Rim widening
I had the rear rim for my Kawasaki VN2000 widened from stock size to 18x8" at Delta Custom Bikes, and it ended up as good as unusable. The tire sits out of center in the bike despite there being room enough for it to sit centered.
On the website there are two options for engarnement that I chose from. The 18x8" and the 18x9" option. I chose the 18x8" option as there is no need to modify anything else than the rim to make it work. The 18x9" option requires machining of the rear belt pulley and a narrower belt to clear the tire so that it will work.
I am not considering the rear fender, as I was planning to build a new one anyway once i had fitted the wider tire.
I ordered the 18x8" modification and sent the stock rim to DCB for enlargement, and got it back three weeks later. I measured it, and found that they had made it 18x9" instead of 18x8". I complained, they offered to correct it for free, so i sent it back for correction.
Three weeks later i got the rim back again, now in the correct size 18x8", but 5mm out of center to the right relative to the stock rim. So the rim is now asymmetric compared to the stock rim, as it is 10mm wider on one side of the spokes than on the other. So the tire sits out of center to the right in the swing arm, which is very visible when looking at it from behind.
I complain again, telling them that the rim is not correct yet. I send pictures comparing a stock rim with the modified one proving it is out of center.
They respond telling me that the rim is correct, and that I need the "complete wide tire kit" that they fit the 18x8" rim with to set it centered. And that just makes no sence;
For the modified rim to move 5mm to the left and then sit centered, that kit would have to include:
1) Different spacers on the axle to shift the rim to the left
2) A brake disc offset spacer to realign the caliper to the swingarm (right side)
3) Machining of the hub for the rear pulley to move back inline with the front one (left side)
And then it would have sit centered anyway, which makes the offset unnecessary in the first place.
Nothing of this was ever confirmed from DCB, and I couldn't get details on this kit. Communication from their side was generally limited.
There is more than enough room for a 240mm tire on the 8" wide rim to sit centered, so I can't believe they deliberately placed it out of center. They even stated that the "modification is symmetric". I couldn't get any clarification of what that meant (or if it's the idea to shift the tire out of center or not). But it certainly did not mean what You think it would mean. Nothing is symmetric.
As far as I can tell, they won't admit their error and correct my rim again, because it has become too costly an affair.
Nearly 1400 Euros (rim mod and paint, and apparently a half solution) is a lot to pay to have a tire that is visibly misaligned, when it could have been done right in the first place.