Cast wheels up to abuse ??

[Muddy.dave]

I've got a TE with the standard cast wheels.
I am off to Morocco in the spring then Iceland in July. Will be one up with luggage. I intend some offroad riding where possible.
Here's the question. The BMW off road school bikes have spoked wheels and the bikes BMW used on the "One world, one GS Ride of your life" trips also had spoked wheels. Are the cast wheels too delicate ? Has anyone had any problems with them or is it more a style thing ?
Muddy Dave

 

[Bayman]

I was on the BMW off road school course last year with GS 1200 WC bikes, all had cast wheels, I was told they had not cracked any wheels, and did not expect to and that the cast wheels would be able to stand up to anything that would be thrown at them. I was actually told by a "senior member" of the course that wired wheel strength over cast wheels is probably overstated.


Hope that helps you stop worrying

 

[Nutty]

How offroad are you going? Fire tracks, or down mountains?

 

[pistole]

keep your pressures normal and don't air down

cast are fine

 

[Wreford Miles]

Id have thought one pro of wires is; when you are in the middle of nowhere and your wheel has just taken a bash you can fix/straighten it.

It does not sound like the OP will be putting himself in that position

 

[pistole]

bashing a rim back into shape and/or the ability to accept a tube are the usual things said in support of spokes.

really depends on how much "offroad" you want to go.

plenty of people running KTM's tubeless spoke wheels have commented that the rims are very weak.

 

[Neil W]

I think it is more of a case that traditional spoked wheels are stronger and will accept tubes and at a push you can replace spokes at the roadside or halfway across a desert whereas if a cast wheel is bust it stays broken.

Do not think the above really holds for bmw spoked wheels

 

[Fanum]

Casts will be fine

We never had a single problem with BMW cast wheels in Morocco, over 8 years of trips

 

[JayC]

Casts will be fine

A giant of a man... or an R50GS?
Can't get my head around that image. The proximity of man machine suggests either a giant, or a moped.

 

[Fanum]

A giant of a man... or an R50GS?
Can't get my head around that image. The proximity of man machine suggests either a giant, or a moped.

That's Martin (Magwych) here......the perspective is thrown out a little 'cos the slope he's walking down is quite steep.

I'm guessing Martin is a six footer though.
The bike is being held upright (well and truly jammed upright) in that thorn bush...I'd just had to pull him off the back of it over the rack to get him out, 'cos he was skewered and stuck in it

It's a 1200

 

[Muddy.dave]

Thanks

Thanks for all the advice.
I am not intending to go anywhere too crazy but it's best to be prepared.
My guess is the Icelandic river crossings are where I am likely to bash hidden rocks
Anyway sounds like no need to worry so thanks.
Whilst on the topic of getting into out of the way places any suggestions on "must have" spares or tools. Bear in mind I won't be alone and don't want to conduct a full engine rebuild in a tent but equally don't want to be held up for something that could easily be fixed.
Thanks

 

[Muddy.dave]

Thanks
That's reassuring.

 

[WindyChuffer]

You won't be going fast enough on river crossings to crack cast or bend spoked rims.

Am sure you will be fine with cast wheels but for peace of mind keep an eye out for some used spoked.

Have given my GSAs a lot of abuse off road over the years and worst I have done is destroy a Touratech bashplate by being too keen over rocks with the gas. The spoked wheels stand up well to abuse. However the rim protrudes beyond the tyre and it does get chipped from rocks but thats just a cosmetic issue. I can't speak for cast wheels as not used them off road.

 

[kurienp]

unless you don't plan to do the below, casts will be absolutely fine.

Image courtsey/(C) http://www.advpulse.com/

See this video to figure out the limits of casts all them bikes are on casts.

 

[WindyChuffer]

@kurienp - Nice pic of a jump. The video has some rather lame terrain featured for the purposes of proving cast wheels....

 

[Jumblemo]

I cracked the rims of both my front and rear cast alloys when hitting a small raised surface at speed causing almost instant deflation of both tyres. No damage to tyres or rest of bike, but wheels were completely wrecked. I suspect steel rims might have survived but probably been deformed, though in truth it is impossible to know for sure.

 

[yankeedoodledandy]

I bent my front rim last year on a rock in the road. Also you can see the rims bent up in the Touratech (and altrider(?)) videos of off-roading. I suspect the watercooled rims are a bit weaker than cast rims on older models, maybe they tried to save too much weight. I'd think twice before taking mine into any rocky terrain.

 

[roundincircles]

Thanks for all the advice.
I am not intending to go anywhere too crazy but it's best to be prepared.
My guess is the Icelandic river crossings are where I am likely to bash hidden rocks
Anyway sounds like no need to worry so thanks.
Whilst on the topic of getting into out of the way places any suggestions on "must have" spares or tools. Bear in mind I won't be alone and don't want to conduct a full engine rebuild in a tent but equally don't want to be held up for something that could easily be fixed.
Thanks

I buckled both cast wheels hitting a pothole in a remote area of Peru . The front wheel was so badly damaged that it was unsafe to ride because the rim was fractured. We had to drill a hole in the rim so a tube could be fitted as the valve is fitted in the spoke on cast wheels.

Due to the damage my 6 week adventure was potentially at an end but we found a second hand wheel in Chile and had it air freighted to us . All this cost a lot of time and money.

So the benefit of wire wheels is that they are more flexible and able to absorb impact plus can take an inner tube. They are repairable especially in remote third world locations. It is not a strength issue imop.

 

[Fanum]

I buckled both cast wheels hitting a pothole in a remote area of Peru . The front wheel was so badly damaged that it was unsafe to ride because the rim was fractured. We had to drill a hole in the rim so a tube could be fitted as the valve is fitted in the spoke on cast wheels.

Due to the damage my 6 week adventure was potentially at an end but we found a second hand wheel in Chile and had it air freighted to us . All this cost a lot of time and money.

So the benefit of wire wheels is that they are more flexible and able to absorb impact plus can take an inner tube. They are repairable especially in remote third world locations. It is not a strength issue imop.

In 8 years of Moto-Morocco trips, (and this is totally true, not made up) we had more problems with KTM spoked wheel rims being damaged (The vanilla rims on the 950/990 adv seemed to be made of Austrian cheese and got damaged to the point of losing bead lock FAR too easily on rocky pistes) than we did with BMW cast wheels, yet we never had more than 2 KTMs on a single trip, with an average of two or three BMW cast wheeled bikes per trip.


For an averagely adventurous rider, on an averagely adventurous trip, BMW cast wheels are absolutely fine......sure, for 'hardcore' riders on the more extreme pistes or for fast off road riding, it would be better to have spoked rims, but that's not what the OP is talking about

 

[Muddy.dave]

Answered my own question

Having now finished both trips to Morocco and Iceland I can update everyone. In Morocco I hit a fairly bad pothole at about 40mph and it put a very small dent in the front wheel. Barely noticeable and not really an issue. In Iceland however on rocky tracks (F35 through the centre of the highlands) the front wheel didn't fare so well. Got a real bad dent with the rim flattened out and the diameter flattened locally Thankfully it continued to hold air because if not, being unable to fit a tube, I would have been in real trouble. I am going to fit spoked and wouldn't recommend cast wheels to anyone going anywhere other than smooth Tarmac