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Dymag carbon wheels ?

5816 Views 25 Replies 17 Participants Last post by st2lemans, May 2, 2006

jserven247

Discussion Starter · Apr 27, 2006

I have a 999s and I want to put some different type of wheels on my bike I like the carbon wheels but dont know any thing about them as far as road use if they can take it

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

Darkness

· #2 · Apr 27, 2006

I wouldn't recommend race spec carbon wheels for a road bike. They don't provide good enough impact absorbtion to handle ordinary road conditions and run the risk of cracking. Why you try looking at a set of aftermarket Marchesini road rims? They have some nice forged aluminium ones.

Hope this helps

moto

· #3 · Apr 27, 2006

BST makes a DOT/JWL/TUV approved street carbon fiber wheel.

rob

· #4 · Apr 27, 2006

moto said:
BST makes a DOT/JWL/TUV approved street carbon fiber wheel.

BUT, and Martin will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure -- absolutely always make sure your tires are properly inflated. I don't have any personal experience with carbon rims, but I got a rear flat once and while trying to get safely to the side of the road I ran over one of those Botts dots on the freeway -- and it bent my OEM aluminum rim.

That was reparable (thank you Frame Man!), but I shudder to think about spending $2000 (+/-) on a BST rim getting a tire puncture and then hitting someting innocuous like a highway dot and doing irreparable damage to the rim.

On the other hand, my SS had a carbon-fiber race gas tank for many years. I crashed it, and the front end hit hard enough to bend the fork. That impact drove the clip-on into the gas tank hard enough to cause the left control block to explode into lots of lovely little plastic bits -- and the tank didn't have so much as a scratch. So that carbon fiber stuff is plenty strong.

kek

· #5 · Apr 27, 2006

that carbon fiber stuff is plenty strong.
Today 12:46 am

Yes Carbon Fiber is strong, but it is also brittle. When it reaches its limit, it will explode! Not a good choice for the road.

The more I work with composites, the more I love metal...

Arrgo

· #6 · Apr 27, 2006

BST wheels, beautiful, light, amazingly strong and the perfect addition if cost is no object. Mine are only a week old but the more I ride with them the more I love them. Combined with a good 520 kit they will make a noticable difference in acceleration, deceleration, and handling.

Exploding CF, thats funny

, the only way these would explode is if you put some C4 on them......As long as they are being used in the maner that they were designed for there should be no worries. Road version for the road, track version for the track. Seems fairly straight forward to me. It is just a cost issue, you got to pay to play

Cheers

kek

· #7 · Apr 27, 2006

Arrgo said:
Exploding CF, thats funny , the only way these would explode is if you put some C4 on them

You obviously haven't witnessed composite parts tested to destruction!

Each fiber can carry a lot of load, but when it reaches its limit, the failure is catastrophic.

If your wheels are designed with an enormous factor of safety, you'll probably be OK, but be forewarned; if you encounter a misplaced pothole or debris on the road and hit it at speed, the safety margin may not include such events. Then you will discover firsthand just how exciting a structural failure with carbon fiber can be...

Stick to forged Al or Mg. Maybe someday soon someone in the wheel business will "discover" Aluminum-Lithium and you'll get the best of both worlds, low weight and high stiffness.

Arrgo

· #8 · Apr 27, 2006

kek said:
You obviously haven't witnessed composite parts tested to destruction!

Stick to forged Al or Mg. Maybe someday soon someone in the wheel business will "discover" Aluminum-Lithium and you'll get the best of both worlds, low weight and high stiffness.

I will take my chances with the BST's over any Magnesium wheel on this planet. Mg may be light but it has an extremely low modulus of elasticity as well as a very poor fatigue resistance, OK for the track but crazy poor for road use.

cheech

· #9 · Apr 27, 2006

There's been a huge on-going debate about carbon wheels - BST's on another board.

http://speedzilla.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19404&highlight=bst

Arrgo

· #10 · Apr 27, 2006

cheech said:
There's been a huge on-going debate about carbon wheels - BST's on another board.

http://speedzilla.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19404&highlight=bst

It does make for a good read. And as always it simply proves the fact that opinions are indeed like *%#holes, everybody has one! And are entitled to them

Cheers

I will keep happily rolling along on my BST's, at least until they explode and create a massive intergalactic dis-continuim....then its off to the restaraunt at the end of the universe for me.

moto

· #11 · Apr 27, 2006

kek said:
Yes Carbon Fiber is strong, but it is also brittle. When it reaches its limit, it will explode! Not a good choice for the road.

The more I work with composites, the more I love metal...

Well, the more I work with composites- the more I like composites. You can design and make composites as strong or as light as you want if you have the proper experience and resources.

You might want to check out some of the new composite wheel technology and see what kind of tests that the BST wheel has gone through:
http://www.blackstonetek.com/technical_info.php

BST test 5X stronger than aluminum. By the time the BST wheel fails from impact, the bike itself experiences catastrophic damage. Every broken BST wheel that I have seen was attached to a damaged bike that had experienced very serious impact.

