Pothole Damage to Front Wheel

[Biker 1]

I vaguely remember hitting a nasty pothole the other day whilst overtaking an old dear in a Micra. I was doing some middle-aged polishing earlier, & noticed nasty damage to the front rim: the outer part of the rim on both sides seems to have been distorted from impact by 2 or 3mm, but the inner part of the wheel, where the tyre bead sits, appears to be round & unaffected. Likewise, there does not appear to be any tyre damage, no tyre pressure loss, & there are no vibrations one would associate with a buckled wheel. Is this a potentially lethal blow-out situation, or should I calm down & not worry?

[podman]

Depends if your the worrying type and how risk averse you are, my mate would ride the same speed with square wheels, a bald tyre to the canvas and a chain stretched to maximum, im not quite in that league...

If you've asked the question, maybe to put yourself at ease have it crack tested? Wouldnt be a lot to do that I would say.

Did you report the pothole to the highways agency/local council?

[Biker 1]

I can't recall exactly where it happened - lots of bloody potholes around here, so I think council bailout is unlikely....
I'm middle aged, so knee down isn't really an option, but I do like to thrash her at the traffic light grand prix, & burn up the younger generation in Vauxhall Corsas!

[V8RX7]

Impossible to say really

But I've seen many "fix" bent alloys by hammering them back so they can take a fair bit of abuse.

Personally if there's no crack / vibration I'd carry on but maybe keep an eye out for a used one on ebay

[PIGINAWIG]

I hit a raised road that was part of some roadworks in Germany - massive bang felt, but no tyre pressure loss and I forgot about and never checked it. 1000 miles later, cleaning the bike, I spotted this:



Same on both sides unfortunately. KTM 1290 super adventure front wheel and a new one set me back £550 with discount. I couldn’t live with it like that. Depends how bad yours is but mine was about 7-8 mm deformed. Did well to hold air. I would have been knackered if I needed a new wheel at the roadside. As mentioned, you can try and bash it back into shape with a hammer and a cloth.

Any pics of it?

[PIGINAWIG]

Ouch.....

[Biker 1]

I'm amazed that you didn't have a catastrophic blow out!! Damage to my wheel isn't anything like as bad as that - I would estimate 2mm max distortion, & only on the leading edge/lip of rim....

[black-k1]

Motoliner will straighten most dinged wheels.

[PIGINAWIG]

Fortunately for the lunatics, I was leading the ride and managed to warn them through the sena headsets. I officially ‘took one for the team’......

[Biker 1]

black-k1 said:

Motoliner will straighten most dinged wheels.

Tell me more.....

Edit: I checked their website - looks pretty good, but drive-in while you wait service unavailable due to CV19...
I don't have a front wheel stand to take the wheel out myself - any ideas?

Edited by Biker 1 on Sunday 17th May 19:23

[PIGINAWIG]

Whereabouts are you? I have a spare paddock stand for the front. I’m essex\suffolk

[airsafari87]

I had damage to my front wheel as bad, if not a little worse than that on piginawig's wheel.

It was repaired by Roy Thursby in Stockton and i tan it for another good few thousand miles without any issues at all. Iirc it only cost around £60 to repair as well.

Fascinating to watch him repair it as well.

[gareth_r]

airsafari87 said:

I had damage to my front wheel as bad, if not a little worse than that on piginawig's wheel.

It was repaired by Roy Thursby in Stockton and i tan it for another good few thousand miles without any issues at all. Iirc it only cost around £60 to repair as well.

Fascinating to watch him repair it as well.

Thersby.

[airsafari87]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Lots of heat, lots of force and lots and lots of experience.

Basically he puts the wheel in a jig, spins it to find the affected area and then marks it out.
Then using a gas blow torch and a Hydraulic ram to manipulate the wheel back in to shape again.
If there is any paint damage he then sprays it up and you're good to go. I'd say it took about an hour to do mine and the dent in the rim was significant.

Its really unnerving to watch but the wheel does come out perfect.

[airsafari87]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Now do not take this as absolute gospel, and if anyone else reading this wishes to expand on what I say then please feel free to do so.

But from speaking to him I gathered that as long as there is not a sharp crease in the wheel then sorting out a buckle like that will not affect the strength of the wheel.

As you have probably gathered there is a risk of the wheel cracking during the process, but if it doesnt crack during the process it will not crack afterwards.

If you were absolutely cack handed and just threw a load of heat then a load of pressure at the wheel during the process you would knack it. But from observing him it was a case of applying just the right amount of heat followed by the right amount of pressure over and over again till it goes back in to shape. The wheel actually ends up getting more out of shape before its pulled back in to shape if you get me.

Now I can explicitly remember him doing this but I am sure he will have, but the final step before touching up any paintwork will be to anneal the wheel which will remove any internal stresses in the wheel.

Hope that helps explain a little?

[Biker 1]

PIGINAWIG said:

Whereabouts are you? I have a spare paddock stand for the front. I’m essex\suffolk

Thanks for the offer, but at least 150 miles away! Sadly I don't have a garage either.....
Service booked for a couple of weeks, so I'll get an assessment of damage then. My local dealer, P & H are very helpful & apparently have a decent local wheel bloke they use. Probably an expensive exercise, but we'll see what the quote is!