BST Wheels beware!!!

I must also add that the aggressive tone in this case is solely limited to Stan. I am still working with BST SA to try to resolve matters, without escalation, without threats, without outright aggression and personal attacks.

My name is Trauma, and I am the exclusive importer of BST wheels to Frontenac, MO. Please don't ask me any questions concerning this matter, as I have not yet imported any CF wheels, and now that I went with the much safer, conflict-free Magnesium wheels, I may not do so in the future either. But please feel free to ask me questions on any other subject, as I am an expert in most, if not all of those.

Sincerely,

B. S. Trauma

I think its great the importer has come on and given us the other side of the story. There are always two sides. So I commend him for doing so and welcome the input. That being both - importer and dealer.

Didn't know this happened in Asia or at least it didn't register when I first looked at it but doesn't matter.

But I discount this just as with any other wheel too. I have crushed other material wheels by hitting potholes and curbs as well. We all know you hit a large enough pothole the chances of you damaging a wheel is pretty high. Looks like that is what happened here.

Is their a possibility that the rider is claiming self destruction or I hit a pebble and it shattered to get the mfg to replace the product on their dime ? I would say yes as well.

My point being is that there are enough of these carbon or mag wheels out there that we know they work. Does .... happen ? Yes. Could there be mfg defects ? Yes as well. I would put more money in that "pothole" being larger than a mfg defect in this and most other cases where a claim is attempted ...

I doubt he is trying to get replacement, there is no coverage, and there was no mention of him asking. It would just be an insurance claim. I guess BSTs have this bad rap all over the world that they are constantly fighting - unfounded or not. But it really dosen't help their case to point out other wheel material's issues. Telling a person scared of flying how much saver it is then driving, does nothing to help their fear. As for me, I just don't like to look or the cost for that matter.

Dunno - sounds like they are trying to get replacements from someone for hitting a pothole of some debatable size. . .

Insurance for potholes/wheels frequently aren't covered and in the rest of the world - auto/bike insurance is non-existent. In Vietnam - doubt there are insurers period. . So this might be because its an "out of pocket" exepense.

I think there is an abnormal fear with Carbon fiber with most. Which is why whenever there is a CF failure or some sort on a wheel - it almost always goes viral somewhere. .. I am sure there are just as many marchesini mags that have destructed but we never hear about them as its a "normal course of business" type of thing. Dunno. no bone to pick in this fight - just that I do think CF wheel failures are overblown. I've destroyed marchesini aluminum wheels when hitting crap and I don't try and make a claim to have marchesini replace them or even get me a discount on a replacement wheel.

Do I think they are foolproof - hell no. Do I think they fail - yeah. Just like any other wheel. I don't think they are any more or less failure prone than other high performance wheels.

This case was never about blackmailing BST for a new set of wheels. Blackmail necessarily would have meant that we would threaten BST and Stan (BST Taiwan) that we would go public if they did not give us a new set of wheels. Not the case here.

Our customer was extremely disappointed that he showed up to a big rider gathering (approximately 500 bikes) in the city of Danang (central Vietnam) having put the most money into the bike, having the most expensive set of wheels and he is the only that came away damaged.

Please keep in mind that hundreds of other bikes also rode the same stretches of road and no one else came away with wheel damage. You can imagine that word got around very fast that the bike with the most expensive wheels got damaged on the way. This is the PR mess or fallout that I was referring to in my post. 500 odd potential customers, who rode the same roads as the BMW, now are less likely to buy BSTs. This audience and their perception is stronger having first hand experience of the roads just travelled. What I want to see is BST standing up and addressing this fallout so that the BST reputation is not permanently damaged in the Vietnam market. We are in business to sell products and I would prefer to keep the BST brand viable rather than destroying potential future sales.

I feel the customer's pain because we advised him to buy the BSTs. Forums offer the public a chance to share and vent a little bit. At no point were we inflammatory or sensational about this. I was not present at the time of the incident and have tried to remain matter of factly when posting. And just because our customer is Vietnamese and cannot speak or write English fluently, does not mean I cannot be his representative in this case.

And despite what Stan says, we previously formed out opinion on the BSTs having seen the major accidents involving both forged AL and BSTs. Where the AL wheels would be mangled, the CF wheels remained somewhat round. That gave us the confidence to believe Stan's line of harder than steel and more flexible.

The beginning of this case, Stan did offer to rebuild the wheel (original AL hubs with new CF wheel) at a cost. During the time that our customer was mulling over the offer, things went viral to the Ducati1199 forum. At that point, Stan seemed to take things very personal and went on the attack. I would like to share 2 emails that Stan wrote to me when things went south for him. After reading the emails, there is not much else left for me to say.

EDITED OUT:

My bad form to have included the emails in the first place.

A relatively new rider with BMW S1000RR. Josh, you sell him BST wheels with wrong profile tires. He goes on a group ride in Vietnam on a road which you describe as "a roadway that is left wavy due to prolonged use by heavy vehicles that end up sinking down the road surface".

