Surprise tire and rim.

Sooner than later.

I Rode the Deuce this morning, with the local HOG group. Okay, but boring. I
really wanted to ride the Buell. After a nap, I decided to ride the Uly to
Albertson's and Office Despot. Via, Big Tujunga Canyon Road,
The Angeles Forest Highway and The Angeles Crest.

Well, everything went fine until I passed the Big Tujunga Dam. Then I ran
over something unseen, went airborne for a moment and softly landed back to
earth. I thought I was okay for a minute and was ready to continue, until I
realized my rear tire went flat. This was a new Dunlop D6116s (under 1000
miles).

Well, the tire was sliced through the sidewall and the alloy wheel had a big
chip out of it'. I don't know what I hit (I think it was a rock)

Exactly where is this "big chip" and how big is it, anyway?

If you walk through the paddock at Laguna Seca, you will see some really
scratched and gouged aluminum wheels being used by the privateers, and they
aren't scared to go out and ride 180 mph on them.

When I worked in the aircraft tire shop at Edwards, we used to smooth out
dings in aluminum wheels with a grinder and and then we would polish the ding
smooth with fine sandpaper to reduce the stress.

This is called "burnishing" and a motorcycle wheel specialist would know what
is safe and what isn't, while the part$ guy and the mechanic$ at motorcycle
$tealer$hip$ will always want to $ell you new part$.

I would much rather err on the side of caution. If I suspect that
anything is amiss with my tires or wheels, they are getting replaced. If
the $ealer, or Part$ people make a few bucks off me, so be it. There are
to many other things out there that could ruin my riding day.

Thumper is minted. He can afford a new rim. It might be cheaper

So's the Buell, pretty much.

for him to get a new rim laced up to his existing hub than to
buy an entire wheel. Besides, he probably wouldn't want to be seen

Minted indeed, pickled in alcohol is more likely.
Topped with an obsessive compulsive disorder, like Nicholson in "As Good as
it Gets".

But I guess the pickling sort of wears off after 20 years. I just looked at
my purchase contract and found that I had signed up for an unlimited
mileage, tire and wheel warranty. That means I get a new tire and wheel for

Ooooh, I could use an unlimited tyre warranty.

"Look, it's worn out *again*...."

free.

You bet against yourself and won. Congratulations, usually buying
extended warranties is a losing proposition, which of course is why
dealerships really like selling them.

Oh, I meant $tealer$hip$.

Tis true. Especially on a Harley, when any mods you do can and will void the
warranty. I got an extended warranty on my RK, when I bought it. A lot of
good THAT did me. But, I figured I wasn't going to modify the Buell and, I
expected there'd be some problems with it along the line.

riding a bike with a big gouge taken out of the wheel, he likes his
bikes in tip-top shape and who can blame him?

If he is such a plutocrat, why is he complaining about such a small
expense as replacing a tire and rim then?

What are we talking about, maybe $500 here? It might be spent on
something else more important, yannow.

Is this NG a meeting of all the gods and demigods where each complains
that the universe was in such chaos yesterday that they they couldn't
control the disorder?

It would seem so.

Or is this a group that discusses practical solutions to "big chips"
that may just be cosmetic blemishes?

This is a group that discusses anything it feels like.

I used to err on the side of caution, too, when I had no idea what I was
doing.

I dropped a ton of money at the $tealer$hip, buying parts I didn't need. The
parts guys were happy to sell me anything that I thought I might need, they
got a commi$$ion on $ale$.

Finally, the boss of the repair $hop clued me in that I actually didn't need
to replace a lot of parts. He wanted to reduce unnecessary crowding of his
shop and get the bikes that really needed repairs into the bays.

If Thumper's "big chip" in the rim is only cosmetic, burnishing is a cost
effective way to deal with it.

Besides burnishing, there are non-destructive inspection methods, like dye
pentetrant that will expose cracks (if any) in the metal. Burnishing
generally eliminates cracks.

Running on a wheel with a chip broken out of the rim

How do you "lace" an alloy wheel?

strikes me as incredibly bad advice.

How do you know how big the "big chip" is? Did Thumper send you a secret e-
mail or something?

A straightened out dent, maybe, very cautiously.

Hey, the Ulysses wheels are supposed to be "tough" for off road riding.

"Tough" indicates to me that the wheels are made of a softer aluminum which
can be straightened by knowledgeable wheelsmiths who would also know what the
maximum area and depth a chip can be before requiring wheel replacement.

