Section 7, Lester Wheels
©
Copyright, 2011, R. Fleischer
This is article 54,
section 7
lesterwhls.htm
Lester cast alloy 7 'spoke' wheels were a popular aftermarket modification for BMW motorcycles a long time ago. Lester made them for the front and the rear. Lester also made wheels for many types of motorcycles, bicycles, etc.
Lester wheels can have problems. They were not well
put together in the hub area right from the factory, and ALSO the wheels have a
disturbing tendency to get stress cracks (no nasty potholes
needed)...or worse........around the hub, and elsewhere's.
These wheels also do not have the safety-rim 'bumps' for use with
tubeless tires.
Lester wheels were well-known to have improper preload shimming
(there were no actual changeable shims). Too tight and the
bearings overheated, sometimes with disastrous results.
Some wheels cracked. Lester was sued out of existence.
Lester alloy wheels probably should NOT be used in tubeless mode,
as they do NOT have a safety bead for the tire to hump over,
which tubeless rims do. Many have, however, run them safely
as tubeless for huge mileages, with NO problems....in the same
way as many with the BMW Snowflake tube-type wheels have used
them as tubeless. There is an article on this website about
that: Section6.htm
MOST Lester wheels as used on BMW Airhead Motorcycles originally came with a water pipe spacer inside, and no good method of adjusting the bearing preload.
If you have Lester wheels, they must have the wheel bearings serviced just like any other early BMW wheels, which means cleaning, lubricating, new seals, and...of course....checking the preload on the bearings. The preload is VERY important on Lester wheels, due to the LOUSY Lester internal spacer, which is fixed in length, and which is not all that stable.
The bearings are the same BMW bearings as in the other models (before 1985, that is), they are #30203. That is a very common bearing, at any bearing supplier, or your BMW dealership.
Besides the tendency for cracking, the main problem is that Lester did a lousy job on what they put INSIDE the hubs, and you may well find almost anything inside yours!
If you intend to continue to ride on Lester wheels, at least
inspect them often in the hub area (a close eyeball on the hubs now and then
before a ride is helpful).
If your wheel has side play, or too much bearing friction, you are
ASKING for problems.
If you are servicing your Lester wheels, and you find just a piece of water pipe inside for a spacer, you REALLY should install the BMW parts. The process is QUITE similar to the early wheels in which one inserted the axle from the drum side, and heated the hub, and withdrew all the items out of the hub. WHAT you do with the contents, and the seals, etc., all depends on what you find inside your wheels
Heating the hub is required to install or remove
the bearings, etc., as there is no steel
insert cast into the wheels. About
250°F.
For a relatively easy way to install the parts as used on the
1970-1978 BMW motorcycles, adjusting the shimming withOUT the
need for special tools, see Duane Ausherman's website.
http://W6REC.com
I have other articles or links to articles that
explains some of what you need to know, and references some
previously published articles:
whlbrgclinic++.htm
In order to work on Lester wheels, be SURE to read ALL of these
articles; and see other subsections of section 54 on the
list of technical articles, the link is below.
section4.htm
catch.htm
One should use the BMW spacers and shim; and PROPERLY preload the bearings.
You might also want to make an inquiry to the Airheads LIST....especially if you have an unusual Lester wheel situation.
Rev:
11/23/2004: minor, for clarity
01/23/2010: minor clarity and emphasis changes
04/10/2010: Minor clarifications, and then add hyperlinks.
06/20/2011: slight updating
© Copyright, 2011, R. Fleischer