Anyone else bent a wheel?

I have bent the rim of my front wheel.
Think I did it on a pot hole.

The dealer said I needed a new wheel (£624 plus an hours labour).
After lots of advice I'm getting it straightened instead.
I am planning on putting in a claim (I have picture and deadline for fixing the road has passed).
Does anyone esle have any experiences or comments on straighteninng wheels?

BTW - I do have a Ducati specialist involved.

[CK & AK]

Should be straight forwards - there are many out there that do it, usually cheaper to go to a specialist in this field than any Ducati agent tho.
If a simple 'ding' on the rim, then its only likely to be about £50 or so (poss less)

Have posted info before on here, but check out Maidstone Motorliner or John Parsons (01252 404203)

CK

[Albie]

£624 for a 3 spoke brembo. Probs not even a brembo anymore as my 1100s one's that look like marchesini's are made in china.

Definately worth a punt at a wheel refurbisher.

[Rally]

Lisyloo,
I have experience in Wiltshire Council getting out of paying for claims if you want to speak to me before claiming, it may help! I lost over £1000 on a car damage claim. I'll tell you their loophole, which you can overcome if you know of it.

i got a mint pair of 5 spoke marchesini brembo wheels, with dunlop sportmax race replica tyres. on ebay at mo. let me know if your interested, and i will remove from ebay and sell cheaper thru here for you.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...STRK:MESELX:IT

[Darkness]

Motorliner at Maidstone have done an excellent job trueing a wheel for me - Brembos are quite soft and easy to re-work apparently.
What is the damage to yours though: is it still circular, but eccentric to the axle, or is it local damage on one part of the rim only?
You could do worse than describing it to a straightener to see what they can offer you?
On the bright side, at least you kept it shiney side up!

Hope it gets sorted .. roads are shocking at the mo!!

I have ridden off an on for a total altogether of 11 years now. never had a punture.
In the last two weeks my CG for work got a flat, then this weekend the monster got a flat , a huge roofing nail in my pretty new diablos!
So 2 bike tyres in two weeks on two bikes, so much debris laying about as well as potholes.
Luckily Andy spotted it or could have been a right mare.

Last year on the A14 they left an unmarked ramp after a road repair I hit it at 70 and it bottomed my shock out and sent me out of my seat and the back wheel smashed up into my custom undertray.
Also took the number plate clean off as well.. wrecked the shock and my bodywork, I also really hurt my back.
They asked me to take a photo of the ramp!
How the hell am I expected to stand in the middle of the A14 with a camera playing chicken with lorries ffs!

Hope you get a claim result... oh so they try and wriggle out of it then do they?

[DaffyDuc]

We've just got back from the Black forest after a few days over there on the bikes. I didn't know until then it is possible to fill in a pot hole so that is the same level as the road around it!! No dips or lumps! Considering they have pretty severe winters their roads, and I'm talking country / mountain pass roads, are a pleasure to ride.

The main road I take into Bath is frankly a disgrace and it been like that for years, it's just got worse year on year.

Thanks for all the info an offers of help guys.
The pothole is in BANES and not Wilts as I commute to Bath every day.
I have done a freedom of information act request.
It's local damage to the rim (max 3inches).
I think it's well within the limits of what is normally straightened.
I think the dealer was being very risk averse.

The did initially order me a new wheel but it took about 2 weeks to arrive instead of 1 day (that was Ducatis fault apparently).
I challenged them on saying mine could not be straightened when they straighten wheels on their track bike. They said "serviceing and race are different deparements".
I was not impressed at all.
I think they were being risk averse and also saw an oportunity to make some profit.

Louigi Moto have my wheel at the moment and have lent me a spare so I've been back on the road.

[Cousin it]

Hi
after what happened to the front brembo on my m800 I can understand them being cautious.
my front wheel failed when I was on my way to work a while ago fortunately I was only doing 40mph at the time, had a car pull out infront of me and applied the brakes to prepare to stop then suddenly hit the road hard and slid to a stop quite a way away from the car.




this was quite a shock to me, the bike was in a very good state of repair prior to the accident, tyre pressures were correct, braking was not hard enough to lock the wheel and the bike hit nothing after hitting the floor, have never experienced similar in 24 years of riding but it did make me respect the condition of wheels a lot more.

Wow, glad you didn't get too badly hurt (or run over).
The falling off, sliding etc. does relatively minor damage but the real danger here is the possibility of getting run over.

Was the wheel faulty?
Did you ever find the cause.

I'm still not too worried about my situation.
I've done quite a bit of research and I'm told that the heat process appleid to straighten wheels is not dissimilar to the manufacturing process.

[Cousin it]

once the bike was recovered and the wheel inspected closer there was hints of a poor quality repair in the area that the wheel failed in, no records of any repairs were passed to me when I purchased the bike in Bath ( hmm potholes ) around 10 months earlier, and it was hpi clear.

I came quite close to being run over but fortunately the car noticed me as it came over the crest of the hill and stopped before we met each other

the bike was a total loss due to the headstock being damaged when a lock stop was ripped off by the force of the bike hitting the tarmac, thank god for fully comp with protected no claims.

How are you going to go about putting in the claim?

[Cousin it]

the insurance company paid out the agreed value with no hassle and the garage that did the damage assesment passed me back every bit they thought was not standard , which I really must get around to putting the bits that did not fit the s4r in the for sale section.

How are you going to go about putting in the claim?

Did you mean the pothole claim? (the insurance is just a full comp claim).

I am following the step-by-step guide here
http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/step_by_step_guide

I have so far photographed the pothole and measured it and also submitted a freedom of information act request.

I am not overly bothered because straightening the wheel is around the £50 mark.
I will also have to pay for removal, fitting etc (twice as I have spare fitted), but it's still going to be considerably cheaper than £700.
I'm going to give it a try, but it's not going to kill me financially if I don't get the money back.
I know these claims are not automatic and are difficult to get, but I think it's worth a try.

The potholes I'm looking at are on a main road and have been marked up for 18 days now which exceeed the 2 week limit, but I have to get answers first from the freedom of information act.

It is certainly not easy to claim.
So anyone thinking of doing it should be aware that you need to quite a bit of work and expect them to turn you down. So it certainly is not easy money.