If the rim is soft enough to be straightened, a "big chip" is far less
critical than a smaller chip in a stiffer rim.

BMW airhead wheels were made with stiffer hubs and spokes and softer rims so
they could be straightened, within limits.

But the brake disks cracked at the edges because the holes were drilled too
close to the edges.

Now *that* was unsafe. You would think that BMW engineers would know about
"edge distance".

Chip broken out of the rim ? No thankyew.

Again, how big is this "big chip"? Is it 1/4 of an inch long, or is it an
inch long?

Just about any chip, I'd worry about possible further cracking.
If it's tubeless, I'd worry a lot about air loss too.

Why isn't Thumper telling me? Do I have cooties, or what?

Enquiring minds want to know. Is that too much to ask?

I used to talk to a K-brick riding nelly at Griffith Observatory in the
afternoon.

I would always kid him about how his K-brick was worth every cent of the
$5000 it cost, knowing full well that he'd paid $9000 for it.

Previously, he'd owned a GS1100ES, because the super nelly leader of his crew
was riding one. He had clutch work done on the advice of his know-it-all
leader and the Suzuki mechanic scratched his clutch cover. He told me that he
laid awake all night worrying about what to say to the owner of the shop. He
was talking about suing.

But he bought the K-brick instead. The leader had just bought a BMW GS1000,
so the nelly needed a BMW.

Then he accidentally scratched the plastic mirror shell in a parking lot
incident and chewed his nails off up to the elbows until he got the
replacement mirror.

He couldn't be seen in the company of his leader with a scratched mirror.

The paint on the replacement mirror didn't quite match and he was fit to be
tied after spending $300 to replace the scratched original mirror.

I told him that his paint was faded from the sun and that the new mirror
would fade to match...

And what's this obsession with $tealerships ? I deal with
shops that I trust. If I couldn't, I'd switch marques, buy parts

I have to deal with shops that I *don't* trust. I think about what I'm going
to buy before I go up to the parts counter and ask about availability. If the
counter creep gives me a hard time, I go somewhere else.

via the internet or give up riding.

I only buy OEM engine parts and body parts that I cannot get anywhere else
from the $tealer$hip. I mail order everything else or drive to a discount
outlet for
aftermarket repair stuff and tires.

Even my OEM parts are available at a discount from places like
Chicago BMW. Still pretty pricey, but discounted below list
by about 10%. Additionally, there are good overseas suppliers
like Motobins and Siebenrock.

Buying a 17.5 mm widget for a 20 year old motorcycle, I figure
a substantial portion of what I'm paying for is just having
the part available, (warehousing, stocking, etc) and I'm willing
to pay some premium for this availability.

Oddly enough, I've found many dealers went into the motorcycle
business because they actually liked motorcycles and this usually

This is a "big chip" that doesn't allow the tire to seal against the rim.

How do I burnish that?

I would burnish any sharp edges and fill the remaining ding with 2-part epoxy,

but only if the epoxy was completely supported by metal. Epoxy has no
strength of its own,

It's going to the dealer. I'm going to try to get it fixed under warranty.

Good luck with your negotiations.

BMW? No problem. Harley-Davidson? No way.

Thumper

Do you think the "big chip" resulted from a manufacturing defect?

I'd try filing a claim against the county for failing to maintain the
road.
Did that once here (they have a claims department) and they would have
paid except they sent me to the contractor they had hired for the job
and they paid instead.

Naturally!

All the experts here say it must be so, so it tis!

Thumper

Thumper

makes for some good common ground.

Krusty has had a hard life. No one treats him fairly and the Armenians are
out to get him.

but, it was sharp.

[snip]

I used to ride my bicycle to work. One day I heard a quick pop! pop!
_Both_ tires were flat. I walked back and found a piece of angle iron
stuck in the asphalt with just an inch or two exposed, tilted at just
the right angle to avoid detection and slash any tire that came near.
Evils lurk everywhere.

So, with the help of a forest ranger, who refused to have his dispatcher
call Cat to bring my truck, we loaded up the AAA Truck and moved
the bike back home.

So, now here's my dilemma. Should I replace the rear with another stock
Buell rim? Also, should I just replace the rear tire with another Dunlop?
The Dunlop's seemed fine to me but, I've been hearing so many good things
about the Pirelli Scorpion Syncs.

Tire choice is up to you, but what else other than a Buell rim would you

The Avon Distanzia seems to have a good reputation from what I've heard.
[cue sleazy]

replace the rear rim with?

I would *very* carefully check the front tire and rim for damage, too.

So that's it.