BST wheels flex. Check out the 10,000 NM test where the wheel bends several inches and pops back. Have you seen alu and mag wheels do this:
http://www.ram.mc/wheels/BST/En-abs/En-abs-gallery-en.htm

The new BST motocross wheel which is good for 60 foot + jumps has a flex coating on the finish to handle the flex. Yet when ridden, the rider report less flex and prefer the precise feel of the BST wheel. The wheel is designed to be stiffer than laced wheels but it will flex upon had impact.

I was not surprised when I saw this test. We routinely drop the BST wheels on the pavement (without a tire) when people ask how strong it is.

And for those that do not think that magnesium wheels can fail:
http://www.reitwagen.at/forum.asp?thema_id=953120&id=953120

Speaking from personel experience, We sell replacement aluminum and magnesium wheels at a much higher rate to percentage sold than BST carbon wheels. I have many more damaged magnesium wheels from incidents that the rider would have expected the mag wheel to survive. With the BST wheels, I've had the oppisite experience--There are many more stories where the customer expected the wheel to damage (ie: T-boning a mini-van, running into curbs, ladders and huge pot holes) but the BST wheel survived intact.

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Arrgo

· #12 · Apr 27, 2006

+1 to the above statements. BST has been in this game for a very long time. They have seen problems and corrected their designs accordingly. I have absolutely no worries riding and racing on their products.

kek

· #13 · Apr 27, 2006

OK. I've just seen too many dramatic failures. I could be persuaded though.

As I mentioned earlier, depending on the design margin, one could make a pretty safe wheel.

The strength's not the issue, it's the catastrophic failure mode that's got me spooked.

Yes I do believe that one can produce lighter structures with CF than with metal, but they are difficult to impossible to repair when damaged. And when they are repaired, don't retain the original strength. One of the reasons I love the Ducatis is the CrMo trellis frames - lighter, stronger, and more damage tolerant than their Al competition.

jserven247

Discussion Starter · #14 · Apr 27, 2006

OK!! so does any one want my stock wheels!! haha

2ducks

· #15 · Apr 28, 2006 (Edited)

2

I have a set of BST road version for my 749R I picked up last year from Motowheels.

As with anything else that is divided on opinion, you will need to do your own research and come up with your own conclusions. I read all the message boards and all the threads and consulted with Nichols about the exploding BST that caused a stir a while back. In the end, with the un-official blessing of Nichols, I decided it would be ok for my particular riding style/application.

The rims are truely a beautiful piece of art work and makes steering much easier (sometimes too easy - which can be a bad thing as well). I make an effort to always check tire pressure before going out for a ride and carefully inspect the rims upon the bike's weekly cleanings.

I've still kept the original 10 spoke forged aluminum wheels as a backup precaution in case the BST gets damaged or if I start losing confidence in it one day. Once the bike is back in the garage, up it goes onto a front and rear paddock stand. These little things I do give me greater peace of mind.

I've also kept in the back of my head a budget to fully replace these BST Carbon rims in about 10 years with another set as a safety precaution and as an upgrade down the road (should I keep the bike that long). The rims would make for a nice piece of hanging art in the garage after that time.

Attached is a picture of the bike with rims on it.

Best of luck to you.

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Buckelew

· #16 · Apr 28, 2006

seeing that no one knows why Sam's wheels failed....I think all BST owners should be congnizant of the need to very meticulously inspect the wheels during or after wheel mounting.

As for the bikes being destroyed......I just saw a new thread on speedzilla, about BST's failing during an accident where there was minimal damage to the bike itself.

funny how those who work with composites are leery of wheels being a correct application for CF.

at least with metal wheels, there's some visible damage that is a precursor to fatigue-related wheel failure.

But, damn, those BST's are sweet.

akducati

· #17 · Apr 28, 2006

Yay, another cf wheel thread! It has been a few months.

Anyway, seeing how this thread is titled 'Dymag Carbon Wheels' I've included a photo of ducati.ms member VIVID1 on my 996 when she came up and did a little ride a couple weeks ago.

My Dymags have about 15,000mi of potholes and frost heaves runnin thru the wilds of Alaska.

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VIVID1

· #18 · Apr 28, 2006

akducati said:
I've included a photo of ducati.ms member VIVID1 on my 996 when she came up and did a little ride a couple weeks ago.

That is the SWEETEST Ducati that I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding, looks great, handles great, sounds awesome... when I got back to Chicago, the following weekend I found myself at the Ducati dealer sitting on a 999… am I in trouble now, maybe it's time to ditch the 954RR.

Oh, the wheels are really sharp too!

Jus_Livin

· #19 · Apr 28, 2006

2ducks - sweet ride. I never thought of frame inserts at the axle. I am adding that to my slider purchase.

Matt748

· #20 · Apr 29, 2006

Arrgo said:
BST wheels, beautiful, light, amazingly strong and the perfect addition if cost is no object. Mine are only a week old but the more I ride with them the more I love them. Combined with a good 520 kit they will make a noticable difference in acceleration, deceleration, and handling.

Exploding CF, thats funny , the only way these would explode is if you put some C4 on them......As long as they are being used in the maner that they were designed for there should be no worries. Road version for the road, track version for the track. Seems fairly straight forward to me. It is just a cost issue, you got to pay to play

Cheers

Pics!

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