The guy with the most expensive wheels (and maybe the most expensive bike) comes back with damaged wheels and wants his money back. You call BST rep and ask warranty replacement. He says no because roadway hazards are not covered under warranty.

You join S1000RR forum to tell your story to push BST for warranty replacement. Then you join this forum for more story telling.

Josh, I think you are full of s**t with your story. Blackmail is blackmail.

BTW, I have no interest in CF wheels, I have never had them and I will never have them.

I'd suggest the truth is somewhere in the middle.

IMO it's highly unlikely for BOTH wheels to fail for
- Slightly different profile tyres
- Bumps in the road (that affected no one else)

I think it's far more likely that the rider has hit something hard at speed and is looking for replacements.

George brought this virus over here (thanks George!) - and I don't believe any of these "emails", "letters", as Ronald McDonald says, it's the internet - you can trust nothing. Way too much drama around these wheels.

Trauma said:

George brought this virus over here (thanks George!) - and I don't believe any of these "emails", "letters", as Ronald McDonald says, it's the internet - you can trust nothing. Way too much drama around these wheels.

Click to expand...

It's not like we're trying to be judge and jury, but if you want to express your side of the story - its a bit ridiculous to try and post the last two messages where communications and relations have obviously broken down. . . If you want to be fair about both of your communications - then the recap of the ENTIRE scenario (emails, voice, etc) should be revealed rather than whatever you are picking and choosing to make your point and painting someone else in a bad light when the .... has already hit the fan.

This isn't about what transpired AFTER you guys decided to take it public - everyone here has been debating about what happened BEFORE to cause this and if anything - then what happened after the failure and before everything went 'viral'

I will never buy carbon fiber wheels.

George Villar said:

I will never buy carbon fiber wheels.

Click to expand...

+1 - I don't like them at all myself.

Luckily, only email has been used to go back and forth. I welcome Stan to post any email or correspondence where we were aggressive, blackmailing or anything of the kind.

When I created the original post on the S1000RR forum on April 4th, I also sent the same pictures to BST to see what they could do in this case, given all the facts and mitigating factors as of that time. I never demanded a replacement, only that BST "step up". Stepping up was left ambiguous to have them come up with an offer. On one end of the spectrum, the customer would get a free replacement and on the other end, the customer it SOL and eats the 4k usd. Stan asked that we hold off and give him time to work things out with BST SA. Things were quiet until the post was created on this forum and then Stan blew up and threatened us. Its all simple as that.

We are a small company in a developing market, but that does not give Stan any right to strongarm us. I only came on this forum to defend myself and give my side of the story.

joshKTL said:

Luckily, only email has been used to go back and forth. I welcome Stan to post any email or correspondence where we were aggressive, blackmailing or anything of the kind.

Click to expand...

Not taking any sides here. Just wanted to point out that you shouldn't be posting private emails in a public forum - especially with email addresses included.
It's just bad form.

Charliem90 said:

Not taking any sides here. Just wanted to point out that you shouldn't be posting private emails in a public forum - especially with email addresses included.
It's just bad form.

Click to expand...

+1

To be honest I was considering getting CF wheels for my base. However after reading this thread in its entirety I think I am gonna shelve that idea.

Wow, how many people who dislike CF wheels truely understands the properties of CF/magnesium/aluminum and not just what you hear on the Internet? If you ever taken chemistry or thermal dynamics course In college you would know the problem with magnesium that its fatigue properties are very poor and so are its corrosion properties but it's cheap to produce this is why manufacturers makes magnesium wheels for racing only. A mag wheel may not last very long even if its perfectly casted or forged and sometimes less than a racing season. Its like aluminum sprockets recommended for racing but not the streets they dont last long. Racing bikes are inspected before and after every race unlike streetbikes. Magnesium wheels good for racing but unattractive for a person who wishes to use them on the street this is why you wont see a manufacturer approve them for the street. Carbon fiber on the other hand is really expensive to produce and labor intensive but CF is fatigue free, corrosion resistant and a lot stronger than mag/aluminum wheels this is why manufacturers will approve them for both the street and racing. Every wheel can be damaged depending on its circumstance and manufacture process whether it's CF or Magnesium.

There are people who always opposes technology they say I will never use:
a graphite golf shaft vs steel
I will never use a polymer gun versus steel
wood houses versus brick
CF airplane vs aluminum
CF wheels verses magnesium
I will never do banking online

Technology keeps the world a better place. Educate yourself with new technology or stay in the stone ages who cares its your decision and you have the right to choose it.

A forum is not a place for blackmail take it back to the s1000rr forum!

Scrappy - I have to keep telling everybody knocking the mag/alum does not make the CFs look any better. And hello, what you just said is on the internet. So we shouldn't believe that either?
Most people (including me) don't like CF wheels because of the look. And BTW, CF is not "new" technology at all, so those compares are not very relavant - not to mention none them are something you are depending on at 150+ miles an hour. And as far as a plane wing, much happier my wings are aluminum rather than CF.
This is one of those topics/threeads that will not change people's opinions no matter how many post, or their cointent. Others?
Matte/Gloss
Red/White
R worth it
Base/S/Tri best bargain