BST Carbon or Marchesini Forged??

[RobertVP]

Well, I have more than 30,000 miles on a couple different pairs of BSTs.

My 2005 ST4S has been running BSTs for 6 years and around 25,000 miles. And that bike has not been babied! The rims has dealt with sleet, temps ranging from 30 to 105 degrees. Potholes have been hit. Etc. Etc. I have never had an issue with the rims not performing flawlessly.

By far the biggest problem with the wheels is getting the tires changed. Since my ST4S only used on long trips - usually a week or more and 2,000+ miles - I often need to get the tires changed by unfamiliar shops. This is a concern since a deep scratch can mean the end of the rim, whereas a deep scratch on an aluminum rim is a cosmetic issue. Earlier in this thread a post mentions a rim being destroyed during a tire change. I have no doubt the person changing the tire applied far more pressure than necessary on the rim. However, if it was an aluminum rim there probably would not have been an issue. I've also come across shops that won't change tires on CF rims. OK, I probably wouldn't want them to change my tires anyway!

In fact last year I had new tires mounted by my local shop and they did damage the front rim. Luckily, they are a great shop and they had replaced the rim before I even knew there was an issue! I walked in to pick up the bike and the Service Manager handed me the warranty papers for my new rim. "Uh, what do you mean" I asked. He then explained the rim had moved on the tire changer and been damaged. A local supplier happened to have a replacement in stock. I wouldn't expect that kind of customer service whilst on the road!

BSTs are more susceptible to structural damage than metal rims. There is no two ways about that. However, from my experience they are more than up to the task for everyday riding.

There are horror stories, sure, but just consider how many thousands (tens of thousands?) of BST rims are out there.

Sorry for the long post, but one final note. If I ride the ST4S one day and the next hop on the S1000RR it takes me quite a few miles to get used to how slowly the RR turns in comparison to the ST4S!

[Jackson]

I have to wonder if guys that buy carbon fiber wheels buy the lightest tires they can get? I would think a good forged aluminum wheel with light tires would feel similar to a carbon wheel with heavy tires.

Personally after seeing the horrific destruction of bst wheels in a track setting and the fact that moto gp doesn't use them I'm going to stick with the forged aluminum wheels on my bike.

[josheppi]

It is sad to have to add my part to this thread...our client had just installed the BSTs, went on a tour, hit some obstruction in the road way...fractured front. Rider did not go down, so how fast could he have really been going, and definitely was not mid-turn at time of impact. Trying to resolve this for our client, so we will see how BST handles this unfortunate outcome.

[varunrajg]

Ooh!! Too bad.. I got the Marchesini Forged Aluminum - found that its wieght savings is not HUGE compared to the stock wheel. The stock wheel is actually pretty light for being stock. And the stock HP4 wheel and the marchesini Aluminum front wehhels weigh the same. Rear is close too. I keep telling myself I should have gone BST - after not noticing a great improvement with the forged aluminums in any department. But looking at this picture - maybe not. Maybe I just did myself good. On perfect roads - yes BST - but none of us have raods like that..

I would say try HP4 wheels, if you wanted to try lighter wheels - they are strong, sexy and ssstock!!

[Dflip]

You ride big rims I ride factory Beep beep beep think that I'm Kobe Swish!

[kismetcapitan]

seems the best solution is a BST front and a forged AL rear (going magnesium for the street is probably even more risky than CF).

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by usrodeo4

I'm going to have to kind of disagree...I work as an engineer for a certain American defense contractor that made a certain black airplane and the CF components were under tremendous stress and worked near flawlessly for more than 10 years....having said that I haven't seen any engineering mean time to failure tests on BST wheels so have no comment...other than they look badass and the weight savings are other worldly for handling I have to imagine.

Ah yes - I too am aware of certain composites of considerable complexity and quality but I doubt you'll be getting that stuff in a BST wheel. It'd cost more than the bike!


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[varunrajg]

Originally Posted by kismetcapitan

seems the best solution is a BST front and a forged AL rear (going magnesium for the street is probably even more risky than CF).

The wheel that broke here is the front isnt it? You wheelie on a super light BST front end, bring it down and there you go fractured front end. On our bikes I think we may have more of thee cases, cas once the front end is that light - it gets wheelie prone. Theres been another person on this site who took out the BST's on the S1K and in the first ride - got the bike to wheelie - came down and broke the rim...

But again there are others who have been fine. Potholes suck!!