I want to pass on to everyone something that I learned the hard way...

If you flat spot your laced wheel (ride on a South Carolina road and you can do it... or park in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and have a woman driving a pickup back up straight back across the drive aisle into your bike) it can't be trued and you need to replace the wheel, right? The problem is that Harley Davidson changes what >appears< to be the same wheel with minor and irritating 'features' more often than a woman changes her shoes.

Buying a used wheel no matter how good a shape it's in is risky business, even from the same bike and the same year! In my case I added chrome lowers on my front end and my bike had a chrome hub from the factory. I bought one that was perfectly good in every way except for one thing... the hub was polished, not chrome, so it looks like crap next to my chrome lowers compared to my old one. At least I lucked out and the axle size was correct and the rotor fit properly on the hub.

Any 2.15 x 21 x 40 spoke rim would have worked fine... I should have bought new spokes and a new rim and relaced my wheel... no ifs, ands, or buts because that is what I am going to end up doing anyway, using my replacement's rim and spokes. It would have been cheaper, even if I paid someone to true the wheel after I assembled it... a LOT cheaper.

I think this is probably true of ANY laced wheel. Get a rim, get some spokes, have someone rebuild the wheel if you don't think you can do it.

Or, spend some big bucks and buy those wheels you always dreamed about having...

Anyone selling a laced wheel takeoff needs to be aware that they need to be very, very specific about how their wheel is made for someone to be able to buy it and have an exact replacement. This is not their fault, it is the madness of Harley Davidson who is outsourcing everything on our bikes as far as I can tell. The specs depend upon the lowest bidder... not what makes sense or a better design, necessarily. It must be that HD only assembles parts to make a bike anymore. There is no other explanation that I can figure.

C#

 

This is the main reason I'm buying new Profiles for my Deluxe, rather than used ones, anything used would in my opinion have to be trued first, I'm also having them fitted by the dealer, for an agreed price first, he's ordered them, he's fitting them, any problems, they're his problems. only downside... I gotta pay 3 hours labour.
The other reason is that I'll have spare wheels, I'm going to powdercoat the rims and hubs black.

And unfortunately for anyone buying used... the seller wont be too model specific, probably quite vague in reality, because he wants them to appeal to as broad a customer base as he can, with the old getout clause of....''may fit other models, please check first''. ever heard that one.

 

It appears that you need to do better research on the parts you purchase. Also if you don't know how to check things out then you need to buy new. I've bought many a used part, including laced wheels, and have yet to get stung..................Knockin on wood.

 

Same exact year, same exact model. How much research should that require? How was I to know that Harley made some with polished hubs and some with chrome hubs? I'll bet the parts man at my dealer doesn't know that. I have a parts manual for my bike. It doesn't provide different part numbers for these two configurations. How much more "reasearch" would >you< recommend... fly across the country with my old wheel and compare the two? You can't tell if it's dirty or just unpolished in a picture. I'm glad >your< research has proven successful for you.

They have changed within a four year period I think from 3/4" to 25mm to 1" in rear axle sizes. Same diamter and width wheel... do you think that makes sense and serves a purpose for their customers? Does that mean that those of us with the 3/4" are doomed to die because our rear axles are somehow inferior?

 

You could have asked the seller....................

 

They have changed within a four year period I think from 3/4" to 25mm to 1" in rear axle sizes. Same diamter and width wheel... do you think that makes sense and serves a purpose for their customers? Does that mean that those of us with the 3/4" are doomed to die because our rear axles are somehow inferior?[/QUOTE]

This I'm on board with. The MoCo intentionally does this to keep a cash flow and it sucks. Its a feeble attempt at cornering the market for parts and such.You just have to be more aware and vigilant on the newer models .

 

You sure are a hard case... the point is why would I and/or should I have had to ask this question? The purpose of the post is to explain to the less experienced wheel hunters (which is me in the case of HD) not to fall into the same trap. I laced plenty of wheels on Brits and Rice Burners... I was just too busy to do it this time. I'm going to Daytona instead of lacing a wheel. But of course, you are correct... I >should< have flown out to where the wheel was and looked at it so I could figure out every question, seemingly dumb or otherwise, to ask. Geeezzeeee....