Advice on Rim Change

spray____

spray____

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Going to swap a rear rim on my '06 GS500F. I had it in a few months back and the mechanic noticed a ding in one side so it's no longer perfectly round. I hadn't even noticed, but he suggested I replace it with a new rim. I found one one Ebay for a good price, it arrived, and now I've got some time to do the work.

I'm planning on pulling the old one off myself, and moving the disc, sprocket, and all of the other small parts to the new rim. Then I'm going to bring it into CycleWerx and have them move the tire from the old one to the new one and balance it.

My question is, does anyone have any advice for this sort of procedure? I'm going to clean up everything I can while it's apart, but I'm just wondering if there is anything specific I should be cleaning/lubing, or anything I should be careful not to touch? Is there anything that's easily messed up, or common mistakes doing this kind of thing?

Found a diagram to help me with the process.
 
its pretty straight forward.

Swap over components parts that aren't supplied with the replacement rim.
 
What shape is your tire in ?
You say that you dont notice any problem when your riding,
why not wait until you need a new tire and do the swap then.
 
Tire still has a ton of life left, according to my more experienced friends.

I probably could have just left this, but just knowing about the imperfection makes me nervous, especially in the turns. Probably not an issue, but I'd feel better once it's fixed.

Also, now that I've already bought the rim it's just sitting around taking up space until I get the transfer done. It's only $25 to have the tire moved and rim balanced, so I figured I might as well just get it done.
 
I'd take the opportunity to install new bearings rather than re-use the 7 year old bearings in the old wheel seeing as you have to R&R them anyway.
 
coyo said:
I'd take the opportunity to install new bearings rather than re-use the 7 year old bearings in the old wheel seeing as you have to R&R them anyway.
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Guessing that means remove and replace and is referring to #14 (x2) & #15 here?

Is there any motivation for replacing them? Looks like it would be about $50 to get 3 new ones. I know it's not a ton of money, but I leaning towards just inspecting them and reusing unless I see something wrong with them. Worst case scenario if I have problems down the line I can always just pull the axel and replace them on my own.
 
raydowe said:
Guessing that means remove and replace and is referring to #14 (x2) & #15 here?

Is there any motivation for replacing them? Looks like it would be about $50 to get 3 new ones. I know it's not a ton of money, but I leaning towards just inspecting them and reusing unless I see something wrong with them. Worst case scenario if I have problems down the line I can always just pull the axel and replace them on my own.
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Those are the bearings I speak of. I'm thinking of a 7 year old bearing (which has a lifespan) and will have some degree of wear being driven / beaten out of a seat to then get driven / beaten back into a new seat. $50 seems like cheap insurance to me considering you're going to be doing the work either way.

As a reference; when I powder coated the wheels on my TLS I put new bearings in, not because anything was wrong with them but because of the above reasons... and that was putting bearings into the same wheels. I don't know how much effect a minutely damaged bearing (outer surface of the bearing making contact with the seat) would produce being introduced into a new wheel.
 
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coyo said:
Those are the bearings I speak of. I'm thinking of a 7 year old bearing (which has a lifespan) and will have some degree of wear being driven / beaten out of a seat to then get driven / beaten back into a new seat. $50 seems like cheap insurance to me considering you're going to be doing the work either way. As a reference; when I powder coated the wheels on my TLS I put new bearings in, not because anything was wrong with them but because of the above reasons... and that was putting bearings into the same wheels.
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Fair enough, I'll definitely think about it... if I end up replacing them, I'll probably do the front as well.

Do you have any idea if there are other options for sourcing these bearings? $20/ea seems kind of steep, and it seems like the kind of thing that would be easy to find elsewhere or you'd pay a higher price because it's the official Suzuki OEM part, not the standard generic part that's exactly the same thing without the fancy packaging/logo.
 
raydowe said:
Fair enough, I'll definitely think about it... if I end up replacing them, I'll probably do the front as well.

Do you have any idea if there are other options for sourcing these bearings? $20/ea seems kind of steep, and it seems like the kind of thing that would be easy to find elsewhere or you'd pay a higher price because it's the official Suzuki OEM part, not the standard generic part that's exactly the same thing without the fancy packaging/logo.
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Give Glen @ FS a call. He can get you or prob has in stock a in set bearings with seals for less than OEM suzuki parts.

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Make sure you use a good allan ket for the disc they are generally red locktite and real easy to strip out if your trying to use cheapie/worn tools.
 
FSMotorcycle, or did you buy them direct from All Balls Racing website?
 
coyo said:
Those are the bearings I speak of. I'm thinking of a 7 year old bearing (which has a lifespan) and will have some degree of wear being driven / beaten out of a seat to then get driven / beaten back into a new seat. $50 seems like cheap insurance to me considering you're going to be doing the work either way.
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Had a more involved look at what it would take to change the bearings, and I see what you mean now. I thought they would just slide out, but it's not very likely that's the case. If they are going to be a pain and I have to bash them out, I could easily destroy even a good set.

Talked to the guys at StudioCycle and they ordered both front and back kits for $30.

Thanks for the advice, that is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of. If I hadn't thought about it in advance, I wouldn't have figured it out until I dropped the wheel and then I'd be out of commission for a while waiting for parts to come in.
 
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