone bad because of bend or deformation . Usually the only lasting solution is an expensive replacement of the wheel . No company will give warranty on wheels or tires or rims etc "wear-out" parts . I often wonder which are the "non-wearing" parts of a bike that they cover , after reading their warranty .
I made a conscious decision for spokes considering my city road conditions or that I may have to travel else where also , whereas we have no one to sue for bad roads in here .
Cheers , Pinaki .

sriram_r

Friends, some time ago i had mentioned about witnessing an accident on a broken front wheel of a R15,

That R15 red is currently lying in the same SVC where i am visiting to get the services for my gladiator. Upon enquiry, the manager claimed that the rider was injured to the extent of fracturing his one hand plus some bruises here n there and was doing absolutely fine. He told the wheel had taken up the huge pressure and saved him as he was doing a 100 plus in the flyover where it happened.

Now after coming to know this episode, one can agree that an alloy wheel can act as a crumple zone during an emergency.

freesoul_sj

hi to you all

recently i found that there is a dent(bend) of about 1.5inch on the rear wheel because of which the air is leaking, after scrutinizing everything i am left with three ways

1. To put tube in the tubeless tyre - (No)
2. To get it replaced - (can go for this)
3. To fix it up with a engineer very famous in delhi i.e. AJIT SINGH & SONS, had words with some alloy guys in delhi and they recommended his name, being the only professional guy. now friends i need your suggestion about the same issue. i am preferring the repair being it a minor. Replacement is my second and last option.

thanks in advance

__________________
700 kms

Love to call myself "free soul on my BIRD"

Best Regards

SJ

vikram kumar

its anyday more safer to opt for replacement

flyingJian

Guys i learnt it hard way after a crack on the Alloy wheel.

I ride RTR180 and because of riding her on type of terrains and this results in a slight bent in rear wheel(crashing in pot holes in high speed).

Checked here and there a found that the slight bent in alloys wheel can be fixed, but senior members here as well as SVC people cautioned me not to go for this, instead get a new one.

But to save some cash, i went ahead and checked in Karol Bagh and found a shop for this. And the f**k*r used hammer to fix the bent.

After a lot of hammering one of the spoke cracked in two pieces and came out. The shithead than welded it, painted and said there wont be any probelm with the cracked alloy wheel and he have fixed everything

And the top of the broken alloy wheel he also was not able to put the tubeless tyre back on it and put a tube to fix it temporarily.

There is now more bent in the rear wheel after all this bent removal process.

All in all only a though came in mind "I am F****d".
Now i am riding a bike with cracked(welded) rear alloy wheel. Although m looking for a change soon

Total monitory damage for all this
450(labour charge+tube+welding)+ 3700(will be for a new alloy wheel)+ 1900(will be for new tyre)+ 5 hours of torture while waiting there.

So guys i am requesting you all, learn my mistake and dont go for an alloy wheel repair better get it changed.

my1000cc

"an example is when you hit a pothole at a good speed and your wheel breaks into small pieces, what will happen is that you will be thrown off and land on the road causing severe injuries. at the same time if the wheel gets bend there is atleast a possibility of steering the bike out of danger[FONT=verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"[/FONT]

I am sure the kind of pothole & good speed you are talking about, even the best of spoke wheels cant take it and more over what are the possibilities that a guy will be able to steer with a bent wheel (that too in panic situation)

Alloys and spokes have their own advantages, we cannot clearly identify which is better of the two, by just mere assumptions/ liking.