Wire to Alloy Wheel Change Advice

[Frankh]

Hi, I have a non ABS 1200GS with Wire wheels. I want to change to Alloy wheels, I have sourced both from ebay over the past few weeks. Has anyone done this before ? Do you know if I need different bolts for the Alloys ? Any problems taking the discs off wire wheels and bolting to the Alloys? ANything else I should look out for when doing the job ? Thanks

 

[karnevil]

Hi, I have a non ABS 1200GS with Wire wheels. I want to change to Alloy wheels, I have sourced both from ebay over the past few weeks. Has anyone done this before ? Do you know if I need different bolts for the Alloys ? Any problems taking the discs off wire wheels and bolting to the Alloys? ANything else I should look out for when doing the job ? Thanks

I have done the change the other way round.The bolts for the alloys are shorter.Everything else just changes over,but there may well be a spacer to take up the difference where the sensorring sits,but you can ask your dealer.It may well,and is,worth getting a new set of plastic/fibre(whatever the material is)washers for the front and some heat resistant thread lock for the bolts.
BUT WHY CHANGE THE WIRE WHEELS FOR ALLY?
THEY BUCKLE LIKE CRAZY........................................

 

[Thunder]

Hi, I have a non ABS 1200GS with Wire wheels. I want to change to Alloy wheels, I have sourced both from ebay over the past few weeks. Has anyone done this before ? Do you know if I need different bolts for the Alloys ? Any problems taking the discs off wire wheels and bolting to the Alloys? ANything else I should look out for when doing the job ? Thanks

All your discs will swap straight over with no problems, but he rear alloy uses shorter bolts than the wire versions. You can get these easily wnough from a dealer.

I'd recommending having access to a torque wrench especially for the disc bolts and you need a hexagonal key to remove the front axle.

Have you got the torque specs for the wheels and discs?

 

[Frankh]

Thanks for the replies so far. I have the Haynes GS manual which has the torque settings and I even have a torque wrench. I'll check out the price of bolts, bet BMW charge a fair bit for them. I only ride on the road, so thought the alloys would be a bit lighter and I can sell the wires for a bit of profit.

 

[karnevil]

Mine buckled on the road, a piece of wood was thrown into the path of my bike on the motorway.Buckled both front and rear enough for the insurance to pay out.I would stick with the wires.

 

[crackandthump]

ridden my alloys over atlas mountains tracks with quite a few hard rock smacks.......stood up well. Guess its just luck of the draw as to how bad a knock is.

 

[nick_boxer]

Thanks for the replies so far. I have the Haynes GS manual which has the torque settings and I even have a torque wrench. I'll check out the price of bolts, bet BMW charge a fair bit for them. I only ride on the road, so thought the alloys would be a bit lighter and I can sell the wires for a bit of profit.

I did the same swap for two reasons - I only ride on the road and secondly the wire wheels were a p-i-t-a to clean. Dealer swapped for me with guy who had done zilch miles on his alloys so I also got a decent set of tyres instead of my soon-to-be-replaced Bridgestones. The alloys are fine to ride with, just avoid kerbing them at 90 degrees.

 

[luckylucian]

I believe the off-road school as alloy wheels on its 1200gs so they must be reasonable at taking a few knocks

 

[Frankh]

My wheels(the wires) are on a 2007 ex off road school bike, so I think the off road school bikes are all on wires. They seem to buy the bikes with wires speced without ABS but with Heated Grips. They take of the Road bias tyres (on mine it was battlewings) and put on proper off road type tyres. They also remove the rear seat, indicators, BMW rack, Mirrors and put them in store. When they sell all the bits go back on along with the unused tyres. The wheels must be great for off road because they have a fe dinks but still look great. I don't think alloys would stand up to daily off road school use.

 

[luckylucian]

My wheels(the wires) are on a 2007 ex off road school bike, so I think the off road school bikes are all on wires. They seem to buy the bikes with wires speced without ABS but with Heated Grips. They take of the Road bias tyres (on mine it was battlewings) and put on proper off road type tyres. They also remove the rear seat, indicators, BMW rack, Mirrors and put them in store. When they sell all the bits go back on along with the unused tyres. The wheels must be great for off road because they have a fe dinks but still look great. I don't think alloys would stand up to daily off road school use.

Thanks for the correction