Sending parts from EU to Russia
 

Hi!

I am stuck in Astrakhan with a badly bend rear rim. The lip is bent in several places and it lets the air out, and there is a chunk of lip missing. I have a new one in Barcelona, and was trying to arrange to have it shipped over here, but this morning my family contacted DHL and UPS in Barcelona and they said that they are only allowed to send documents into Russia, no parcels. Russian regulations. :(

Is there any way to get around it? Or is it possible to get the rim fixed?

For the moment, I'm going to have the bike taken to a shop and see what they can do.

Thanks!

Go to Bike City 34 in Volgograd and see if they can help you.

What bike are you riding? To have a bent rear rim, it must really be pretty lousy

Probably a Vstrom 650.

It is indeed a Vstrom 650, the wheel got damaged on the really bad sections of the road between Dossor and Aktobe.
I was in Bike City 34 a week ago to have the tires changed and a small oil leak fixed, they were very good. Unfortunately I need to get something done to the wheel before I can get there. Today a biker I met came to check it and he took the rim away, saying he could get it fixed in one or two days, so I am waiting to see what can be done. Depending on the result, I'll stop again in Volgograd where they might be able to track down a new rim.

Update: I am back home now (posting the trip on the Ride Tales section). The rim was repaired in Astrakhan and I was able to continue the journey without further problems. 21,000km and three months of commuting and weekend use, the bike has cracked the 100,000-km limit and the repaired rim is still in place. Those Russians did an amazing job.

In defence of my V-strom, I have to say that it was a case of wrong speed - wrong pothole. It bent just enough to let the air leak, but was made worse by a Kazakh mechanic who tried to straighten it with a hammer and broke a chunk of lip off. Other than that - which can be attributed to my reckless riding, the bike performed flawlessly for the whole trip, not requiring anything else than regular maintenance.

A friend of mine had similar problem after hitting a rock in Uzbekistan, and he was riding a GSA, which I would hardly call a 'lousy bike'.

It has terrible rims too actually. Definitely I would call them "lousy" rims.

:eek3: Good to know that, I would have thought they were better prepared for the rough stuff... I know they are too heavy and all that, but at least I would expect them to be tough.