Bent Wheel

[9Schwein]

I took my rear wheel into a local shop (that I've had success with in the past) to get a new tire mounted. When I picked it up the tire was installed backward and the wheel was bent, as if they had used excessive force with a tire iron. It was a slight but clear bulge about an inch long on the edge of the rim. The shop acknowleged the damage and tried to fix it (while they remounted the tire in the right direction ). The result is better, but still not perfect; there is still a slight bulge. I had a trip planned, and the wheel looked like it should hold air, so I mounted it and have put several hundred miles on it. It feels normal as far as balance goes, and has not lost any air. The shop says the damage is purely cosmetic and is not a safety issue, but they have offered to have a wheel specialist take a look at it and attempt a better fix. On the one hand I'd like confirmation that there is no hidden damage, on the other I'm a little worried about it coming back worse rather than better. Any thoughts on this? Anyone had similar damage?

[deilenberger]

Depends on who the wheel specialist is - but good ones can do some amazing work. I'd have it looked at - or demand a new rim from the shop that damaged it.. in either case - the $$ should be on them, not on you.

[9Schwein]

Thanks, Don. They have agreed to pay for the wheel guy, I assume in order to avoid paying for a new wheel. As long as the wheel is safe, I don't mind a fix rather than a replacement, but this whole thing is a PITA. And now the bike will be off the road for another couple of days with great weather in the forecast. I think you're right though, I should let the wheel guy take a look at it.

[Stef.]

Frankly if it is their fault I would insist on a new wheel, independently of what the wheel guy is telling you. Even if it is only cosmetic- it's at the end of the day the value of your bike that suffers. I would not go for a ride with it as this might than jeopardize your demand for a new wheel. It would make me slightly nervous that they offer to get the wheel guy in to look at it as this suggests that they themselves are not too sure about the whole thing.
Just my two peenies...
Stef.

[9Schwein]

Thanks, Stef. Problem is, other than this incident, I've had a good relationship with this shop that I hope can continue. I might be able to force them to replace the rim, but if fixing the old one really is a reasonable possibility from both a safety and cosmetic standpoint, then making them give me a new one might poison the well, so to speak. As soon as I pointed the problem out to the owner, he acknowledged it, and seems to be trying to take care of it, so I'm willing to give him a chance. Apparently they had an inexperienced kid on tire changing duty, figuring he couldn't do much harm. I've gotta get my own tire-changing equipment (MCN has a review of bead-breakers in the current issue...).

[Sander Abernathy]

I hit something with mine a few weeks after getting my bike and put a bend in the outer rim of the wheel bad enough I could see the bead between the edge of the rim and the tire. It also put a slight bulge on the inner wall of the rim. I looked for a solution and here is what I found.

An OEM replacement is over $900 including tax.

There are very few aftermarket options other than the OEM.

Because there are virtually no aftermarket rims available for the R1200R, no one is trading up so no used rims are available generally speaking.

A front wheel for an R1200S might fit but the parts numbers for the stock wheels aren't the same in the BMW catalog so I can't be sure. The S wheel does look a lot better than the R wheel but you really can't see the wheel because of the brake rotors. A wheel off an S may or may not be painted and it won't match your rear wheel.

BMW offers a forged wheel as an upgrade for the R and the S for around $1,450. The forged wheel for the R is the same part number as the forged wheel for the S. That leads me to believe the cast wheel for the S can be used on the R but that is just a hunch.

The dealer told me, incorrectly, there was no one local who could do a repair. I later found out there is.

I had just gotten my bike when the dent occurred so I ordered a new wheel, continued driving on the damaged wheel for a week until the new one arrived, and had the new wheel installed while I waited. I will send off the damaged wheel to be repaired some time soon so I have a spare.

If they have someone that can fix it in a reasonable time frame I would be willing to go that route. I just didn't want to wait.

I would make sure that the repair will involve something more sophisticated than some guy beating on the wheel with a rubber mallet. There are devices that spin the wheel, press it back into shape and measure the accuracy of the wheel in thousandths of an inch. If the repair shop can't tell you the tolerances they can deliver and tell you what they achieved in thousandths of an inch, it's the wrong repair shop IMHO.

When they return it to you with the tire mounted, if it has a bunch of wheel weight or it isn't balanced the repair isn't right. It will always be difficult to balance and it will eat tires.

The wheel repair guy isn't going to spend more than an hour working on your wheel. The shop will have to remove the wheel, tire, calipers and perhaps the wheel bearing and reinstall them after the wheel is repaired. It's less than three hours work total so I would make the people that damaged your wheel arrange to turn it around same day or next day.

I wouldn't worry about riding on it. It is pretty tough to break the bead loose once it is set if the tire is properly inflated. I was told that if it comes lose it will lose air gradually and not in a sudden blowout so your only risk is a flat tire.