[LukeWhere]

Hi All,

Happy new year!!! Here's my question:

My front wheel on my Africa Twin is not quite round. I took it in for truing and was told the spokes are seized and the wheel is not fixable. Honda did not cover that on warranty. I ordered a new set of wheels. I got a set of Warp 9s. Stronger, cheaper than OEM and they come with new rotors, cush drive and sprockets. I really wanted Woody to build me a new set but he was twice the price : ( (Rebuilding the old ones was almost as much as buying the new ones and I would still have the old bearings, rotors, etc.)

The old front is not horrible, just a bit annoying on long highway travels. The rear is good.

I am trying to decide between:

• Throwing my 50 / 50 tires on the new hoops and just running these full time.
• Getting a set of 80 / 20s and putting those on the new hoops then swapping wheels for times when I plan to do more dedicated / harder off road riding. (i.e. HUMM, TCAT, or NI1000)

These days most of my riding is on the road. Most off-road riding is gravel, non-technical.

Assume the average wheel swap takes 30 min.

WWYD??

Thanks for your opinions.

 

[Ponzan]

I would rather have made a change for tubeless, but sure it woud be nice to have 2 different sets of wheels if really needed, most people don't though.

 

[Smxhuber]

I would love the option to simply swap wheels to a more aggressive off road tire wheel set when needed but the price has kept me away from that. Thanks for the Warp 9 info. $1500 for a pair of wheels with rotors and sprockets is a bit easier to digest and will consider that option. I run the Dunlop Trailmax Missions on the stock wheels and they work great for street and fire road (gravel) use but anything muddy, soft or more technical a more aggressive tire is really needed IMO. I think for you and your use running the 50/50 tires on the new wheels and using the old wheels as your 80/20 wheels is the right choice. Send some pics with what you decide on and let us know how the Warp 9's work out for you - you got me thinking

 

[CrispyKevin]

"I would love the option to simply swap wheels to a more aggressive off road tire wheel set when needed but the price has kept me away from that." - My thought exactly.
Does those Warp 9s have front and rear?

 

[Smxhuber]

"I would love the option to simply swap wheels to a more aggressive off road tire wheel set when needed but the price has kept me away from that." - My thought exactly.
Does those Warp 9s have front and rear?

Yes they offer both front and rear and says they come with rotors, will be interesting to hear how these work out for LukeWhere

 

[LukeWhere]

Thanks for the thoughts. I will keep you posted. They are scheduled to show up some time in the next 2 - 10 weeks. That gives me lots more time to consider my options. I think I am likely to go with the swapping wheel option. @Ponzan mentioned the tubeless option. I had not thought of that. I prefer tubes for off road, but on road....that is a great thought.

With the Warp's you can choose to add the sprocket as an option. It is low cost so I judged that option as worth while.

For those you interested, Warp9 has a wheel builder / quote generator on their site.

 

[Beowulf]

In the "for what it is worth" category... I would soak down the old front wheel spoke nipples in penetrating oil, and get them worked free. I would then true up the wheel, just be cause...

Enjoy the luxury of having two sets of wheels! I always considered it, but never could work up the enthusiasm.

 

[LukeWhere]

Great thought @Beowulf. Occured to me too. Once I have the new wheels, I will pop the tire off and give it a good penetrating soak.

 

[Sled]

IMHO
Fit road tires on the new rims, and keep them well inflated. Because they wont be as strong.

Fit knobbies to the old set. Ive had a few 50/50's in the past and the off-road ability improvement is only marginal. Unless its something like a dunlop d908rr.
Find a non-drying penetrating oil/spray. Spray inside and out and give it a day or two to work (in sunlight). You will want to stop corrosion anyway.
Spokes + nipple sets are quite cheap too.

 

[Ghostrider.1127]

i have 13 wheelset for 4 AT , so better say nothing

 

[FIRE UP]

In the "for what it is worth" category... I would soak down the old front wheel spoke nipples in penetrating oil, and get them worked free. I would then true up the wheel, just be cause...

