Cast wheel offroad?

[Deano]

guys, I am planning on taking my GS1200 in the desert, however the bike I am getting has the Cast wheels instead of the Spoke ones. Do you think I will have a problem? I prefer the look of the cast wheels how ever I am worried about them breaking.

If they were to break, do you think something like that would be covered under warranty? I dont expect I will be running the bike too hard, ie, I wont be jumping, I just dont want to break anything!!


Oh by the way, here are some pics of someone in our club in the desert.

 

[HMR]

guys, I am planning on taking my GS1200 in the desert, however the bike I am getting has the Cast wheels instead of the Spoke ones. Do you think I will have a problem? I prefer the look of the cast wheels how ever I am worried about them breaking.

If they were to break, do you think something like that would be covered under warranty? I dont expect I will be running the bike too hard, ie, I wont be jumping, I just dont want to break anything!!

There is a huge difference in strength. You should go for the spoke wheels. Even a rather moderate hit of a big stone will deform the alloy wheels.

I have damaged the front wheel three times now. Cost me EUR 50 to fix it each time. The tire, TKC80, was never damaged. No flat tire or anything so I could keep on riding. Friends hitting thev same stones with spoke wheels never had any problems.

 

[VAL. H.]

There is a huge difference in strength. You should go for the spoke wheels. Even a rather moderate hit of a big stone will deform the alloy wheels.

I have damaged the front wheel three times now. Cost me EUR 50 to fix it each time. The tire, TKC80, was never damaged. No flat tire or anything so I could keep on riding. Friends hitting thev same stones with spoke wheels never had any problems.

Hi I've been looking for spoked wheels for the 12, and am now considering getting a second set of alloys for some gentle trail ridig and fording.

But seeing your damage I'm not so sure now. Were you travelling fast when you got the wheel damage?

Also how and who, did you get it fixed, how many times can you repair an alloy wheel?

I've heard that the alloys should be ok for ocassional gentle off roading, is this wrong?

 

[Deano]

Is there a weight difference between the spoked wheel and the cast ones?

 

[GSwadd]

Is there a weight difference between the spoked wheel and the cast ones?

Yes....

Front - no difference
Rear - 1.6kg heavier (spoked, that is)

So in theory the suspension should work better with the lighter cast wheels.

 

[Deano]

do you guys fit tubes under your tires? I was thinking about doing this as riding on sand requires that you drop tire pressure. I dont want the bead breaking free from the rim and loosing all the air.

 

[HMR]

Hi I've been looking for spoked wheels for the 12, and am now considering getting a second set of alloys for some gentle trail ridig and fording.

But seeing your damage I'm not so sure now. Were you travelling fast when you got the wheel damage?

Also how and who, did you get it fixed, how many times can you repair an alloy wheel?

I've heard that the alloys should be ok for ocassional gentle off roading, is this wrong?

Once and for all - forget alloy wheels for advanced offroad use!

The speed have been rather high at all three occations but the picture doesn't show the worst case. I have currently a much bigger deformation in the front wheel but I can't feel anything when riding so I wait with fixing it.

Tire pressure at the first two hits was 1.6 bar but the last time it was 2.0 bar. Also very important - if you stand up riding the suspension works better.

Only some of the alloy wheel fixers do have the equipment to fix MC-wheels. In Sweden there are only three of them. I fair guess is that you should have 10-15 sites in UK that can do it. How many times can you repair? Don't know. In really bad cases they can even weld the wheel so I'm not worried.

I already have two kits of wheels. TKC80 + Anakee. Couldn't find any spokes on the market.

As long as you ride slow with reasonable high tire pressure it shouldn't be a big problem. If the purpose is just to find a way through a bad area it's no problem at all. It's fast riding or long distance adventures when you sooner or later hit rocks that kills the wheel.