Adventures In Tire Mounting

[kballowe]

A friend of mine dropped by with a "take off" Gold Wing wheel that he'd recently purchased.

I mounted a tire on what appeared to be a perfectly serviceable wheel.

A good spin on the static balancer tells another story.  I uploaded the video to YouTube.  I would have never caught this if I had been using balancing beads instead of this static balancer.

Here's the link.


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nU9-BW_Yfts

[Dirk_S]

“Bring out your sledge!
Bring out your sledge!”

[Oca Grassa]

A sledge ain’t fixing that wobble, sorry. Okay, maybe make it so no one else buys that wheel!!

For the record…I hate balance beads. Particularly when my customer doesn’t warn me that they’re “installed”

Put that wheel in the bead breaker and as soon as the bead breaker snaps open the bead….its like an explosion of balance beads. They go every freaking where. Now I gotta stop & clean up the mess. Same for slime or any other liquid puncture seal.

I use the harbor freight balancer with the Marc Parnes “axle” and cones. Being able spin a wheel with a reference to check for run out and/or damage is worth the extra cost to me.

[Pescatore]

How does that even happen?!?  I would think it was straight when new.

[Oca Grassa]

How does that even happen?!?  I would think it was straight when new.

If I had to guess, a front end collision. With something striking one fork leg or other. It appears the hub is twisted laterally on the spokes. It would take a significant amount of force to do that.

I’ve seen rims damaged with a pneumatic machine, but not like that. You’d have to hold the axle fast, then strike the hoop with significant force to twist it like that.

[nc43bsa]

If I had to guess, a front end collision. With something striking one fork leg or other. It appears the hub is twisted laterally on the spokes. It would take a significant amount of force to do that.

I’ve seen rims damaged with a pneumatic machine, but not like that. You’d have to hold the axle fast, then strike the hoop with significant force to twist it like that.

Especially since there isn't a significant ding to either bead surface.

[John A]

I took a bent Lester wheel to a shop in Minneapolis about thirty years ago . It was the straitest wheel I’ve ever seen on a motorcycle afterwards. I didn’t think it was save able but it was their speciality. A competent wheel shop can do wonders.

[Trialsman]

Rather than trying to strike it to straighten it, put it on a hydraulic press and block one side to get the twist onto the rim.  You should be able to do it without collateral damage to the sides of the rim.

[Dirk_S]

Fine.
Two sledgehammers.

[guzziart]

Just something else to check before you buy a used $50 rear wheel off of a triked Wing, unless you're looking for a mangled wheel.

[Tom]

It's a loss but could be an experiment to use a press to straighten it out.  Caveat emptor.