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haven't really heard of any disadvantages of alloys in our indian bike . in a accident alloy is bound to get damaged .whats the big deal ? you think spoke ones will be in very good condition after a crash

alloy rims allow you to put tubeless tyres that are safer than tubed ones in high speed riding .

"why spoke wheel safer for pillions" i didnt really understand . can you provide more info

The alloys are designed to break in case of crash. In effect they act as crumple zone and absorb the impact.. similar to the bonnet of a car. Also they are safer as there is rarely fast air-loss due to puncture.. which at high speeds can get uncontrollable with tubed tyres..

Alloy wheels in bikes ( because you dont have spoked wheels in cars anymore ), have the advantage that they dont need constant adjustment and alignment.

They come balanced, and you only need to balance it once the tyre is fitted.

Tubeless tyres can be used.

Alloys are stiffer than rims and spokes, so your handling is better, Also they weigh lesser.

Chances of rust eating away the spokes or affecting the strength of the wheel are negated, since alloys dont rust easy, or rather say rust at all.

Like pointed out above, they act like a crumple zone to absorb the impact. Saving your "precious lives in an emergency".

Specifically speaking, this was confirmed by an engineer in yamaha as well, that the Alloys in the R15/FZ series are designed to shatter on impact, so as to absorb the maximum possible energy.

And its not your fate, you can easily switch over to spoked rims as well if you want. they still sell in the market.

( goes and bangs head against wall )

Very True on ALL the points. Indian roads have more craters than the Moon. Even on highways sometimes I had found the road to be good while going and when returning back surprised by the road diggings that have come up. Only on toll roads the condition is better.

Cast ( Alloy ? ) wheels , once bent cannot be repaired back into shape , and must be replaced if damaged . It is almost imossible to balance a cast wheel post manufacture . Wire wheels are easily balanced by local (desi)workshops .

Cast wheels ( on Indian bikes ) are heavier than wire-spoke wheels , thus adding to the total weight of the bike . Moreover the weight of the wire spoke wheels are mainly in the outside ( i.e rims ) while the cast wheel has more distributed weight . This affects the balance of the bike while in motion and handling characteristics .

Cast wheels ( on indian bikes ) have integral brake-drums , and when worn out by the brake shoes , the whole rim has to be replaced , in wire wheels you can just replace the drum .

Cast wheel with tubeless tire will deflate immediately if the rim is bend by impact . Tubed spoke wheel will not deflate if the tube is intact . You can ride home on a bent spoke rim .

Wire-spoke wheel has a degree of flexibility that lets it absorb road bump
, working together with a pneumatic tire . Cast wheel has absolutely no flex and gives a stiff ride . I have personally felt this on road potholes .

I am not sure that on accident level impact , a cast wheel will absorb more of the impact energy than a wire spoke wheel , by deformation . The reverse is more likely , since the cast wheel is far more rigid than a spoke wheel , it should transmit more energy on impact than it absorbs by deformation .

Of course the alloy material used for such cast wheels do not rust , but they do corrode like all base metals , so they come painted to prevent this . I have my spoke rims painted insides with lead-oxide paint when new and they have never rusted since .

Pinaki .

The wheels once bent should not be corrected and reused for safety reason. This will lead to wobble at speeds and may break on hitting a small pot hole.
All rims are heavier on the outer circumference.When the vehicle is in motion there is a centrifugal force which will make the wheel act like a gyro. A bike which can be maneuvered easily at low speeds cannot turn easily at high speeds.
Any tubed wheel act differently to a tubeless.
The flexibility of the spoke wheel is more than alloys. The flexibility of wheel is not good for stability,and the alloys cure this.Of course the ride is stiff, but the steering is positive and not vague.

It is expensive to replace alloys than a spoke wheel.

I do not agree. If the rim is bent slightly it can be straightened out and so can a big bend, it is up to us whether to do that or no. I have personally done it.

Again, the bent wheel can be corrected, I have had it done and there are no problems after that, however I am replacing the rim right now as it has a big crack, this would be to much on the same rim, it will not be as safe that is why I am replacing it, however if it was a small bend or a medium one, I would have got it rectified and rode with it.

Pardon my ignorance but pls quote me any manufacturer which uses wheels as crumble zone(except the yamaha in India) or a literature which mentions the same .world over high end cars and bikes are shifting towards mag wheels bcoz they are lighter and stronger than aluminium alloy wheels, aluminium wheels are more prone to breakage. the most dangerous thing that could ever happen to anyone is the wheels giving up on impact. why does car bonnet only acts as crumble zones and not its wheels along with the bonnet.

an example is when you hit a pothole at a good speed and your wheel breaks into small pieces, what will happen is that you will be thrown off and land on the road causing severe injuries. at the same time if the wheel gets bend there is atleast a possibility of steering the bike out of danger.


most serious injuries of bikers are mostly not due to the primary injuries (which means the injury due to first direct contact with an object) but due to secondary ones (ie when the biker lands up on the car or wall or road as he is flung off the bike.) the chances of secondary injury becomes more when the wheel gets crumbled .when the wheel collapses on impact the rider is more likely to be pulled into the impacting surface, coz the wheel will absorb the force and your momentum will directly take you in the path of the impact surface leading to more secondary injuries.


