I got a flat spot in my front rim, when I hit a smallish pothole on the road. In all my years of riding bikes, I have never dented a rim, except for this. I went to the dealer, who told me that it was a known problem, and they have replaced several under warranty. (Have since checked with other dealers, who have told me the same thing). My local KTM Dealer put in a warranty claim and it was refused. When he looked at the reason for refusal, it said "not covered by warranty". How can they acknowledge there is a problem by accepting warranty claims, then just up and decide that they don't want to know about it any more. A new vehicle warranty is supposed to be a legally binding thing, not something that they can change to suit themselves whenever a big problem comes along. Has anyone else had their warranty claim for rims rejected, or had their rims repaired under warranty. I want to get as much info as I can before pursuing this further (Legally).
Yep replaced mine under warranty no prob's . Now my second rim is just about stuffed . Just about time for a Exell I think .
Lots of nicks, but no new dents. I do have some flat spots in my front, but that was from the same rock that totaled my rear rim. I think the rim bending problem is from 4 issues, in this order. 1) It's a 450 pound bike. It's not going to bounce off stuff like a CR250. 2) Running too low of air pressure. 3) Soft suspension bottoming out and transferring all that force to the rim. 4) Soft rims. I do wonder why KTM refused your warranty claim but fixed others. Try a different dealer. Maybe KTM was mad at them for something. :huh
640's are the same eventualy bent mine like a 50 cent piece replaced it with a double stamp excell now thats got a dent as well. Its the same rim as your 950 by the way. The problem is that they are to wide an excell is much thinner so stronger although not much im afraid. If you run low pressures and hit rocks they bend. Usualy with a pinched tube as well which resulted in flat tyre and broken bones on my last ride. Im moving to a MOTOZ front tyre so I can run higher pressures and still have plenty of grip. Perhaps they are not honouring the waranty as that means they accept responsability and therefore would also be liabel for other damages associated with the soft rims. Like my collar bone and ribs. MIKE
having been down this path, i had a rim replaced under warranty with the 'new' ktm 9x0 rim which is supposed to fix the problem... took me all of about a tar ride sydney to bourke to bend the new rim - so back to ktm for a replacement warranty rim which they refused to do as 'they've not had any issues with the upgraded rim' what a fucking load of baloney... i was running 25psi on a 908rr front, i've bent the rims running over small objects like roundabouts (being far too lazy to go round them, i usually just go straight over them. i conclude small square edged bumps are not to the lking of nice soft alloy... what ktm did offer me is a replacment rim of the old type which has so far proven much more capable, given i'm riding at 20psi at the moment. only possible known solution is either the correct excel rim, h1 is using one, or the sun rim like auto has. last time i checked the excel rim was out of stock but should be available now... over abut 60kmh the hop from a bent rim becomes less obvious
so far on my 950 no rim issues having said that i havent dont any serious offroad riding yet,although my bike is awaiting a new carby from austria as apparently ktm aust.dont have any 05 carbys for it and have to send away for it,well its been close to 2weeks it still hasnt arrived and im supposed to be leaving for my trip this sunday so to say im annoyed is an understatement.this is under warranty so no issues there just the time its taking to get it sorted out.It shoulda been sent express post,hell i woulda paid $10 for the extra postage if they did it that way.Now i gotta rush everything..
My front rim was replaced under warranty, I never go under 20psi. Try calling Craig Brown, Warranty Manager direct 08 9351 4750 and email craig.brown@ktm.com.au he is quite helpful.
+1 for a front rim under warranty. The rim was supplied, I paid for labour to change it. Mine's an '05. I hit the exposed edge of a cattle grid at 90km/h. I never felt any vibration etc from the bend, mentioned it to the dealer in Perth so it would be recorded and put a claim in when I got home. I was told that the factory are rejecting claims, but KTM Australia are replacing rims. As at Sept 06. It was also reported that there are people who want rims replaced after bending them on really hard rides where a bent rim may reasonably be anticipated and not within the 'normal' conditions of a public road. That was my argument, that they listened to.
craig brown being the bloke who vry firmly told me to bugger off when i tried to get my last claim through for a new rim. he offered me an old type rim and said he'd never honour a rim claim from me again... and pray tell, ray, what constitutes normal conditions for a bike like this? it is sold as an adventure bike and should therefore be able to resonably cope with a wide variety of conditions including hard edged bumps on or off road. I ride a few other bikes over far worse bumps at near identical speeds and they don't bend rims, it would've been handy if they'd fitted a rim that was strong enough in the first place. its a copout to ay the pressure should be 32psi, the bloody thing is a bit dodgy on the dirt at those pressures.
Unfortnately crap warranty is rearing its head everywhere. Stand up and be counted you Austrian Pricks.
What are you guys running for pressure? In the above rocky shot, I was running street pressure. I don't run under 25 and then I am careful on the rocks. My dealer pointed something out to me. Duel sport tires are soft. MX tires are made from a harder compound and protect the rims better. Could be a factor.
