Ok so the front tire was getting worn so I could almost see the air through it so I decided it was time to change it. Called a buddy and we decided to change it. So we break it down and remove the old (from the factory)tire and the rim was rusted all the way around on the inside next to the spokes. This bike is only 3 years old, hardly ever ridden in the rain. Never sits in the rain or outside.
This is bad because he just changed the tires on his Honda and there was no rust inside the rim. We are always raggin each other about Hondas and Harleys and now this embarrassment. Harley has really went by the wayside with quality. I was seriously considering another new Harley in the spring, now I am having second thoughts. This is not the first experience with poor quality from Harley that I have seen.
Seems MOCO just wants to sell bikes and does not care about quality anymore.

 

As you have a chrome steel rim this is almost unavoidable as compressed air has moisture in it. Most air compressors have water traps on them but depending on where you fill your tires they may not have water traps or may never drain them. Does your buddy's bike have steel or aluminum wheels/rims?

 

Wet air bud .can't avoid it

 

Yup, you should have used Arizona air, its a dry air, no rust.

 

What's a little rust? WD49 and 0000 steel wool and it's gone until the next tire. Repeat as needed until the bike is very old and gets traded in.

 

Like the others---wet air? I don't use nitrogen but my air compressor has a couple of dryers and filters. My air is dry, needs to be for spray painting. I have a 98 Wideglide and an 03 Heritage Softtail with spoked rims. The inside of the rims is still not rusty. I know that tubes lose air but I never thought about or wondered if damp air moves moisture to the rims.

 

Shouldn't be a problem...here is what happened to my Road King Classic

 

elPrez, that's one ugly picture... how old was the wheel when she split?

 

If there was a tube in there,i dont think it was caused by water in air compressors.

 

Since this is a spoke rim, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and blame moisture in the air. After all, you use a tube, so the air is contained and you have a rim strip around the wheel where the spokes penetrate. I'm going to blame bad install. There should be some grease used between the rim strip and the rim to avoid water condensation in that area. I can't remember off the top of my head what it is, but it should be listed in the manual. However, he'd only be dealing with condensation from atmospheric pressure changes and not the air in his tube.