Thread: First Look! Durrani's New One-Piece Wheels

First Look! Durrani’s New One Piece Wheel

©Dave Solo 2008, MCADX Magazine Feel free to link this article, but please – no cutting and pasting.

It’s not yet time to settle bets on this issue, but the ultimate outcome is getting closer.

Sheryar Durrani’s work in progress (full details here) made a significant step forward when the first test batch of his new one-piece, magnesium wheels were successfully thixomolded on Friday, April 4th, 2008.

These are pictures of the pre-production front wheel, which will undergo rigorous testing in the next two weeks. It is not a prototype: it was produced in the exact manner that Durrani expects the final production wheels to be made after all testing, evaluation, and any necessary adjustments in design or process are completed. Only after wheels from multiple batches have passed all tests - conclusively and consistently - will they be made available for purchase.

No hubs attached, but still very light

Durrani has been working ceaselessly on these one-piece, thixomolded wheels since abandoning his original multi-piece design, which proved too costly and difficult to produce. The new wheel is shown next to the original “Thixocore,” which was intended to serve as the structural basis for his original design. A rolled ring of extruded magnesium was to be welded and bonded to its narrow rim.

The new one-piece rim is on the left. The Thixocore was part of a multi-piece solution that wasn't...

Interestingly, the new wheel weighs only four ounces more than the Thixocore. You can see that material has been removed from the hub area and some of the spoke structures, which were seen after testing to have been overbuilt. Model-specific hubs and cush drives made of magnesium will thread into the wheel centers.


The rear wheels are scheduled to be produced next week.

I asked Durrani what the procedure would be to test the wheels:[BREAK=The testing procedures]

Motorcycle Addicts Magazine (MCADX): What is the protocol for testing these wheels? What will have to happen before they’re good to go?

Sheryar Durrani (SD): "There are, I think, 34 pages of test specification environments for global analysis.

Let me give you some highlights:

5 million cycles of up to 240 miles per hour with up to 5000 lb peak loads, randomly distributed over 5 million revolutions of the wheel, basically. It’s very severe – not like 100,000 miles at 50 miles per hour with the wheel just turning; it’s going through constant abuse."

MCADX: So there’s a rolling road of some kind that applies the loads?

SD: "Yeah, the test lab has a 2 million dollar machine that has a massive arm that mounts and runs it: it will spin it up to 280 miles per hour or so. It will do all the testing at the speed we need with all the exact specific bearing mounts.

Then they do torsional tests for the number of cycles it needs. I think the minimum is 230 miles per hour for 5,000 miles with 1,000 pound load on the axle of one wheel. That’s a lot to have as a constant load, as if it were 2000 pounds on the bike.

Then there’s 45 degree load testing, as if you are cornering and hitting bumps a lot, through hundreds of thousands of cycles. That’s one arena.

Then there are drop tests for dentability and fracture. All of these are standardized to get global certification from Germany, which is called TUV (pronounced ‘toof’). Additionally, there’s JWL, which is the Japanese standard. A lot of the Japanese and Chinese wheel companies send their wheels to this test lab in Michigan to be tested, because it’s world renowned."

a molding line, not a crack or weld.

MCADX: Are wheels being tested there right now?

SD: "These wheels are being prepped to go there at 8:00 tomorrow morning." (April 9)

MCADX: How long does the process of going through these 34 pages of protocol take?


SD: "A minimum of two weeks. If there are no failures, we’re good. But if there are any issues; fractures, or other conditions, we will have to study and assess them. Remember, these are the same tests that apply to a Gold Wing which weighs 1000 pounds as well as a 450 pound Ducati. We have to assess the results, and in the end, there are governmental standards and our own sensibilities; which are due care and caution for our product.

I’ll be blunt: the (motivating) issue is not someone coming after me to sue me. The amount of pain I would feel if something didn’t work would be much greater than any amount of money that could be taken from me. It’s not about fear of losing money, or lawyers or lawsuits.
If you’re doing something worthwhile that people are enjoying the use of, it’s worth getting it right."

MCADX: Are these made with your proprietary alloy?

SD: "These are made with AM60, (the original alloy used in the thixocore) and they’re designed to pass all tests using that alloy. There is another proprietary alloy, which if it tests out, would be both stronger and more ductile than any other moldable alloy. We intend to go to production with it if it proves out and is available, but the tests will go ahead with the AM60, and we’ll know in two weeks how it performs. If it fails, we’ll make adjustments, which shouldn’t take very long, and then we test again until it passes consistently – not from a single sample, but from multiple batches. We don’t want to ‘accidentally succeed’ and not be able to replicate it."

MCADX: What happens after it passes?

SD: "We make a bunch of wheels; up to a hundred a day. We’ll bring them back here to be machined and send them out to be conversion coated and powder coated. After that we’ll bring them back again to be inspected, assembled, have the bearings installed, inspected again, boxed, and shipped out."

MCADX: I can tell from the difference in your demeanor from our previous conversations that you are much more comfortable with this wheel from a quality control standpoint than the old one.

SD: "It’s so much better: I can’t begin to tell you. It’s the 'difference between the earth and the sky' as my ancestors would say.

There’s no sense of arrogance about this for me now. I have a deep sense of gratitude that it’s coming out this way. But we’re not done yet.

There may be a lot of issues: maybe a lot of pain to come and blood to be let, but that (points to the new wheel) is a substantial enough achievement to give me some peace that has been long coming."

MCADX: So you’re confident?

SD: Quietly confident.

*Full details of the original design, the controversy over the premature acceptance of orders, the production problems that led to abandonment of that concept and subsequent challenges can be found in the first three parts of Wheels within Wheels – Parts Four and Five are from an interview in January of 2008. Pictures and details of the rear wheels and Durrani’s new magnesium clip-ons (adjustable from 3 to 12 degrees wrist angle) will be forthcoming in the following weeks.

If you click buy now you only have the option for paypal. Wonder why?