Posts
643
Joined
6/26/2014
Location
Southern MD, MD, USA
Edited Date/Time
2/3/2018 6:37pm
I wanted to post this up for a buddy of mine that has had a set of Tusk wheel/hubs on his RMZ450 for about a year. After reading a few magazine reviews that said they were solid wheels, especially for the price, he decided to give it a try. The wheels really do look amazing and the price is less than half what I paid for the DID/kite set from Dubya I have on my bike. The tusk wheels were a great value, or so it seemed.
Flash forward 1 year and 2 exploded rear hubs later, that opinion may have changed on the perceived good value of the wheels. Thankfully, both times it has happened hasn't been on the face of a large jump so it didn't kill him. But it did destroy his chain, chain slider, chain guide, sprocket and rear wheel both times. The issue was for whatever reason, the rear sprocket would come loose within an hour or 2 every time he rode the bike. The rear sprocket was installed with a new bolt kit (2 different brands on the 2 different rear wheels), which includes the locking type nuts and were torqued to spec. After the first hub failed, he assumed it was a fluke and got another tusk rear wheel. This time, the rear sprocket was installed again with new bolts/locking nuts, torqued to spec AND used loctite. A few months later, same thing happened. He would check the rear sprocket bolts before he rode. The sprocket loosens while being ridden and breaks the tabs off the hub...catastrophic failure follows..
I've never had a bolt on my rear sprocket come loose on any set of wheel I've had. It's hard to believe it's a fluke that this same thing happened 2x and must lend itself to some sort of manufacturing defect or tolerance issue.
Has anybody else had issues with tusk wheels?
First wheel:
Second wheel:
Flash forward 1 year and 2 exploded rear hubs later, that opinion may have changed on the perceived good value of the wheels. Thankfully, both times it has happened hasn't been on the face of a large jump so it didn't kill him. But it did destroy his chain, chain slider, chain guide, sprocket and rear wheel both times. The issue was for whatever reason, the rear sprocket would come loose within an hour or 2 every time he rode the bike. The rear sprocket was installed with a new bolt kit (2 different brands on the 2 different rear wheels), which includes the locking type nuts and were torqued to spec. After the first hub failed, he assumed it was a fluke and got another tusk rear wheel. This time, the rear sprocket was installed again with new bolts/locking nuts, torqued to spec AND used loctite. A few months later, same thing happened. He would check the rear sprocket bolts before he rode. The sprocket loosens while being ridden and breaks the tabs off the hub...catastrophic failure follows..
I've never had a bolt on my rear sprocket come loose on any set of wheel I've had. It's hard to believe it's a fluke that this same thing happened 2x and must lend itself to some sort of manufacturing defect or tolerance issue.
Has anybody else had issues with tusk wheels?
First wheel:
Second wheel:
If so, it is the owners fault for not keeping up on sprocket bolt tightness.
If not, then it would probably be a bad casting..
If the rear sprocket is coming loose it's not because of the wheels, that's because your buddy isn't getting them tight enough or checking them enough. Crank those SOB's down and you won't have an issue.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
On a side note , I always put the quality of Tusk right up there with DNA wheels. And in my opinion suck! The wheels and spokes are made out of tin foil and the hub was the only descent thing about the wheel sets I've seen. You can chase spokes forever because they'll never seat. I've seen the rims get bent on the very first day of riding.
Another side note though.....those pictures look like the sprocket bolts were neglected and were ridden a few times while they were loose.
Thank gawd nobody got hurt , is the most important thing.
2. In 25 years I have never had an issue with rims or hubs like your "friend" has so frequently ..... I am not trying to be a dick but, I would look towards operator error or pure neglect of preventive maintenance!
Classic case of lack of maintenance.
Pit Row
then just pop on good wheels for races. just cant make myself drop 800 plus.
i have had good luck with torque loc tite then mark the nut,so you can easily see if it moves. i do that with most bolts and nuts on my bikes.
The second time this happened, a certified mechanic installed all the components and used loctite at my request. The bike had 5 rides on a new chain, sprocket, chain guide, and rear wheel and hub. Each time the bolts were checked before riding based on what happened beforehand. And let's not get crazy, people don't, and should not have to check sprocket bolts every ride.
There was no oblong wear pattern to the sprocket or the hub once this broke. I used a different sprocket, chain, chain guide, and sprocket bolts this time. The only thing that was the same was the hub and rear wheel.
As you guys can see, this bike is about the farthest thing you can get from a neglected bike.
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