For almost a year?!
You trusted your 1800$ wheels to a complete stranger for almost a year?
I honestly put 100% blame on the seller...
(in my honest opinion)
Doesn't seem like the buyer had bad intentions but after a year if you still did not keep up on your side of the deal, then why should he. For all you know he could have been charging a storage fee for keeping the wheels for you 10$ daily, equal to more than the value of the wheels.
What exactly is written in the bill of sale? If theres no clause on the wheels, then you have 0 chance in hell... was a time frame specified?
From a legal standpoint, possibly with the right documentation it might not just drag on and he MIGHT get some sort of $ for the wheels (after a lot of headache)
From a moral standpoint... I do think the buyer owes the wheels (given that they didn't cause him any inconvenience storing them)... but if the buyer made attempts to contact you to get that replacement wheel to no avail (1 year is no joke), then I'd just assume it to be forfeited property.