Finally got it all sorted out - KTM have rejected my warranty claim, but KTM Aus have come to the party as a jesture of good will and provided a replacement rim FOC. (Thankyou Craig). Lets see how this one goes.
funny i would've thought a 6ply front like the 908rr would provide better protection than a 4ply mx tyre, besides i'm not too sure i'd agree the mx tyres are harder compound but the easy way to tell would be to fit on and see how quickly you wear it out i guess... pressure? 20-25psi everywhere. I prefer 20.
hey Mouse You guys are comparing apples to oranges. Or more specifically, construction to compound. Not that I'm a tyre guru, but the ply (or radial type) determins how stiff the carcass will be. (stiffer = better rim protection but can mean less grip) The compound determin how much grip it will have how / how long it will last, depending on terrain, etc. But an mx trye won't protect the rim very well on a big bike, as they're (normally) a soft carcass, designed for a lighter bike, and (often) so they deform putting more tread on the ground. also they are lighter to give better accel and braking performance. generally speaking a hard terain tyre has larger knobs and is a softer compound, so the tyre surface molds around iregularities in the surface to grip it. and a soft terrain tyre has smaller knobs so it pushes down into the surface to get grip, and harder compound so the knob don't flex and act like a mini paddle to aid drive. and a harder compound doesn't always mean longer wear off road, it can mean much more wheelspin = more wear. of course there are heap of exceptions to the above, eg. run an mx tyre at higher pressure it'll protect the rim better, run a d/s tyre at lower pressures it deform more and grip better, etc.
When I bent my rear stock rim, the dealer tried to talk me into a new 3.5" rim. I think it was 3.5, but anyway, he showed me the tire he uses on the smaller rim. The thing was so stiff I could sit on just the tire and it would barely give. Hard like a rock. Another case in point. I was fixing this old CR250. One of the problems was a slipping clutch. The clutch was warn, but should not have been slipping. I gave up and went to changing out the bald rear tire. The tire was not only bald, but flat. And the tube was ripped up. It was not the clutch slipping, but the rim spinning in the tire. :eek1 The tire was so dang hard, I didn't notice. Not even after riding the bike for a good 2 hours. I just thought the tire was just a bit low.
Well, that'd be one of the points, wouldn't it? What's normal? Maybe the significant word you've missed is 'reasonable'? What is a reasonable interpretation of 'adventure riding'. What was in the advertising material that promoted the bike. Yep, I seem to remember a still photo of 950 in a shallow water crossing - not that it was clear whether it was a causeway, a ford, or just a creek bed. I made the point, to the dealer, that I was riding on a public road, not a 'gazetted track', or a river bed, or a single track or some other place and, in this country, cattle grids are something that can reasonably be expected. I also made the point that I was riding around 90km/h, a reasonable speed. The bike was loaded, to a reasonable extent. I had reasonable tyre pressures, for the conditions (c.25psi). I reasoned that I could reasonably expect that the rim should be able to stand up to those conditions. I felt I was not using the vehicle unreasonably, or abusively. Enroute to Moonan Flat, I rode up the Bridle Track. The pressure was lower (c 20psi), the speed was lower (30 - 50km/h) and the load was less (I've lost some weight). There were still some big hits on rocks etc that gave the front end a serious workout, but no bent rim. Would that be reasonable use for the bike? I'm certainly no gun rider, nor particularly brave or adventurous. But I'm (maybe) more adventurous than someone whom wouldn't choose a 950 or GS, DR, 640 or perhaps even a Scrambler. How about those that would ride a 916 up a muddy track to a rally. Compare that to someone who uses their 4wd and camper as a base while they attack 4wd tracks on an unloaded bike. The issue isn't what is 'normal'. It is what is 'reasonable'. If you think you have an arguable position, irrespective of the number of claims you have previously made, perhaps it's time to get onto Consumer Affairs or whomever they are these days. Back to the original thread question - How many individual claims have been lodged over the Behr rims on KTMs in Australia? How many have been successful? How many have not? Where can we find out this information? Being self-critical for a moment - anecdote is poor evidence.
My front rim was replaced (05 model) and a mate's 04 model also got a rim replaced, both on warranty, and both replaced last year. Can't say whether the replacement rims are that much tougher yet, though they have copped a few poundings and so far so good.
Bollocks! I bet Austria never saw the original claim... if it even made it as far as KTM Aus the first time round.... that would have been as far as it would have got (I have worked with a few OEM's in the past.. including Germans... who are almost Austrians) FWIW - I have both standard size and 'skinny off road sized' Sun rims from Woody's Wheel in the USA. These have proven to be almost indestructible in spite of my best efforts to be too lazy to pump up tires when I should and my target fixation on large rocks in otherwise clear tracks at speed. I expect a good set of Sun or Exel's will stop all but the most avid rock puncher from damaging rims. Even if you get new rims under warranty, you will; still only be getting stock rims which are not to be compared with the after market quality (unfortunately).
perhaps to paraphrase you, auto, it doesn;t matter how many times ktm replace the rims they are ging to keep bending under reasonable conditions... my next rim will be n excel, it cannot be any worse...
