Another rear wheel collapse..

ymfb · Nov 24, 2019

SMB said:
As the final gearbox and brake calliper is of the same design as the bikes with cast wheels and as there have been no postings of the calliper breaking off cast wheeled bikes. Surely one must question if it is a problem with the spoked wheel design and not related to lack of locktite or axle design. IMHO.

Maybe there are just as many calipers working their way lose on cast wheeled bikes but with the consequences are worse on wire spoked wheels. The wheel failure being the consequence rather than the cause. I have probably ridden 70,000 miles on BMWs fitted with spokes and less than 10,000 on cast wheels. The big advantage of cast wheels is they are much easier to clean.

iandavid · Nov 24, 2019

SMB said:
As the final gearbox and brake calliper is of the same design as the bikes with cast wheels and as there have been no postings of the calliper breaking off cast wheeled bikes. Surely one must question if it is a problem with the spoked wheel design and not related to lack of locktite or axle design. IMHO.

FFS Stop coming up with sensible answers. They have no place on this forum.

The Other PaulG · Nov 24, 2019

Whatever, if I'd had a bike serviced by a dealer 6 weeks previously, I'd be extremely disappointed to have this kind of issue. Glad everyone involved is OK.

max7 · Nov 24, 2019

Giles said:
There should be a world wide recall. It's as simple as that. Somebody will lose their life on a motorway.

I'm with you on that Giles but the problem seems to be that no one's convinced of what the problem actually is. The end result is always the same but the cause seems to vary. So far, before I ride my bike again I'm going to be checking its

Spoke tension
Rear caliper bolts present and at least appearing to be tightened up
Rear caliper mounting showing no signs of fractures
Same for the rear hub

sherpatensing · Nov 25, 2019

MrC99 said:
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Many many moons ago I owned a Laverda Jota which was equipped with those new-fangled alloy wheels and which damn near killed me and a mate on the back when the front wheel broke up when making progress. Pretty sure that some of the first gen alloy wheels on BMs had issues as well.

I had a Jota in 1977 and they changed the alloy wheel design soon after. The later ones were strengthened with bigger flanges at the spoke/rim join.

Nutty · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
By the way, stop fucking about with these spoked wheels and switch to alloys if you're just doing road riding.

Easier to clean, easier to maintain, lighter and they don't try to kill you and your bike.

Just saying.

Yeah but people want the adventure look.

You don’t get that with cast wheels, apparently. :blast

Tarka · Nov 25, 2019

Caliper, FFS, not calliper.

And like Arsey and some others have said, there's no safety issue at all with wire spoked wheels....as long as they aren't made of cheese and monkey metal.

max7 · Nov 25, 2019

Tarka said:
Caliper, FFS, not calliper.

And like Arsey and some others have said, there's no safety issue at all with wire spoked wheels....as long as they aren't made of cheese and monkey metal.

Well that being the case, we'll be fine. BMWs naturally use only the finest products and materials available, and would never condescend to using spokes made of cheese and monkey metal. This clearly is why they're not issuing a recall.

Next time I'm riding along a beautiful, bumpy, twisty B road, I'll console myself with these thoughts and not give a moment's thought to flying under an oncoming car due to my rear wheel's inexplicable collapse.

We will be fine and if we're not, then at least we'll have the reassurance of knowing it was someone else's fault. :blast

Warlord · Nov 25, 2019

peepingtom said:
its not down to poor maintenance it simply a poorly designed / made wheel .

I agree 100%

But riding on the road is not the place to find out is it...

At least if you check them, you can get them fixed in time.

Gyp · Nov 25, 2019

Tarka said:
Caliper, FFS, not calliper.

And like Arsey and some others have said, there's no safety issue at all with wire spoked wheels....as long as they aren't made of cheese and monkey metal.

The spoked wheels on my 1984 R80ST were fine for the many years I owned it and I'm sure if anything they've improved the design and quality in the intervening 35 years...

Hell, was it that long ago...

Warlord · Nov 25, 2019

The Nutty KTMer said:
Yeah but people want the adventure look.

