[Sidewalk]

At a meeting I attended last night, a rider passed on a caution to the group. He appearently a a set of radial spoke wire wheels fail on him recently. All of the spokes were seperated from the hub and wheel. He was only able to find 6 out of 40 total spokes, even after back tracking (by foot) where he traveled. He was at freeway speeds with the wife on the back when it occured. He was able to maintain control and bring it to a stop safely. There was about $5000 damage done to the bike when the wheel went up into the fender.

while researching this, he has found that he was not the only one to have this happen. Several others have had this occur. One few of which received serious injuries.

It is his opinion that the wheel may be excellent for a show bike, but should not be on a bike that gets a lot of miles.

Just passing this along, in case any others here, or that you know may have these wheels.

http://www.americanwire.com/

 

[BJG]

I have never had these wheels before but I am assuming you still have to check all of them and make sure every one of them is in order before riding just like regular spoked wheels?

 

[HD06]

goes whithout saying i think ! but evreybodys not me.maybe people have too much confidence in technology & a modern bike ?

 

[FLHR-I]

I was sure planning to get a pair of the 80 spokes for my Road King. They are some of the few tubeless spoke wheels I've been able to find. Guess I'll do a little more research on them. The stealership I got my bike at said they had real good luck with them. Like y'all said though, you need to check them out closely before you slap them on and take off!!

 

[DJW]

slap them on and take off!!

I would have to agree with HD06 that there is to much confidence in technology, and some may fail to realize that the spoke rim motorcycle wheel has been around since the beginning, when checking your wheels on the old ox cart was a daily responsiblity.

No way would I consider the amount of work of adjusting, let alone trying to keep clean 80 spokes. I know they look great, but they aren't for the casual rider who doesn't really have the desire to inspect his wheels on a regular basis (like me.)

I can't speak for or against American WireWheels, but regardless of the quality of the actual spoke rims, the rider was clearly not paying attention to the wheel.

 

[nickp]

Thanks Sidewalk.. i've got that 40 spoke AWW on the front of my Deuce!
I just emailed them to ask what the hells up with that? If they need to have a recall, they'd better get on it! That f#cking rim was $800 !!
Thanks again for the info. nickp.

 

[Sidewalk]

Thanks Sidewalk.. i've got that 40 spoke AWW on the front of my Deuce!
I just emailed them to ask what the hells up with that? If they need to have a recall, they'd better get on it! That f#cking rim was $800 !!
Thanks again for the info. nickp.

If you want, I can find out who the guy was. He was at that meeting last night that I told you about.

 

[DPrice]

Dont forget I had the same thing happen to me back in April with my Hallcraft radial 80 spoke wheels.

Read and see about it here:

http://www.harleydavidsonforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=963&highlight=hallcraft

 

[tbone]

Holy sh!t...800 smackers and it falls apart at speed? I agree withe some of the other comments about a rider taking responsibility for his own machine, but you would think there might be a design flaw here possibly. I have thought about a set of these "tubeless" spoke rims for my ride, but now I may just stick with the cast wheels. Oh... glad to hear no one was hurt except this guys' wallet !

tbone

 

[Sidewalk]

glad to hear no one was hurt except this guys' wallet !

tbone

The one guy I heard of has some serious injuries, but I can't remember the details. High speed, turning, wheel failure, head hitting a post, no mental capacity now. Something like that. I think someone else is missing thier thumb.