BLIMEY ........LOOSE SPOKES

[PHILinFRANCE]

Knowing the back wheel bareings on the Tenere are shite i took some along on the trip and noticed a little play in them on the trails.

Not enough to worry about and thought i'd change them when i got back , so just done the post bimble prod and it aint the bearings !!!!

7 out of 10 spokes on the rear were finger slack/tight and 4 out of 10 on the front !!!

In all my years of biking this is a first !!! had the one or two but that may on the back i'm suprised the wheel didn't collapse .........i do ride like a nutter , but !!!

Has anyone else had this on a XT660Z ?

Time to start saving for a set of Talon/Excel wheels

[PHILinFRANCE]

Looks like no one know :S pretty worring though

[Tramp]

Why a new set of wheels...just get the spokes re tightened! And use locktite on threads...my alp had 2 loose spokes for years..lol

[Tramp]

Why a new set of wheels...just get the spokes re tightened! And use locktite on threads...my alp had 2 loose spokes for years..lol

[AndyB]

Looks like no one know :S pretty worring though

Looks like nobody has checked their spokes in the last year or so. If they rattle when you jet wash it you've got a problem otherwise it's fine.

[spasm]

its a common problem on the 1200, mine had some loose spokes after 3k, theres a thread on the super tenere forum about this too. but it clearly says on the service manual check for loose spokes. ive tightened mine twice early on ive now done 28k and no more loose spokes.
my theory on this is the wheels are new and unused prior to the first ride, after a few miles the spokes bed them selves in to the powder coated rims and need tweeking up in the early miles. after they are fully seated in and uve checked them thats it job done

[spasm]

and only last week i had to lend a new set to andy the yamaha dealer in poole, as he had a guy come in with a 1200 that had one actually come out and smashed a hole in his drive shaft :blink:
i had this set spare as mine are rotten and yamaha was going to replace them under warranty, but i chose to put them to one side till i sell on which i will change them to give the bike that well looked after look lol,

[daytona-supersport]

Knowing the back wheel bareings on the Tenere are shite i took some along on the trip and noticed a little play in them on the trails.

Time to start saving for a set of Talon/Excel wheels

I would think again about this and stick with the standard hubs possibly re-spoked onto new rims if the rims are damaged. Heavier spokes might be a good move if you are really hard on wheels. Sexy looking and expensive billet machined hubs and fancy rims may look the part but build quality is not always what you might expect.

Below is a copy of an e-mail sent to the supplier after a new wheel totally collapsed
on my sons KTM 350. After trying to fob him of with a re-spoke of damaged parts they did eventually agree to supply a complete new wheel. Strange thing, the new wheel did not fall apart. So, maybe the first wheel was faulty then. :whistle:

XXXXX

Just a quick note to confirm our conversation earlier this morning.

As you are aware the subject of our conversation being the failure of a new rear wheel supplied by yourselves, to fit my son Michael’s KTM 350SX-F motorcycle.

It appears from photos taken at the time that the spokes had released from the nipples at the rim. I have many years of experience riding and competing many types
of motorcycle and have only ever seen wheel / spoke failure caused by extreme loading, far beyond the design limits of a specific wheel, or poor maintenance of a wheel. For a newly built wheel to fail within a very short time period, in this case about one hour, is exceptional and there must be a significant cause.

I am sure that you will investigate this event fully due to the potential for injury and even death that can follow a failure of this type.

There are two areas that I am not satisfied with. Firstly, the comment made to my son that the failure was somehow his fault. I feel that this was a ridiculous comment
as there were no circumstances nor actions during the event nor prior to the event that could possibly have foreseen the total collapse of the wheel.

Secondly, As I understand from talking to my son, there has been an offer made to rebuild the wheel. Given that all of the wheel components will have suffered
either mechanical or cosmetic damage, I feel that to use salvaged parts to effect a rebuild is not acceptable. The wheel should be either replaced with a new wheel or the full cost of the wheel refunded.

The comment was made to Michael that spokes should be re-tightened after a short period of use. Note the time taken to fail. Whilst I accept that all spoked wheels should be regularly checked over time for damage and spoke tension. To suggest that this is the reason for failure of a new wheel with approximately one hours use is ridiculous. If this were correct, ever then since the introduction of spoked wheels on motorcycles, wheels should be falling apart as a regular event. This does not appear to be the case.

If there is a particular problem with your wheels, I suggest that there should be some clear warning applied to the wheels or at least some mention of this in the care literature

supplied with the wheel. Currently the instruction does emphasise care when cleaning.

I do appreciate that this is an exceptional occurrence, however due to the potentially lethal consequences of wheel failure, I feel that this event must be investigated to determine exactly what was wrong with this wheel.

I look forward to your comment and conclusions as to the mode of failure of the wheel.

Regards,

[PHILinFRANCE]

(thumbs) Intresting , as i said 1 or 3 is sort of normal and the bikes just turned 30 k kms so they should be seated in, my latest run from Italy was 1320 kms in 13hrs all M/Way so maybe the sustained vibration was the cause

I know what folk are saying about the excel wheels, €1200 a pair is a lump of money !!!

I will certainly be checking them regulaly from now on (thumbs)

Phil

[Elle]

If they rattle when you jet wash it you've got a problem otherwise it's fine.

thank goodness! Must admit, I rarely check the spokes on my trails although they get glanced over when washing and doing tyre pressures…. another learning tip

Below is a copy of an e-mail sent to the supplier after a new wheel totally collapsed
on my sons KTM 350.

Nicely worded letter, glad it got sorted