Carbon Wheels, BST et al.
- Thread starter Flows
- Start date
Stay away from the carbon wheels UNLESS your roads are all perfect with NO pot holes etc, they will NOT take hard bumps or hits.
Interested to hear how the Rotobox look in the ruggedness front in comparison to BST. I think I recall the 44Teeth chaps saying the the Dymag carbon rims were thicker than the BSTs
I see folks saying that Carbon wheels are a lot more rugged these days. Have we heard any stories of modern carbon wheels blowing up in the last 5 years or so?
Some of the carbon wheels are now forged , example like the Boost Bullet wheels , whereas the BST wheels are all pre preg auto clave . Auto clave was always known as the best construction for carbon fibre , I am not sure how the forged stacks up against it nowadays though , and the Dymag are a layered process with adhesive , more hand made apparently , but are also good performers . The German Thyssenkrupp carbon wheels are spun carbon threaded , and are super trick , but can be hard to get fitment for your model sometimes . The BST RapidTek is still officially the lightest wheels in carbon .
Fantastic info mate. Is the modulus of the carbon used known for any or them? Do we think any of the other BST models are tougher than the RapidTeks?
BST do an R (race) version which is toughened up , but is only available in Diamond Tek as far as I know . The latest GP Tek is another type altogether , for road racing basically and is not as strong but lightest ever , whereas the R type Diamond Tek is drag racing . I run the R in 6.625"+ the standard Diamond front on my ZX14R streetbike , with no problems so far , as well as standard 6.25" Diamond rear and front on my ex Busa I just sold . My KTM Superduke runs BST RapidtTek , and the H2 is about to receive freshly landed 7 Tek BST wheels . I have owned 5 sets of BST wheels , and have never had a problem (touch wood) , and we got some chitty roads . You got to take as much care as you are able , and then hope chance deals you lucky .
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Dai.
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My several sets have seen some of the shittiest roads to date and not one crack, bend or issue.
If I was really concerned they couldn’t handle the job, they wouldn’t be on my touring bike.
Apparently alot of the BST cracking issues were on older model wheels, and Before BST added wire hoops on each side of the wheel, that the cf is woven around, which adds alot of strength to the wheels, and Rotobox uses a very similiar design for that reason.
I have gone back and forth on adding cf or aluminum wheels to several bikes, and this is the info that I've found, fwiw.
I have gone back and forth on adding cf or aluminum wheels to several bikes, and this is the info that I've found, fwiw.
I loved my Marchesini forged magnesium wheels. Just a thought.
I love them,but im not taking a chance with them, there have been plenty of documented failures over the years.Moto GP doesnt allow them for a reason.
Dai.
Registered
Been documented failures of every wheel on the market, I bent an oem rim that a BST casually glided over without issue.
Carbon is one of the lightest but not the lightest wheel out there if you have deep pockets.
This is in no way anything to do with my motorcycle but I can see how a lighter rim makes a difference...
My winter rims for my pickup truck are 20 inch steelies....(really heavy)
My summer rims are 20 inch aluminum...
When I put the winter rims on, I can immediately feel the difference, the truck steers heavier and is slower handling along with riding rougher....I can imagine going from a stock rim on a bike to a lightweight one would be similar....
I don't mind the heavier rims on the truck for the winter though.....but I may (may) change them out for lighter aluminum ones in the future.
My winter rims for my pickup truck are 20 inch steelies....(really heavy)
My summer rims are 20 inch aluminum...
When I put the winter rims on, I can immediately feel the difference, the truck steers heavier and is slower handling along with riding rougher....I can imagine going from a stock rim on a bike to a lightweight one would be similar....
I don't mind the heavier rims on the truck for the winter though.....but I may (may) change them out for lighter aluminum ones in the future.
Dont see a listing for Busa , looks like they are making wheels for full sport bikes only , no hypers listed .
Yeah I can't see anything that is made specifically for the busa. Interesting to see the GP Tek wheels with much higher cornering and torsional loads listed than the Rapid Tek or Diamonds but lower radial impact loads. Also noticed that the radial impact loads were a lot higher for the 3.75" front as compared to the 3.5" front. What do we think about using the 3.75" on the front?
It probably will be fine , you just got to make sure you got same fitment as 3.5 . I used to run a 3.75 " Marvic magnesium on my old supercharged Oil Burner GSXR , matched to 6.25" rear . That still handled okay , perhaps a little less lithe , but still turned .
Interesting, I guess the wider the tire the more the contact patch moves to self stabilise with lean. Is this why people running 200/55 on the rear are not experiencing the same turn in as those running 190/55s? Bit of an engineering nube question but what does having a wide rear do to turn in dynamics? Does the contact patch of the rear moving more rapidly into the turn than the front cause the track of the bike to point out of the corner making it want to lean or does that just make it faster to lean but slower to start actually turning or have I got that all backwards?
With the 3.75" setup , I was running Michelin Hi Sport tires , and you could get a 130/70 , which more or less maintained the 120/70 3.5" curvature . A 200/55 tire can be fitted up to a 6" rim , like my KTM and H2 from factory , the Busa comes out with 190/50 for first 2 generations , so people re fitted 190/55 to get that height for better turn in and added change of direction benefit . The wider the tire , yes more contact patch , but payoff is more forces to turn compared to the 190/55 update .
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