whereas if the wheel doesnt collapse the rider will be thrown off and there are good chances that he may clear the impacting surface.

in simple words if the bike collides with a car headon and wheels crumble the biker may hit the bonnet of the car and if the wheel doesnt crumble the rider may end on the windscreen or on the roof.

we talk about crumble zones in cars but we never bother to look at the fact that only the bonnet and the front are crumble zones and not the wheel or the passenger compartment .infact the passenger compartment is made very sturdy as well. besides the deceleration injuries are more serious in cars (whiplash , abdominal aorta tear etc etc )and that's why crumble zones to minimize the massive deceleration force acting which results in these injuries. additionally it adds to pedestrian safety as well. and that's not the case with bikes.

the reason why yamaha's wheel are crumbling is simple. for reducing weight of the wheel yamaha is making very thin alloys coupled with that they are very light as well .advantage of such light wheels are that the gyroscopic forces will be less which means less difficulty in changing direction,and the disadvantage is aluminium being more brittle than steel , they are more prone to breakage.

in simple language if aluminium wheels are a little thicker as found in most Indian bikes the wheel will bend in most cases and break if there is significant force but will be heavier. however if it is very thin like in yamahas the wheel becomes more brittle and breaks even at moderate force.but is very good for changing directions as the gyro force will be far lesser.

for me its nothing but weight losing measures by yamaha.thats why they provide those very thin tyres and alloys with R15 and in FZ when they had to upgrade the tyre they went for radial tyre which are around 30% lighter and stronger than normal tyres coupled with very light alloy wheels.

^^ your ignorance is pardoned, but again, comparing bike alloy wheels to car wheels has a difference.

a bike alloy wheel will crumple in the event of a crash which wouldve otherwise transferred the force of impact thru the front suspension to the rider via the handlebars.

and i already mentioned, it was told to me by an engineer in yamaha, so thats the source. no literature available.

The points made by Pinaki and Burnyourrubber are very valid and true .A simple explanation would be to ask yourselves as to why dirt track bikes use wire wheels instead of alloys .As far as stiffness is concerned till recent ,even after the advent of alloy wheels ,most of the pro racing teams in our own road racing championships were using spoked aluminium wheels for the group B bikes.Ask an engineer he'll tell you that structurally the spoked wheel is much stronger than a alloy wheel.
Yes alloy wheels do have their advantages ,but in our indian context ,they are there for the "cool" factor than any practical reasons .Ofcourse alloys do make sense when combined with tubeless radial tyres.Then again in our indian context and purely for practicality with regard to their usage with our bikes ,wired wheels win hands down.
Regarding the claims made by yamaha i am sure its nothing more than a spin-doctoring effort to explain away the thinness of their wheels .Rather than saying they are thin for their performance aspects ,they have said it as being crumple zones Like the other things we get to hear from the indian bike makers ,it'd be wise to take it with a pinch of salt.It's pretty much the same as the claims heard before about the tank shrouds on Fiero and CBZ being designed to keep the engine cool and what not.

My new FZ-S which is not even month old and has covered just 700kms. NOw i see Tyre pressure loss and bend in back alloy. My local dealer says it is not covered under warranty. Anyone experienced same issue?

".A simple explanation would be to ask yourselves as to why dirt track bikes use wire wheels instead of alloys ."

Also you'll see that all Indian manufacturers are pushing alloys only in cities and urban areas with good roads . In rural areas they don't dare because they know they'll get too many warranty claims and complains . I was told this by HH official when I insisted on wire wheels for my new bike in July .In fact he was finding it difficult to have wire wheeled bike shipped to my dealer in the city , so he even suggested I collect it from a rural ( far from me ) dealer and he'll have my booking money transferred , no problem .
In the end I pestered HH so much they shipped two wire wheeled bikes to my dealer after two months wait . The dealer admitted that it was the first spoke-wheels they had sold in last two years !
In fact they are profiting from the demand of cast wheels because they are cheaper to make , plus they sell the cast-wheel bikes for few thousands more money than spokes , moreover they are almost certain of a few spare wheels sales within the lifetime of the bike .

Where I live in Calcutta/ Salt Lake city , come monsoon and all roads turn into dirt-track with hard huge slushy potholes only .

@ NX1VIR , tubeless wheels retain air insides while the tire edge merges perfectly with the two rim lips . If its leaking , this seal is gone bad because of bend or deformation . Usually the only lasting solution is an expensive replacement of the wheel . No company will give warranty on wheels or tires or rims etc "wear-out" parts . I often wonder which are the "non-wearing" parts of a bike that they cover , after reading their warranty .
I made a conscious decision for spokes considering my city road conditions or that I may have to travel else where also , whereas we have no one to sue for bad roads in here .
Cheers , Pinaki .

Friends, some time ago i had mentioned about witnessing an accident on a broken front wheel of a R15,

That R15 red is currently lying in the same SVC where i am visiting to get the services for my gladiator. Upon enquiry, the manager claimed that the rider was injured to the extent of fracturing his one hand plus some bruises here n there and was doing absolutely fine. He told the wheel had taken up the huge pressure and saved him as he was doing a 100 plus in the flyover where it happened.

Now after coming to know this episode, one can agree that an alloy wheel can act as a crumple zone during an emergency.