You don’t get that with cast wheels, apparently.

What's bizare is that a R1250 GS owner buckled his front spoke wheel while out with us offroading recently.

As it's a none tubed tyre, it broke it's seal and let the air out. So they're not even suitable for off road use.

That's why I've stuck with the tubed tyres on my Africa Twin as they do take a beating.

Warlord · Nov 25, 2019

MrC99 said:
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Many many moons ago I owned a Laverda Jota which was equipped with those new-fangled alloy wheels and which damn near killed me and a mate on the back when the front wheel broke up when making progress. Pretty sure that some of the first gen alloy wheels on BMs had issues as well.

The BMW Alloy wheels are lighter than the spokes, and I agree if you go slamming into pot holes you will damage them.

So don't go slamming into pot holes, that's what Advanced Riding Skills teach us.

I've not heard any people complain about their alloys suddenly collapsing.... ever!

Tarka · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
I agree 100%

But riding on the road is not the place to find out is it...

At least if you check them, you can get them fixed in time.

So bog hopping and leaping off rock steps is an okay place for spokes to fail, is it?

What's with the constant mentioning of wire spokes not being suitable for road use?
There's no issue at all, unless as I stated above that they're made of shit materials (or poorly designed and subject to harmonic stress or something Engineer can elaborate on) and that would make them dodgy in any application.

One thing though.....has anyone looked at all of these BMW wire spoke wheel collapses and checked on the bike's loaded weight?
Just think of your typical fat cnut in all the "adventure gear" with a similar heifer on pillion, along with all the metal boxes loaded to capacity and a gazillion "farkles" and other shite bolted on wherever possible.
What's the load capacity of the spokes or the wheels?
They must have a rating.

Warlord · Nov 25, 2019

Tarka said:
So bog hopping and leaping off rock steps is an okay place for spokes to fail, is it?

What's with the constant mentioning of wire spokes not being suitable for road use?

Eh ??

I'm saying check your spokes.... don't just not check them, especially now we know theres a problem.

I'm saying if you only ride on the road, switch to alloys.

Tarka · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
I'm saying if you only ride on the road, switch to alloys.

And I'm asking why you keep saying this.

Road-only orientated bikes had wire spoked wheels for years without problems, even after cast wheels appeared.
It's still so now, only Bee Emm Troubleyou wheels are falling apart like this.

max7 · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
What's bizare is that a R1250 GS owner buckled his front spoke wheel while out with us offroading recently.

As it's a none tubed tyre, it broke it's seal and let the air out. So they're not even suitable for off road use.

That's why I've stuck with the tubed tyres on my Africa Twin as they do take a beating.

The spoked wheels do look good, at least before they go rusty. Guess the question is, what price aesthetics?

Sea Dog · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
Did he EVER check his spoke tensions?

Ting... ting.... ting.... clonk?

Every time he cleaned the wheel. So that'll be a "no" then!

GeorgeM · Nov 25, 2019

Giles said:
There should be a world wide recall. It's as simple as that. Somebody will lose their life on a motorway.

Agreed Giles but these things take time , here’s a list of original cast wheel production dates but took to 1984 for a recall , 4 years after that last type was manufactured

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

peepingtom · Nov 25, 2019

Warlord said:
I agree 100%

But riding on the road is not the place to find out is it...

At least if you check them, you can get them fixed in time.

my point is you shouldn't have to

Warlord · Nov 25, 2019

Tarka said:
And I'm asking why you keep saying this.

Road-only orientated bikes had wire spoked wheels for years without problems, even after cast wheels appeared.
It's still so now, only Bee Emm Troubleyou wheels are falling apart like this.

I keep saying it because BMW spoked wheels over the past 3 years have had catastrophic failures and BMW won't accept liability.

So.... if you like your bike and do a lot of road miles, switch wheel types.

It only cost me £450 to do it. The alloy wheel-sets come up on ebay often. It's not a huge expense, especially for extra piece of mind.

I think they look great :thumb2

Another rear wheel collapse..

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