Dammit I went down!!

Well it finally happened....3 years and nearly 15k and I lost it around a corner at about 15mph on a wet road. I managed to keep it up until sliding off the road and hittin a rock wall..We were touring west mountain, I wasnt not going fast at all. I bent the foot peg in, small little scratch on the fairing and a bent rim where the bike hit the wall. Which leaves me to the question at hand... I noticed that when I took my hands of the bars it starts to pull to the left. I have to lean right to keep her straight. I am hoping this may be a tire issue. Is it safe to drive with a small gash in the wheel?? I know I have done it when I dinged up my pimp wheels on my car. It didnt effect it at all. Course that be 4 wheels and all. The ding does not seem like it is touching the tire, it is nearly 1 inch but its pretty bad. HONDA is going to tell me something about safety and try to sell me a 300 dollar rim...Do I have any options...push my luck??? I thought about a ball pean hammer and a little finese...
I would love to email someone a pic and let them tell me what I am expecting to hear already....Well thats it...:vader:

 

You'd be lucky if it was only 300. I smashed my front and Honda quoted me $656 for a new front. flat black. nothing fancy.

Post up in a Wanted To Buy post and see if anyone comes forward. That's what I did. took 1 1/2 month but got one somewhat locally for $150.

 

here is the link...I still cant figure how to to post a pic...you can check my profile..I posted them there... DSCN0078 - VFRworld Photo Gallery

 

IMHO, it doesn't look that bad to me as it doesn't appear to have bothered the portion of the wheel that the bead sits on. Insurance companies are using reconditioned wheels more and more, it might be possible to find a place that would recondition the wheel.

 

Glad your ok, or atleast able to still type. Wheel looks ok to run. pulling maybe that your forks got out of aligned or tweaked a bit. Insurance??

 

Check the forks and alignment of the trees. If they are OK, Computrack the bike to see if it is bent.

Around here, we have 2 or more companies that can fix that wheel.

 

Sorry to hear that you biffed Killerkingdon. Seems like that's been happening alot around here lately. WTF!!! Hopefully you didn't bend a fork tube,tweak the lower triple clamp,or twist the frame. All these could cause the bike to pull to one side. However,as strange as it may seem,you may have simply pushed one of the fork tubes up slightly higher in the triple clamps than the other when you center punched that wall. This could cause the bike to pull to one side too,because the centerline of the axle on one side is now slightly higher above true horizontal in relation to the other side while the bike is in a true vertical position. You'll need to remove your front wheel and fender,untorque the upper and lower triple clamp bolts,remove your clip-ons,and reset the fork depth in the triple trees. Work on one fork leg at a time. The measurement is 41mm from the top of the upper triple clamp to the top of the fork tube. The measurement is to the top of the chrome fork tube,NOT to the top of the top cap that's screwed into the fork tube! The Honda service manual stresses that this measurement MUST be precise for the front wheel to track correctly. Resetting the proper fork depth may,or may not cure your steering pull issue Killerkingdon,but since you said it was a fairly low speed get-off,it's the simplest and most logical place to start. I can supply you with the proper front end bolt torques if you need them. As to your rim repair,I would suggest MC Wheel in Swanzey New Hampshire. Here's the link. mcwheel wheel repair for alloy car and motorcycle wheels, straightening, motorcycle wheel repair, motorcycle wheel straightening, bent motorcycle wheel, bent wheel, bent motorcycle rim, bent rim. It's truly astonishing to see some of the mangled rims on their website that they've straightened. I had them straighten the front rim on my Ducati 900ss after someone (noone knows who of course) took it out of the bead blasting cabinet at work and dropped it. For the extra $20.00,I opted for the race spec straightening which makes the rim truer than when it came from the factory. Cost was $140.00,turn-around time was just over a week. You'll need to repaint the rim when they're done with it though. Hope this helps you. Good Luck.

 

I see wheels on Ebay regularly.

 

I would have the front end looked at. As mentioned above, the front bends fairly easily and can cause big problems if not corrected.

 

WOW...Thanks for the info..I am making plans to have the wheel checked out in Little Rock...thanks for the advice!!