Enjoy the luxury of having two sets of wheels! I always considered it, but never could work up the enthusiasm.

Yep,
I too would attempt to use some form of penetrating oil on the spoke heads to free them up. To throw away an otherwise perfect wheel, simply because of faulty spokes, seems like a real waist to me. And if soaking them didn't work, I wonder what a set of new spokes would cost? I mean, simply take a disc cut off wheel and zip all those spokes in 1/2 and yank them all out and re-spoke the wheel. Wouldn't that be considerably cheaper than purchasing a complete wheel? Just wondering.
Scott

 

[Autonomity]

"I would love the option to simply swap wheels to a more aggressive off road tire wheel set when needed but the price has kept me away from that." - My thought exactly.

+1
An extra set of rims + ABS rings and brake rotors breaks the bank a tad bit too much for my taste. For €800 ish I can get a tyre machine and not have to mess around with tyre irons myself while also substantially reducing swap time. A complete set of Haans would cost like more than double.

That said, a smaller rim size cast wheel to run a more supermoto esque setup would be funny; although I'm not sure what the bike's geometry would think of that.

 

[Svendus]

On My bike i use 50/50 tyres note: i doent race the AT like a dead man on Tarmac so that has solved my problem on Gravel with one sett of rims😉

 

[Ghostrider.1127]

A complete set of Haans

Will may get them delivered next week , all included tubeless was 2070 euro when i bought last year , so not that pricey for what you get

 

[Autonomity]

Will may get them delivered next week , all included tubeless was 2070 euro when i bought last year , so not that pricey for what you get

€2070 is like 8 full service tyre changes at my garage, including the rubbers. It's also like 1/8th of the price of the bike, I think our definitions of "not that pricey" isn't quite the same.

Also are those Haans complete with ABS ring, brake rotors and bearings or just the rim, hub and spoke? Because a set of rotors is like another €350-400 front and some €180-200 for the rear I guess.

 

[Ghostrider.1127]

Without rotors and abs rings ,but already mounted with tubeless conversion.

 

[Autonomity]

Without rotors and abs rings ,but already mounted with tubeless conversion.

So basically €2600-2700 ish for a set of complete wheels, oof that hurts.

 

[Ghostrider.1127]

May be a bit more in my case , as i let do the front rotors and ABS rings under my specs . Must admit i already bought E wheel balancer and tire changed machines . this time was time for a wheelset

 

[LukeWhere]

IMHO
Fit road tires on the new rims, and keep them well inflated. Because they wont be as strong.

Fit knobbies to the old set. Ive had a few 50/50's in the past and the off-road ability improvement is only marginal. Unless its something like a dunlop d908rr.
Find a non-drying penetrating oil/spray. Spray inside and out and give it a day or two to work (in sunlight). You will want to stop corrosion anyway.
Spokes + nipple sets are quite cheap too.

@Sled What do you mean "they won't be as strong"? I have found that the Warp9s are stronger than OEM. It seems most after market wheels are stronger.

 

[LukeWhere]

Before my wheel went out of round, I was debating getting a road only bike (i.e. Suzuki GSXS 1000 GT) vs getting a set of 19 / 17 wheels and installing a set of road only tires. Better handling and quieter. (Goes to show that you can never be totally happy. The folks on the GS1200s discuss swapping the front to a 21 and we have discussions about moving to a 19 / 17 setup)

I found it quite expensive to have another set of wheels as you never get that money back if you sell your bike and then need to sell the wheels. If my wheel was easily fixable, I would not have made the purchase.

In the end, as much as I want a nice sport tourer, not being able to rip up a gravel or dirt track would frustrate me. The metal panniers on my AT hold way more than the plastic ones on any road only bike. And, I am not worried about dropping the beast.

I will be trying the penetrating oil thing. It would be nice if my 50 / 50 wheels rolled well for long adventures.

Unfortunately, @Ghostrider.1127 reminded me about the ABS rings. I had forgotten about those. I will get a set ordered up. I really do not want to be swaping parts when I swap wheels.