[Jan-Dirk]

Are the stock wheels (rims) solid?
Were they machined from a solid Al cylinder or do they consist of two halfes that are welded together?
Background is if it is possible/safe to cut holes in them for weight reduction and to reduce side wind effects.
This might sound weird, I know.

Thanks for any reply.

Jan-Dirk

 

[Max]

Jan they appear to be solid and several people have cut holes in them for different reasons.

Max

 

[polizzio]

Be carefull cutting them, ChopperSteve at vmod.com had told me over a year ago that they are hollow out towards the bead area. They are solid until wheel flares out towards tire bead area, then return to a solid. I personally don't know this for a fact myself, just what Steve told me way back. Steve offers cut wheels at his place.

 

[justinh]

You should also check out www.rmdbillet.com
I haven't seen there product in person, but I've heard good things

 

[Bruce Helland]

Not solid wheels

The wheels are not solid! The best way to see how they are made is to take a look when the tires are off. You will notice how deep the drop is below the beads. To get an idea obout the center, you can remove the black plastic caps around the hub center. You can glue them in place after, just be careful removing them. Reach up in one of the cap openings with a length of wire to gauge where the two halves meet. The solid area is not that much height wise but it can be machined. Mine were done by Rowe machine on the East coast. Very quick turn around and good quality work. While I had them off I polished them and my rear pully. Very worthwhile mod! You will notice a positive difference in crosswinds. I just completed a 300 mile trip with severe cross winds (50-55 mph gusts) that I wouldn't have attempted with solid wheels. Look up Rowe Performance on the web and give em a call
Sorry about the length, Bruce

 

[Jan-Dirk]

Thanks a lot for your help!

Jan

 

[Rich Moran]

The wheels are not solid! The best way to see how they are made is to take a look when the tires are off. You will notice how deep the drop is below the beads. To get an idea obout the center, you can remove the black plastic caps around the hub center. You can glue them in place after, just be careful removing them. Reach up in one of the cap openings with a length of wire to gauge where the two halves meet. The solid area is not that much height wise but it can be machined. Mine were done by Rowe machine on the East coast. Very quick turn around and good quality work. While I had them off I polished them and my rear pully. Very worthwhile mod! You will notice a positive difference in crosswinds. I just completed a 300 mile trip with severe cross winds (50-55 mph gusts) that I wouldn't have attempted with solid wheels. Look up Rowe Performance on the web and give em a call
Sorry about the length, Bruce

Bruce,

Not long at all!!

How about some images of their work? this choice seems to be one that maybe a lot of forum members would be interested in. personally, a set of custom rims with pulley at almost 4 grand makes me want to :yak:

Any alternative that looks better than stock, and is resonablly priced such as this is good to know about.

Thanks!

 

[VRod4u2nv]

OEM wheels

The factory wheels are not solid, I have seen some on sell from wheel remanufacturing companies that have cut them and they are two halves welded at the inner and outer rim. They look cheap and like they are OEM cut-out. Because of weight and open-design I would spend the cash on aftermarket. I'm just waiting to see some on bikes, for the price to go down, for more choices to appear and to see if the 18x6 w/200 on the rear is really as good as they claim. I know the 240-280 make the already hard to corner pig even more so.