Wheel bent; replacement options?

I have a 1978 KZ650 C2.

My local dealer seems to have bent my front wheel when changing the tire. I have a noticeable shimmy above about 45 mph.

The front wheel is of 19" cast, dual-disc type. Are there other KZ models with a front wheel that would fit? Something tubeless would be preferrable, although a wire wheel would be fine, too. I'd really like to keep the dual front discs. My current wheel is a cast, tube-type wheel, and the dealer claims that mounting tires on such wheels is extremely difficult (hence the bent wheel?).

Thank you for your help,

David
Texarkana, AR

Is there anyone near you that can straighten wheels properly. Some shops used to do that I'm told.

Did he mention how difficult it would be before or after he messed up?

have you tried balancing it,or can you see its bent?

Your dealer is a dummy.

That said, any KZ650, 76-80 750 twin, or KZ1000 (at least through 79) should work.

I would pretty much say they owe me a wheel, and it was a cast wheel? Not even spoked? Someone would burn in hell for that! Time for me to smell the roses again to lower the blood pressure

Dont let them give you your bikes over 20 years old crap // Been there .. as you can see :sick:

They owe you a wheel! Speak to the manager. To bend your wheel took alot of ignorance

I have a stripped down front wheel off of my 1000 taking up space. If you want it it's yours. You will need to transfer everything but the bearings from your old wheel onto it. Let me know if you want it.

www.pantherwheels.com/motorcycle.asp

That dealer definitely owes you a wheel. You must do something really wrong and/or stupid to bend a cast wheel while putting a new donut on it...

Thanks for all of the helpful info, guys.

When I took the wheel in the first time, I didn't realize that it was a tube-type wheel, so I though it would be a simple operation. They told me that it needed a new tube, so I had them put one in. Then I picked up the wheel with a Dunlop K491 Elite II (that I bought from them), and when I got it on the bike I realized that it was wobbling fiercely. At first I thought the wheel was bent, but then I looked at the sides of the tire and saw that it was tucked in at a couple of areas.

I took it back and asked the dealer to fix it, and they told me they could not. They told me that my wheel must have come with a tubeless tire but that someone put a tube in it. I did a little searching (in my shop manual, among other places) and found that this wheel did come with a tube.

(The dealer continues to maintain that my wheel did not come with a tube, which is part of what makes me never want to deal with them again; how can they get that wrong? They also told me that my bike came with an 18" wheel, which also appears to be dead wrong. Granted, I only took in the wheel and gave them the model information, but still, they should be able to figure it out.)

Anyhow, they suggested that the tube was trapping air inside the tubeless tire and preventing it from seating properly. The service manager told me that "in the old days" they used to sold the problem by deflating the tire to 3-5 psi and riding it "'till it warms up and hopefully seats." I found this shocking and refused to do it. Then they told me that I should get a tubeless valve stem adapter, i.e. a valve stem to make the wheel tubeless. At first this sounded like a good idea, but I did some looking on this forum and heard at least one person suggest that this was dangerous. The thought of my front tire breaking loose and crumpling under hard braking was enough to tell the dealer I would not accept that proposal.

I called Kawasaki and asked for help, and they said no tubeless wheels are available. They told me to have the dealer call the tech line. I asked for the tech line number, but of course they would not give it to me. I told the Kawasaki guy that if I didn't find a solution, I would have to throw the whole bike away, and he said "sorry, man."

I called Dunlop, and they almost completely refused to talk to me. They told me to tell the dealer to call them.

The service manager at the dealer said he called Kawasaki's tech line and they told him that there was no tire that would fit on that rim. He told me that "What you want doesn't exist anymore." He said he also called Dunlop and they told him to "poke a hole in the tire" to let the air escape from around the tube.

Eventually, I took matters into my own hands and ordered a Bridgestone Accolade AC03, which was the only tube-type tire I could find in my size. I took it to the dealer and they put it on. When I picked it up, the service manager said they had to put it on and take it off "about four times" to get it to seat. He said they would not do the rear and that there is no way they would have done the front if they had known "what it was."

When I raise the front wheel and spin it, I can see the middle of the tire wobbling back and forth (one full cycle of back and forth per revolution) about 3/8" (although I have not measured it. I have not put something up to the rim to check it, but an eyeball check shows a little wiggle.

I did not spin the wheel to check it before I took the wheel in the first time (big mistake, I suppose), so I am not sure if it was bent a little bit before. What I am sure of, however, is that the front end was rock solid on the freeway with the old tire, which was a Dunlop K291 (which Dunlop says hasn't been made in over 15 years; it was cracked real bad, which is why I wanted rid of it; the rear is still a K291 but shows only minor sidewall cracking; I suppose it gets less sunlight than the front)

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully I can learn a few things out of all this and maybe save some other folks some trouble.

Thanks again,
David