stroker crazy said:
Has anyone got first hand knowledge of the quality of Borrani rims as currently manufactured.
Borrani seem to be the only manufacturer offering the 18" x 1.4 needed to replace the front steel rim on the 'Ace'.
There seems to be no distributor in Oz so I would have to buy them sight unseen from Italy.
Crazy
I've actually been doing some extensive research on this subject, since I'm in the process of swapping rims myself (front came warped from factory and wobbles slightly)
What wasting countless hours has taught me so far:
- Finding a front rim in stock measure 1.4x18 is nigh impossible. Where and when available, they tend to be no-name steel rims with shady quality at best.
- I've phoned Avon (speedmaster tyre), Dunlop (k82 tyre), Heidenau (k44, k65, k39 and k45 tyres), and michelin (pilot street tyre)
distributors and all of them have invariably stated that the
actual reccommended rims for a 2.75(or 80/90 equ.) and 3.00 (90/90 equ.) are
1.6x18 front and 1.85 rear Rims. 1.4 front and 1.6 rear rims are below or marginally fit the optimal range for these tyre measures. Now this, although not potentially death-incurring ( I don't know of anyone going up in flames because of this, myself included ;D ) means that the tyre is slightly pinched into the rim, and the contact patch and tread pattern are modified, thus not allowing the tyre to perform its best. Modern metric tyres (80/90 and 90/90) more so, as they're slightly wider than their equivalent counterparts.
- BORRANI RIMS:
As some of you may know, Borrani started to produce motorcycle
alloy wheels again in 2012. These Borrani wheels come in different spec ranges:
--- Borrani Record/14 rims. These are the ''standard'' quality alloy rims. nothing special about them. They say they have Morad equivalent quality.
--- Borrani Record/11 Rims. These are the interesting ones. after getting in touch with the motocicliveloci company in Italy (They're somehow directly linked to the factory, and are official distributors) they told me they are the direct replica of the high quality 70's rims. They told me the finish is higher quality than record/14 rims, lighter, and 10% ''rounder'' (if that makes any sense).
---Borrani reinforced. same quality as record/14 presumably, stronger structure and therefore heavier. Not needed for a bike this size and weight.
Now, General opinion is that, while the record/11 rims are not exactly like 70's rims ( quite logical, i'm willing to think this is just the factory showing off a little), they are quite high quality rims with a very nice fit and finish.
There has been talk on the internet that these new borrani manufactured wheels are just restamped chinese made wheels, but this is wrong as far as I can tell. It is my understanding that the raw material and the rough shape of the wheel is sourced from china under borrani's specs (here in Europe, enviromental laws have all but killed off most metal processing plants) , then it is shipped to borrani's factory in Italy to be welded, have holes drilled and be finished by hand, using borrani's own machinery.
- Borrani makes a 1.4x18 wheel, but it is of the record/14 type.
- What I'm going for is Borrani's 1.6x18 front rim and 1.85x18 rear Record/11's with stock size 2.75x18 and 90/90x18 Michelin pilot streets. Rear clearances are no issue, front rim will however probably rub against stock front mudguard (i had to very slightly bend outwards the lateral braces of the fender when I mounted the michelins, in part because of the original wobbly rim). Front forks are wide enough to accept a 1.6 rim.
I'm however planning to replace the front guard with an aluminium alloy one that will not have lateral braces, as this is the part that rubs in the original mudguard. I have taken apart the front mudguard when i installed the new tyres and holy moly it is heavy! I'm certain that new alloy wheels with new aluminium mudguard will make the bike handling heaps better. (
DO NOT however, be tempted to eliminate the front fender completely. I rode the bike without it when i changed the tyres to test out how flexy they were, and well lets say they were borderline scary in 90+ km/h twisty roads. The pathetic 27mm forks need all the bracing they can get, the poor things.) I dont reccomend running a fiberglass fender for this very reason, unless you plan to attach it to a metal bridge holder mounting to the forks.
Hope this helps!!
PS: Oh dear god what a wall of text. So sorry guys, hope the detailed information makes up for it.